I am delighted to welcome you to the website of the UAB Division of Infectious Disease. Our division provides a dynamic academic environment for interdisciplinary research, education and clinical care. Our Division has a long history of providing a spectrum of clinical care in infectious diseases at our three main inpatient facilities (UAB Hospital, UAB Highlands and the Birmingham VA Medical Center) and outpatient clinics focusing on a variety of ID areas (HIV, viral hepatitis, travel medicine, general ID, PREP, vaginitis etc).
The Division of Infectious Diseases has 7 consult services (general ID teams, Hospital Medicine ID, Orthopedic ID, Immunocompromised). With over 1200 inpatient beds, UAB Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the country and is a referral center for Alabama and surrounding states. We provide highly specialized care in many areas, as an example UAB performs over 400 solid organ transplants per year and has an NCI designated Cancer Center. UAB is the only institution in the state performing solid organ transplantation, stem cell transplantation, and care for patients with acute leukemia. We also have an actively growing complex outpatient antibiotic therapy (COPAT) program, strong interest in outcomes research, and a robust program in infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship.
Our clinical activities facilitate our involvement in education of medical students, residents, and fellows at UAB. Our faculty have a very strong educational presence with leadership positions in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine and extensive attending time on the Tinsley Harrison General Medicine Service, Birmingham VA Medical Center, and on our consult services.
We continue to have outstanding growth in both the number of faculty and funding and are ranked first in external funding in the UAB Department of Medicine with $43M in research expenditures in the most recent fiscal year. The Division has several major HIV-focused program awards sponsored by NIH, including the UAB CFAR and three NIAID-sponsored entities, the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU), HIV Vaccine Trials Unit (one of 10 in the U.S.), and Microbicide Trials Unit (one of 6 in the U.S.). We also work closely with the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), recently designated as a core DAIDS Clinical Research Site of the UAB CTU. In addition, we host the Mycoses Study Group, historically based in NIAID and now operating as an independent trials unit, and the NIH-funded UAB Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinical Trials Unit. Our ID fellowship program is in its 6th decade and has successfully trained over 130 fellows.
Global health research, education, and service are important elements of the UAB infectious disease division’s work. Our faculty collaborate with partners across Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa. We have particularly robust, longitudinal and productive partnerships in Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Panama, and Peru. The Division hosts the Gorgas Courses in Clinical Tropical Medicine at the Alexander von Humboldt Tropical Medicine Institute in Lima, Peru, next to the Tropical Diseases Unit of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital, the major tropical diseases referral center for Peru. For trainees interested in investigative tropical or global medicine, this internationally renowned course is essential. Course objectives are to train providers in Tropical Medicine in a multicultural educational program with international experts in the field, to expose students to a broad spectrum of tropical diseases and provide them with the foundational clinical knowledge and skills needed to recognize, diagnose, treat and prevent the most relevant tropical diseases, and to create a network of experts committed to improving healthcare services for underserved populations globally.
J. Martin Rodriguez, M.D., FACP, FIDSA
Division DirectorTinsley Harrison Clinical Scholar
Director of Clinical Activities
Paul W. Burleson, M.D., Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine