Home to a world-class infectious diseases ecosystem, UTMB has >100 faculty conducting research related to infectious diseases, one of the largest such collections in the United States.
Institutional Strengths
The crown jewel of UTMB's ID community is the federally funded Galveston National Laboratory, one of two Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories located on a university campus in the US. UTMB's Department of Microbiology & Immunology ranks in the top 5 in NIH funding with collaborators across the globe. Many other centers and programs coalesce to form the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, the general hub of ID-related scholarship at the university.
In our program, most research training occurs during the second year and fellows may elect to work in basic, translational, or clinical projects with mentors inside or outside the Division of Infectious Diseases. To assist fellows with maximizing their research training, the seven longitudinal tracks can be customized to offer more research-intensive experiences versus clinical electives.
UTMB's Division of Infectious Diseases also participates in the UPCH - UTMB Collaborative Research Center in Cusco, Peru as part of the Alexander von Humboldt Tropical Medicine Institute of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Since its inception the focus of the activities has been on research and training in global health and tropical diseases. This center's research areas include neglected helminth infections, travel associated diseases, and emerging infections in rural and impoverished communities, offering fellows opportunities to engage in unique, global health-related scholarship.
Mentorship
We actively support our fellows’ scholarly goals and assist them with locating suitable mentors and initiating projects of their choice. Typically, fellows will accrue multiple mentors during their time here, offering advice on scholarly pursuits, clinical education, career pursuits, and overall performance during fellowship. Fellows interested in a physician-scientist career may also be suitable for various advanced training opportunities available, including graduate study and additional years of research work.