Our physicians' research focuses on the causes and possible treatments for acute and chronic pancreatitis. Learn more about the group's major research projects including:

• Murine Model of Alcohol-Dependent Chronic Pancreatitis
• New Model of Acute Pancreatitis
• Role of PAR2 in Caerulein-Induced Acute Pancreatitis
• Role of tpI2 on Acute Pancreatitis

The training programs of the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies (ICRHPS) at Tufts Medical Center include a long-standing, federally funded (T32) post-graduate Clinical Care Research Fellowship. Fellows in this program enroll in the Clinical and Translational Science Graduate Program at the Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. This graduate program was developed by, and continues to be taught by, the faculty of the ICRHPS.

A limited number of Fellowships (K30 and T32 awards), sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health and other sources of support, are available to citizens of the United States and non-citizens with a permanent residency status. Information and applications for fellowships may be obtained at admissions information.

David M. Kent, MD, MSc, Program Director

1U01TR002070-01, NIH/NCATS 09/01/2017-05/31/2022 
Translating Research into Practice: A Regional Collaborative to Reduce Disparities in Breast Cancer Care 
To implement scientific evidence and systems interventions in order to promote utilization of guideline concordant therapies, and ultimately reduce disparities in breast cancer care in Boston, MA and beyond.

1K12HD092535-01, NIH/NIDCR 09/11/2017-08/31/2022 
Tufts BIRCWH Program (K12) 
The program seeks to support investigators through a mentored research and career development experience leading to an independent scientific career that will 1) benefit the health of women or advance research on sex/gender influences on health, and 2) encourage interdisciplinary research methodology.

R01 MD007735, NIMHD 2014/09/25-2018/05/31 
Insurance Instability and Disparities in Chronic Disease Outcomes 
To address the impact of insurance instability on continuity of care for chronic disease management focusing on racial and ethnic health disparities.

R01 MD007735-02S1, NIMHD 2015/06/01-2018/05/31 
Gender Disparities in Stability of Insurance Coverage and Chronic Disease Management  
To address the impact of insurance instability on continuity of care for chronic disease management focusing on gender health disparities.

CRP-17-112-06-COUN, American Cancer Society  2012/07/01-2022/06/30 
Clinical Research Professorship 
This award recognizes Dr. Freund’s national leadership in cancer health disparities research, and supports her mentorship and research activities in cancer health disparities.

GTDR15333918, Susan G. Komen Foundation 2015/08/01-2018/07/31 
Tufts Breast Cancer Training Program to Reduce Health Disparities  
To train students to conduct breast cancer health disparities research, focusing on Asian Americans.

UL1TR00064, NCATS 2013/09/26-2018/04/30 
Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) 
To accelerate translational and interdisciplinary research across Tufts University and Tufts CTSI members. 
Role: Research Lead, ADAPT (Addressing Disparities in Asian Populations)

KL2TR00063, NCATS 2013/09/26-2018/04/30 
Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Mentored Career Development 
To support junior investigators in developing their careers as clinical translational investigators.

CE-1304-6173, PCORI 2013/10/01-2017/09/30 
Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Surgical Trial (CSM-S Trial) 
The goal of this study is to conduct a comparative effectiveness randomized clinical trial of two methods of neurosurgical intervention for cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

Tufts ID Clinical Educator Concentration

Educating housestaff, medical students, and our peers and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC) is integral to the field of infectious diseases. Fellows are the most visible teachers in our division, which is why we take the time to mentor existing fellows and those interested in becoming fellows to develop new skills and learn to design curricula.

Goals and objectives:

1. To provide specialized, mentored experience for fellows interested in developing skills as clinician-educators.
2. To plan, develop and assess curricular components of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship.
3. To gain experience in educating various audiences.

Core activities:

1. Fellows in the track will organize the core medical student lectures.
2. Fellows will deliver mentored core lectures to rotating medical students and incorporate feedback to improve their lectures.
3. Fellows will develop a new lecture aimed at house staff to be incorporated into the noon conference series and will receive feedback from an attending mentor.
4. Fellows will develop a new lecture aimed at educating their co-fellows on a topic of their choosing within infectious diseases. Topics can include overviews of clinical guidelines.
5. Fellows will lead bedside teaching rounds for rotating medical students once per week, with an emphasis on the abnormal physical examination.
6. Fellows will participate as a small group leader in the microbiology medical school course.

