The ID Interest Group empowers medical students to prepare for the next step, exploring careers in infectious diseases that start with an ID fellowship. The effort will soon be bolstered by a grant award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Sarah Rutstein, MD, PhD, is the faculty advisor for the UNC Infectious Diseases Interest Group, encouraging medical students to dive into the world of pathogens and prevention. On Nov. 10, a group of students gathered to learn and ask current fellows their questions. ID Fellow Stephanie Sweitzer, MD, MSPH, describe different career paths in infectious diseases.
“There are a lot of different roles–from providing outpatient HIV primary care to seeing super complex patients who have many different comorbidities or transplant patients with complex infections,” Sweitzer said.
“Alternatively, you can take more of a public health role, where you aren’t necessarily directly interacting with patients but doing more preventative work with health departments or the CDC. You can also do research in an academic setting. Some specialists do a mix.”
Common Misconception
Rutstein, assistant professor of infectious diseases, recognized a common misconception about the infectious disease specialty.
“Whenever I ask learners—whether in consults or on the wards—what excites them or where they’d like to grow, the most common response I hear is, ‘I’m really bad at antibiotics.’ I find this statement interesting because antibiotics make up only a very small part of what I think about—apart from considerations of stewardship and their broader impact on public health at the population level.”
Rutstein recognized how narrowing the ID specialty to antimicrobial choices overlooks the breadth of the field, acknowledging that even students who do know every antibiotic haven’t had the chance to apply that knowledge effectively.
“Choosing an antibiotic is just one step, and it follows a much larger process: building a differential, understanding a patient’s exposures, their context, and their access to care,” said Rutstein.
When Is ID Consulted?
One medical student asked the group about inpatient care, wanting to understand the role of infectious disease clinicians in the hospital and when they are called for consult. Dwayvania “Dee” Miller, MBBS, the inaugural chief fellow in infectious diseases, answered the question.
“This really depends. For a transplant patient, we get called in before a transplant happens to prepare. For the patient who comes into the hospital, it depends on the provider’s comfort level and experience with infectious diseases. Most of the time, infectious disease specialists are called when the hospital team has exhausted the basics of what they know.”
Funding to Grow Infectious Disease
Led by Jessica Lin, MD, MSCR, and Brian Bramson, MD, UNC Infectious Diseases is a grant awardee for the 2025–2026 “ID Spark, Train, Educate and Prepare” (ID STEP) program, sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
ID STEP will offer funding to implement a variety of experiential learning opportunities for medical students to learn more about ID. Additionally, the program provides resources and support to medical faculty teaching ID topics to their students. Read More.
Careers in Infectious Diseases
Christopher Sellers, MD, MPH (UNC ID Fellowship: 2012-2014) is the Program Director for the Infectious Diseases Training Program, and Medical Director for the Wake County Human Services HIV and STI Clinics.
“The need for infectious disease physicians has never been greater and the excitement and variety in the practice has never been higher. ID providers are essential in so many ways.”