Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship

Welcome to the Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship! Our fellowship primarily rotates at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. It is the only free-standing children’s hospital in West Michigan and has been ranked as a top hospital by U.S. News & World Report for 11 years. Our fellowship’s remaining rotations occur at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, a major tertiary and quaternary referral center for West Michigan and beyond and connected to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.

The Pediatric Infectious Diseases department cares for a wide range of patients and infectious pathologies, including infections of the blood, bone, joints, lungs and the gastrointestinal tract. The department also treats international adoptees, refugees and patients living with HIV. We sponsor an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in both the inpatient and outpatient settings which helps ensure the best and most appropriate use of antibiotics for all patients within our hospital system.

We are excited to train fellows to become leaders in the specialty of pediatric infectious diseases who provide excellent clinical care and contribute to high-quality research, academics, public health and industry.

Hello and Welcome!

My name is Aileen Aldrich, and I am the Program Director for the Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. My colleagues and I are excited to share our program with you and hope you consider training with us.

I hail from North Dakota and completed my medical training at the University of North Dakota before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan to do my pediatrics residency right here at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. My passion for global health and my love of diligence and details led me to a career in pediatric infectious diseases. I moved to Omaha, Nebraska and completed my fellowship in 2019 with a focus on HIV and global health, then returned to Grand Rapids.

In addition to clinical pediatric infectious diseases work, I have a dual appointment with Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. I serve as a research faculty member, as well as clinical liaison for their Institute for Global Health. I am core faculty for global health for the pediatrics residency program at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital and direct the Global Health Clinical Scholars Program.

The pediatric infectious diseases program welcomes one to two new fellows per year. As a smaller program, we can tailor schedules and rotations to each fellow’s specific areas of interest, individualizing the learning process. We connect you with faculty and colleagues across Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Spectrum Health, Van Andel Research Institute and beyond to create and carry out an individual research project that aligns with your curiosities and passions. Spectrum Health has a formal research curriculum to help you through every step of the research process. Additionally, there is grant funding available both from Michigan State University and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Each fellow completes the required 52 weeks of inpatient pediatric infectious diseases service, which is equal to 13 full 4-week blocks over the course of the program. There is ample time allotted for completion of scholarly activity, as well. Fellows will complete at least one rotation in the microbiology lab early in their first year to learn how the lab functions and how infectious labs and cultures are carried out. Every fellow will spend time working with our Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs as well. We have both inpatient and outpatient Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs to moderate appropriate antibiotic use in our pediatric populations. We offer several electives in infectious disease-related specialties including Bone Marrow Transplant, Immunology and Advanced Nephrology/Renal Transplant.

I invite you to learn about our program and if you have any questions, please reach out to our program coordinator, Christine Richey.

Sincerely,

Aileen M. Aldrich, MD, FAAP
Program Director
Spectrum Health/Michigan State University Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship

Our curriculum consists of clinical rotations, fellows’ clinic, didactic lecture series, cases conferences and journal clubs.

All pediatric rotations occur at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Adult rotations occur at Butterworth Hospital, our adult counterpart located on the same campus in downtown Grand Rapids.

Rotations:

• Inpatient pediatric infectious diseases
• Microbiology
• HIV
• Antimicrobial Stewardship/Infection Prevention
• Research
• Electives: outpatient pediatric infectious diseases, pediatric immunology, pediatric bone marrow transplant, advanced pediatric nephrology, adult hepatology, adult transplant infectious disease, adult inpatient infectious disease

During the three years of training, each fellow will have approximately one-half day of clinic per week when not on an inpatient rotation. No outpatient clinic is required while on the inpatient service. During the first year, fellows see general infectious disease patients and begin seeing travel consult patients. In the second year, fellows are added to the HIV clinic, which is staffed by HIV specialists. Efforts are made to have fellows follow up on patients they consulted on in the hospital. They also have their own small panel of HIV patients that they follow throughout training.

Our didactic calendar includes monthly general infectious disease as well as immunology/HIV lectures. In addition, we have a monthly citywide infectious disease case conference alongside our adult infectious disease colleagues and adult and pediatric infectious disease pharmacists. We do a monthly virtual case conference with Michigan State University pediatric infectious diseases colleagues in Lansing and Flint. Fellows participate in presenting with residents at monthly journal clubs. Finally, there are monthly micro rounds facilitated by both adult and pediatric infectious disease fellows. Pediatric Grand Rounds for Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital is every Tuesday morning and open to all fellows.

Each fellow is required to complete a research project of their interest during training. A written document of their scholarly work (whether a summary or a published manuscript) is required to be submitted to the ABP in order to be eligible to sit for the subspecialty certification exam. Spectrum Health offers a formal research training curriculum to be completed during the first year of fellowship as each fellow begins their projects. In addition, every fellow receives excellent support and guidance from the Office of Research and Education on matters such as IRB protocols, data processing, data interpretation, literature review, and more. Our division is active in clinical research, which includes quality improvement work and original projects. Fellows have the option to work alongside faculty from any Spectrum Health specialty. In addition, if a basic science project is desired, we have contacts at Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Valley State University or Michigan State University in Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Recent published topics from our faculty include:

• Contributions to multicenter guidance on management of COVID-19
• Our hospital’s experience with MIS-C
• Clostridium difficile treatment in pediatrics including fecal transplant
• Risk factors for resistant gram-negative infections in patients with congenital heart disease

Applications for the pediatric infectious diseases fellowship program are only accepted through the ERAS system. Please refer to their timeline for application windows.

Contact our program coordinator Christine Richey if you have any questions.