Additional activities:

1. Fellows will identify an educational need, perform a needs assessment, and plan, deliver and evaluate an educational intervention. This may overlap with activities for other tracks (i.e. delivering an in-service for infection prevention).
2. When the opportunity arises, fellows will provide grand rounds at Tufts MC or a local hospital.
3. There may be opportunities for attendance of regional or national education seminars for further education.
    

Infectious diseases fellows can participate in clinical at the Center for Vascular, Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Medicine. This clinic takes an integrated approach that brings together specialists from several fields, including vascular surgery, podiatry, infectious diseases, orthotics and physical medicine and rehabilitation. This center is the only academic medical center in Boston to offer hyperbaric medicine.

Led by Genève Allison, MD, MS, the Wound Care/Hyperbaric Oxygen track offers the opportunity to develop a specialized skill set while working in an interdisciplinary team.

Educational opportunities

1. Attendance at a 6-day HBO/wound care training course (external).
2. Wound care/HBO clinic attendance up to twice per month during research time.
3. Attendance at a national meeting.
4. Rounding on the inpatient wound care service

Research and scholarly activity

1. Scholarly projects in HBO/wound care involve either research or quality improvement. Projects have included a systematic review of available diabetic foot literature.
2. Bi-monthly journal club/literature discussion with a mentor.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows in this track will have specific opportunities to develop their expertise as clinician educators. Teaching opportunities include leading small group discussions with pre-clinical medical students and lecturing to medical students on clinical rotations and housestaff.

View other concentrations: HIV | Transplant | Antimicrobial Stewardship | Infection Prevention | Clinical Educator

The Infection Prevention program at Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC) was developed by David R. Snydman, MD, FACP, FIDSA, the emeritus chief of the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases. It is now led by Shira Doron, MD, MS, FIDSA, Hospital Epidemiologist at Tufts MC and Chief Infection Control Office for Tufts Medicine. The program consists of 2 infectious disease physicians, 3 highly experienced infection preventionists and informatics support.

While becoming board-eligible in ID, you will gain extensive experience in all aspects of infection control and antimicrobial stewardship. Fellows who choose this concentration can function independently as a hospital epidemiologist. We have several graduates who are functioning in this capacity across the country and worldwide.

The Infection Prevention Program is structured to meet all the requirements of the Department of Public Health and Medicare requirements. Tufts MC has a strong relationship with the Massachusetts Department of Health, and our faculty members serve on the statewide Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) technical advisory board. 

Thanks to these strong ties, Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, MD, was an inaugural recipient of the IDSA LEAP Fellowship. The trainee will gain experience in surveillance, prevention and control of hospital-acquired infections, including investigation of clusters, understanding of reporting requirements, participation in task forces and involvement in prospective observational and interventional studies being performed by the infection control group. 

The Infection Prevention Program has been at the forefront of the quality movement at Tufts MC. In a recent Joint Commission survey, a surveyor commented, "This is best Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship Program I have seen in our surveys throughout the U.S." The Infection Prevention program has had several significant successes in recent years, including a near elimination of central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections, improved hand hygiene compliance rates, reduction in multi-drug resistant bacterial infections, reduction in surgical site infections, reduction in Clostridioides difficile infections, reduction in catheter-associated UTI and high employee immunization rates. Learn more about the quality and patient safety initiatives at Tufts MC.

Educational experience

You will receive focused education on hospital infections:

• Didactic lectures on hospital infections, including case-based lectures  
• Weekly meetings with the infection prevention team
• Participation in CLABSI, CAUTI and VAP bundle task forces
• Monthly infection control committee meetings 
• Targeted reading in infection control
• Participation in quarterly infection prevention meetings
• Participation in microbiology rounds

Research

Many opportunities exist in infection control-related research for 2-year fellows and fellows interested in and eligible for our 3-year Physician-Investigator track. Two-year clinician educator fellows will choose a research project in an area of interest. Recent projects have included work on C. difficile, MRSA reductions, contamination of the environment with VRE and transmission.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows in this track will have specific opportunities to develop their expertise as Clinician Educators. Teaching opportunities include leading small group discussions with pre-clinical medical students and lecturing to medical students on clinical rotations and house staff.

