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Faculty of Health Sciences

Department of Medicine

Infectious Diseases – HIV Fellowship

Fellowship Program at McMaster

We invite applications from both International Graduates, as well as Canadian/American Graduates who have completed Post Graduate Training in Adult Infectious Diseases to join us at McMaster University for a one-year Clinical Fellowship in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Strengths of the training program include vast clinical exposure of around 1000 HIV infected patients, direct one to one supervision from highly experienced faculty, and opportunities for research. The Program Director is Dr. Shariq Haider, Specialist in Infectious Diseases with a research and clinical focus on Infections in Immunocompromised Hosts.

Welcome

The one year clinicial fellowship is a clinic based experience in HIV training at the SIS clinic, with a broad exposure to HIV training, and a spectrum of risk groups: MSM, IVDU, Heterosexual Transmission, Immigrants/Refugees, Haemophiliacs, and Pediatric HIV. Research opportunities in the areas of comorbidities in HIV, epidemiology in HIV, and prevention in HIV Infection.

Certification Outcome

The successful completion of the fellowship will grant a Fellowship McMaster Certification.

Entry Requirements

The fellowship program is designed for current residents or recent graduates of Adult Infectious Disease residency programs. Recent graduates are required to submit an application form and comply with McMaster University Postgraduate Medical Education requirements for residents and fellows.

Application Deadline

No defined application deadline.

Goals of Training

Upon the completion of training the trainee is expected to be competent in the following:

  1. Understand the pathogenesis of HIV-1 and 2 infection.
  2. Have a core understanding of immunology in HIV-1/HIV-2 infection.
  3. Develop a core understanding of stages of HIV-1/HIV-2 infection.
  4. Develop a core understanding of diagnostic testing in HIV-1/HIV-2 infection.
  5. Understand the local, national and international epidemiology of HIV-1/HIV-2 infection.
  6. Develop an expert level of understanding of risk factors in HIV-1/HIV-2 transmission and the role of biological, social and clinical interventions in the prevention.
  7. Develop an expert level of knowledge and therapeutics in HIV-1/HIV-2 infection both around primary prophylaxis and treatment.
  8. Develop expert level of knowledge around resistance in HIV-1/HIV-2 infection role of genotyping and virtual phenotyping.
  9. Develop an understanding of comorbid diseases in patients living with HIV-1/HIV-2 infection.

Length of Training

1 year of training.

Funding

Canadian Graduates of Adult Infectious Diseases Residency Programs are encouraged to apply for the OHTN( Ontario HIV Treatment Network) HIV Residency Award, or apply for research/clinical CTN( Canadian HIV Treatment Network) fellowships.

International Graduates would need to be self-funded from their respective home training programs/institutions.

Curriculum Highlights

The majority of the Fellowship will be completed at the SIS clinic (Selective Immunodeficiency Clinic) affiliated with Hamilton Health Sciences. The clinic is now a free-standing clinic on Main Street West along with the Urgent Care Clinic. There may be opportunities for external electives at other Canadian HIV training sites dependent on both funding and individual postgraduate credentialing requirements.

In addition, the Clinical Fellow will be asked to complete a scholarly project with a minimum expectation of abstract submission to the annual CAHR (Canadian Association of HIV Research) meeting.

Supervision & Feedback

The primary method of evaluation is Field notes as this is an exclusive outpatient clinic-based fellowship training program. Field notes will be summarized into ITERS every 4 months resulting in a total of three summative ITER’s over the one year of training.

Other evaluations and assessments that will be used as evidence of satisfactory progress:

  • Evaluation of the research project to be completed by the principal supervisor of the scholarly project.
  • Evaluation of HIV Journal Club Rounds presentation.
  • ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) online module on HIV Medicine in Clinical Practice as a formative assessment tool.