Welcome to our Infectious Diseases Fellowship Website

The combined RUSH University Medical Center (RUMC) and Cook County Health (CCH) Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program provides a two-year curriculum with an optional third year of training that is dedicated to training successful Infectious Diseases physicians with the essential building blocks for any desired career path in the field.

We have more than 40 faculty who specialize in 12 areas of divisional expertise and are world leaders in HIV, Transplant ID and healthcare epidemiology research. We're also excited to announce we have become 1 of 11 programs in the country to offer a new joint ID/EIS fellowship opportunity, for fellows to train on ID for 2 years, followed by 2 years of EIS (Epidemiology Intelligence Service) training.

Situated in the amazing city of Chicago, fellows can enjoy all of our program advantages and explore all that the city has to offer.

Thank you for your interest in our program! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@RushCCH_ID) and Instagram (@rushcchid)!

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RUSH was selected as a pilot site for the new joint ID/EIS Fellowship Training Program!

We are grateful and excited to be recognized by the CDC and IDSA as one of the 11 programs nationwide uniquely equipped to train the next generation of public-health-focused ID physicians.

More Information
Portraits of Dr. Alice Han and Dr. Paul Sax on a yellow background with text that reads: "Let's Talk ID. Is the grass greener? Life as an ID physician working in private practice."
Let’s Talk ID Podcast | IDSA

During an episode of IDSA’s Let’s Talk ID Podcast, former fellow Dr. Alice Han shares her remarkable journey in the field of Infectious Diseases. In this interview with Dr. Paul Sax, Dr. Han mentions the influence of her fellowship experience at RUSH and it’s impact on her career development. 

“And the thing that I appreciated so much about them [RUSH ID faculty members] as individuals is they really cared about us as people, and they really cared about us being happy in our careers”

-Alice Han, MD 

Listen to Podcast Here
A portrait of Dr. Alan Harris.
Award Winning Faculty

We are proud of our hard working faculty members who have been recognized for their excellence in education and service! This year, Dr Alan Harris was presented the Lifetime Teaching Award in  Recognition of Excellence in Medical Education. Over the years, many other faculty members have been honored with university and departmental teaching awards. Recent awardees include, Dr Nipun Atri, Dr Shivanjali Shankaran, Dr Sarah Won, Dr Brett Williams, Dr Andrew Simms and Dr Beverly Sha.

A Message from the Chiefs

A brief message from the Infectious Disease Chief Fellows for the year 2023-2024, Dr. Francesca Cozzi and Dr. Hillary Chang!

ID Fellows!

Several ID Fellows pose in front of a RUSH University sign, have an office celebration, and eat at a restaurant together. Several ID Fellows gather in a classroom, stand in an office, and walk through an outdoor shopping center.
A group of five people standing in a corridor with windows behind them
Fellow Class 2025!

We are thrilled and excited to welcome the new fellows this July. As a welcome to the 2025 class, we planned to have lunch in Room 500 at Rush for our division and incoming fellows to enjoy. We also anticipate further activities as a way to get to know each other better.

Several Fellows stand together at a restaurant with a chandelier in the background.
ID Week 2022

Our second-year fellows class 2023 had the opportunity to participate in the 2022 annual conference and learn from internationally recognized experts in the field of infectious diseases and interact with other aspiring infectious diseases professionals. After working hard, they also enjoyed a night out! 

One of the many research presentations at ID Week that was given by our fellows.