View other concentrations: HIV | Transplant | Antimicrobial Stewardship | Wound Care/ HBO | Clinical Educator

Established in 2003, ASP is one of the most comprehensive programs in the country. It has successfully reversed resistance patterns, decreased inappropriate antimicrobial usage and lowered pharmacy costs.

Tufts MC's ASP closely works with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and its members, including ID fellows, regularly participate in statewide initiatives. These include a recent statewide educational program for hospitals interested in implementing antimicrobial stewardship and an initiative to improve the management of asymptomatic bacteriuria in the elderly.

Led by Gabriel Andujar Vazquez, MD, a graduate of the Tufts Infectious Diseases fellowship training program, and Maureen Campion, PharmD, a pharmacist with advanced training in infectious diseases and antimicrobials, the program offers opportunities for fellows to gain hands-on learning experience with close supervision. Maureen also rounds with fellows on the inpatient consult teams, providing the fellows with extra training in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacology.

All fellows participate in Antimicrobial Stewardship during their ID fellowship as a core training competency. Every fellow will have a closely supervised experience in approving restricted antimicrobials with feedback from the antimicrobial stewardship staff on this activity.

Fellows choosing this concentration will have a more intensive experience. In the end, they can implement and lead similar programs, making them highly desirable in the present infectious disease employment market. Many of our trainees have gone on to jobs where this skill has been well-utilized.

Educational experience

• We are developing educational materials for hospital staff and trainees on specific antimicrobial stewardship issues.
• Internal and external speaking opportunities promoting prudent antimicrobial use.
• They were prospectively evaluating and authorizing restricted antimicrobials on a routine basis.
• You are contributing to the annual revision of the Tufts MC "Antimicrobial Treatment and Dosing Guide" by developing clinical algorithms and treatment pathways.
• Leadership roles in hospital quality improvement task forces, allow fellows to have important input and to experience working in a multidisciplinary hospital team. 
• Integral involvement in the Tufts Antimicrobial Stewardship Team, where key processes and execution of policies and practices are developed and implemented.
• Weekly journal club reviewing guidelines, articles and news at the forefront of antimicrobial stewardship.
• I participate in the Antimicrobial subcommittee of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at Tufts MC, a multidisciplinary group that discusses essential antimicrobial use. 
• Participation in quarterly infection prevention meetings
• Participation in microbiology rounds

Research

For 2-year fellows and those interested and eligible for our 3-year Physician-Investigator track, many opportunities exist in antimicrobial stewardship-related research. Examples of recent projects include the effect of empiric therapy for neutropenic fever on C. difficile rates, implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship program in long-term care facilities and effect of mini-BAL results on de-escalation of antimicrobials for ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Antimicrobial stewardship is an exceptionally fertile area for QI/QA projects, and our fellows often choose projects from this area, even if not specifically enrolled in this concentration.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows in this track will have specific opportunities to develop their expertise as clinician educators. Teaching opportunities include leading small group discussions with pre-clinical medical students and lecturing to medical students on clinical rotations and housestaff.

View other concentrations: HIV | Transplant | Infection Prevention | Wound Care/HBO | Clinical Educator

All fellows in our program participate in the care of people who are undergoing or have undergone transplantation of solid organs or bone marrow. By participating in this concentration, you will gain extensive expertise in caring for people who have had solid organ or stem cell transplants while becoming board-eligible in infectious diseases. You will receive additional specialized training in transplant infections, such as management of ventricular assist device infections, pretransplant screening and post-transplant infection prevention and management.

We currently manage heart, liver, kidney and stem cell transplant patients, and as a division, we are actively involved in their care with our clinical specialty colleagues.

Fellows who choose this concentration will be able to provide the highest level of transplant infectious disease care at after their training and will be highly competitive for jobs in which transplant infectious disease experience is desired. Several alumni of the fellowship provide transplant infectious disease services at institutions worldwide.