  • Prevalence and Characteristics of Long Covid 7-12 months After hospitalization Among Patients From and Urban Safety Net Hospital: A Pilot Study. Miao Jenny Hua, Sriram Gonakoti, Ruhi Shariff, Carlos Corpuz, R Alfonso Hernandez Acosta, Hillary Chang, Iriagbonse Asemota, Elizabeth Gobbi, Katayoun Rezai. 10.1016/j.focus.2023.100091

Fellow Publications and Presentations

  • Jung, JH, Bhaimia E, Reau N. Use of tecovirimat for mpox infection followed by JYNNEOS vaccination postinfection in a liver transplant recipient. Transpl Infect Dis. 2023; 25:e14030. https://doi.org/10.1111/tid.14030
  • Dbeibo L, Lucky C,  Fadel WF, Sadowski J, Beeler C, Kelley K, Williams J, Webb D, & Kara A (2023). Two-step algorithm-based Clostridioides difficile testing as a tool for antibiotic stewardship. Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 29(6), 798.e1–798.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2023.02.008
  • Lee ES, Chang H, Soto PF, Zhang Y and Shankaran S  Positive Sputum Cultures in Ventilated Patients with COVID19: Utility of Antibiotic Use at a Single Academic Center. Priv. Pract. Infect. Dis., 2022, 1(1): 4;  doi.org/10.55636/ppid2010001.
  • Bhaimia E, Jung JH, Chan EL, Shah NN, Santos CAQ. Breakthrough Hepatitis B Virus Infection in a Liver Transplant Recipient on Lamivudine Prophylaxis for Donor Hepatitis B Core Antibody Seropositivity: A Review of Practices to Prevent De Novo Hepatitis B Virus Infection After Transplant. Clin Liver Dis (Hoboken). 2021;18(1):22-25. Published 2021 Aug 30. doi:10.1002/cld.1102
  • Kim DY, Lin MY, Jennings C, Li H, Jung JH, Moore NM, Ghinai I, Black SR, Zaccaro DJ, Brofman J, Hayden MK; CDC Prevention Epicenter Program. Duration of replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 shedding among patients with severe or critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Clin Infect Dis. 2022 May 24:ciac405. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac405. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35607802; PMCID: PMC9213867.
  • Santos Abigail C, Varughese Christy A, Shankaran Shivanjeli. Something Odd and Something New: A Case of Shewanella putrefaciens Peritonitis and Bacteremia Treated with Intraperitoneal Cefepime. Private Practice Infectious Disease. 2021; 1(2):6.
  • Wallace, J., Gonzalez, H., Rajan, R., Narasipura, S. D., Virdi, A. K., Olali, A. Z., Naqib, A., Arbieva, Z., Maienschein-Cline, M., & Al-Harthi, L. (2022). Anti-HIV Drugs Cause Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Monocyte-Derived Macrophages. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 66(4), e0194121. https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.01941-21
  • Sansom SE, Logan LK, Green SJ, Moore NM, & Hayden MK (2021). Whole-genome sequencing for neonatal intensive care unit outbreak investigations: Insights and lessons learned. Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE, 1(1), e2. https://doi.org/10.1017/ash.2021.161

Snapshot of Faculty Presentations:

  • Christopher Szewcyzk, Hemil Gonzalez. A Severe Case of Lupus Cerebritis. Poster presentation accepted at the AAN Summer Conference on July 15-16, 2022, in San Francisco, CA.
  • Sansom SE, Lin M, Schoeny M, Fukuda C, Shimasaki T, Dangana T, Moore N, Yelin R, Rhee Y, Tabith L, Sheng J, Cornejo Cisneros E, Murray J, Chang K, Lolans K, Ariston M, Rotunno W, Ramos H, Li H, Aboushaala K, Iwai N, Bassis B, Bell P, Young V, Hayden MK, for the CDC Prevention Epicenters Program. Admission and Discharge Sampling Underestimates Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDRO) Acquisitions in an Intensive Care Unit. SHEA Spring 2021. April 16, 2021. 
  • SHEA Spring 2021. “SHEA’s Role in Leadership during COVID-19.” Virtual conference, April 13-16, 2021. Invited opening plenary speaker. David Henderson, MD, Consultant to NIH and Mary Hayden, MD
  • Mary Hayden. 6th International Conference on Healthcare Associated Infections: Decennial Day. “Attacking healthcare transmission of AMR on multiple fronts: antibiotics, the microbiome, and containment.” Virtual conference, April 12, 2021. Invited symposium speaker. 

How to apply

Positions are currently available for five first-year fellows. Find full details and begin your application