You will have the opportunity to see a variety of patients who are being screened for solid organ transplantation and will manage patients with infections following transplantation.

Our program performs renal, liver, heart and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

You will also have the opportunity to participate in several subspecialized services for transplant infections, including:

• Ventricular assist device infection clinic
• Pre-transplant evaluations
• Post-transplant infection management 
• Developing and implementing guidelines for care in the pre-and post-transplantation period
• Multidisciplinary meetings for transplant evaluations and management

Educational experience

You will receive focused education on the management of transplant patients with:

• Didactic lecture series focused specifically on transplant infections
• Quarterly inter-city transplant infection conference 
• Focused curriculum of reading regarding transplant infections
• Participation in multidisciplinary conferences for renal, cardiac and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Research

Many opportunities exist in transplant infectious disease research for 2-year fellows and for fellows who are interested and eligible for our 3-year Physician-Investigator track. Recent studies include the role of iron in infection in liver transplant recipients, the prognostic significance of the pre-transplant lymphocyte count on invasive infections in liver transplant recipients, the clinical significance of early neutropenia in liver transplant recipients and invasive fungal infections in solid organ transplant recipients. Two-year fellows in this concentration will choose a research project in this area.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows in this track will have specific opportunities to develop their expertise as clinician educators. Teaching opportunities include leading small group discussions with pre-clinical medical students and lecturing to medical students on clinical rotations and house staff.

View other concentrations: HIV | Antimicrobial Stewardship | Infection Prevention | Wound Care / Clinical Educator Track

While becoming board-eligible in infectious diseases (ID), you will gain extensive expertise in caring for people living with HIV and its complications. You will also receive additional specialized training in HIV care, such as management of HIV-associated metabolic issues, management of anal dysplasia and care of the HIV-HCV/HBV co-infected patient. Fellows who choose this concentration will be able to provide the highest level of HIV care at the end of their training.

Clinical experience

The ID clinic provides services for approximately 620 patients living with HIV. Patients come from diverse socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, reflecting the people living with HIV (PLWH) in Boston. We provide a wide range of specialized medical services both in the ID clinic and jointly with other departments, allowing trainees broad clinical exposure.

The clinic has:

• A dedicated on-site social worker to assist clinicians and patients in issues such as insurance, housing, transportation, HIV Drug Assistance Program (HDAP) documentation, legal services to help patients with immigration concerns, divorce and establishing health care proxies, as needed.
• 2 dedicated ID pharmacists.
• High-resolution anoscopy clinic.
• HIV-HCV/HBV co-infection clinic at Tufts Medical Center and at the affiliated Lemuel Shattuck Hospital.
• Dedicated experience in managing post-exposure prophylaxis.
• Multidisciplinary support for pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV.

Additional clinical experiences can include:

• Prison-based clinics
• Telemedicine

Educational experience

You will receive focused education on the management of HIV:

• Didactic lecture series focused on HIV.
• Training in the interpretation of HIV genotypes.
• Participation in the fellow-led HIV Clinical Case Conference, which hosts invited speakers and where complex HIV-related issues are discussed.
• Paid attendance to a national or international HIV conference of your choice (e.g., C,ROI) during your fellowship.
• Oversight of monthly HIV Clinical Conference—organizing discussion of complicated HIV cases with internal and outside speakers.
• Collaboration with dental students/residents at Tufts Dental School, which provides dental care for PLWH.

Research

Many research opportunities are available for both 2-year Clinician-Educator track fellows and the 3-year Physician-Scientist track. These opportunities include both local and international projects. Clinician-Educator track fellows are encouraged to choose a research project in the area of HIV or HIV-related care. Our clinic also provides a wealth of opportunities for QI/QA projects.

Teaching opportunities

Fellows in this track will have specific opportunities to develop their expertise as Clinician Educators. Teaching opportunities include leading small group discussions with pre-clinical medical students and lecturing to medical students on clinical rotations and house staff.

View other concentrations: Transplant | Antimicrobial Stewardship | Infection Prevention | Wound Care / HBO | Clinical Educator