Message from Program Director
Welcome to the Westchester Medical Center (WMC) Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. It is my great pleasure to serve as the Fellowship Program Director at WMC, the University Hospital affiliated with New York Medical College (NYMC), set on a beautiful wooded campus in the suburbs of New York City located in Westchester County extending along the eastern bank of the Hudson River.
Our fellowship program aspires to world-class training and mentoring of the next generation of clinicians, educators and researchers in the field of Infectious Diseases with special focus on tick borne diseases. The fellowship is a two-year program fully accredited by the ACGME. Two fellows are accepted each year for a total of four fellows.
WMC, the main training site for the program, is a 415-bed quaternary referral center and flagship hospital for a large healthcare system. It is also the primary teaching hospital for NYMC. WMC is known for having one of the highest case mix indices in the United States, meaning that its patients are among the most clinically complex of any hospital in the country providing the best opportunities to learn and care for a population spanning all medical and surgical subspecialties, including solid organ and bone marrow transplantation, HIV, tick borne diseases, critical care medicine including ECMO and LVAD, burn unit, neuro and level 1 trauma ICUs. Our program also has a vibrant antimicrobial stewardship team that provides guidance and clinical pathways for best antimicrobial use.
For a contrasting community-based experience, the fellows rotate also at Metropolitan Hospital Center, an affiliate site that is part of the NYC Health and Hospitals corporation that provides exposure to the outpatient and inpatient care of the prototypical community patients with HIV, HCV, STDs and tropical diseases. We believe that this combination of complementary training sites offers the broadest possible clinical scope, preparing fellows for practice in any environment upon graduation.
As part of a program based at an academic medical center and closely allied with NYMC located on campus, the fellows are granted four months of research time during their second year to pursue scholarly basic or clinically oriented projects with the encouragement and mentorship of the faculty. They also interact with NYMC medical students in multiple settings. There is an extensive list of conferences, journal clubs, board review sessions, and Grand rounds composed of both faculty and fellows presentations.
We greatly value our fellows’ contributions to our Division and are very proud of their consistent accomplishments in clinical care, research, and education during fellowship and beyond. Our fellows are committed to lifelong learning and most remain in close contact with us personally and professionally for years after completing their fellowship.
Our fellowship participates in ERAS and invites applications from candidates interested in its mission of providing premier clinical training in an environment conducive to scholarly output. I hope that the information on this website provides you with a helpful overview of our training program, As you consider your choice of fellowship programs, we hope that your individual goals and priorities will find a good fit here. If you have any questions about our program please feel free to contact me or our Program Coordinator, Lisa Giarratano (lisa.giarratano@wmchealth.org or 914.493.6612) at any time.
Sincerely,
Marc El Khoury, MD
Fellowship Program Director, Division of Infectious Diseases
Associate Professor of Medicine, Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College
Program Overview
The Infectious Diseases (ID) Division has a responsibility to provide care for patients with a wide assortment of infections. They include tertiary care patients with solid organ (kidney, liver and heart) or bone marrow transplants; oncology, HIV/AIDS, high-risk obstetrics, level 1 trauma and burn patients; and critical care and post-surgical patients. The ID Fellowship Program is based at Westchester Medical Center, but also includes College-affiliated Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York City. There currently are four fellows in the program who interact with up to 10 different adult and three pediatric ID physicians. A highlight of our program is the Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center that was established to provide clinical care and conduct research studies on regional tick-borne infections. Focusing on prevention, treatment, diagnosis, pathogenesis and co-infections, cutting–edge research is conducted in collaboration with other departments at New York Medical College such as Microbiology and Immunology. Funding primarily comes from the NIH, CDC, New York State and private industry.
Research interests also include other tick-borne infections such as human granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis, as well as Powassan virus encephalitis. Other area of research involve HIV/AIDS, infection control interventions, antibiotic resistant bacteria, Mpox, and infections in transplant recipients and novel T.pallidum strain responsible for painful chancre. Our faculty had been involved in some pharmaceutically-funded clinical trials involving the use of experimental antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral agents.
Program Curriculum and Schedule
Curriculum
Our curriculum offers our fellows immense flexibility, with a total of four months of research (two weeks in the first year and three-and-a-half months in the second year) in addition to two-and-a-half months of elective time (two weeks in the first year and two months in the second year). Fellows have the opportunity to do research during the year with dedicated academic time every Tuesday afternoon after clinic.
Electives
Can comprise any of the following: Tropical and Travel Medicine with the internationally renowned Christina Coyle, MD, at Jacobi Hospital Tropical Medicine Clinic, Solid organ transplant, Infection prevention and control, Antimicrobial stewardship, Critical care elective, Wound care, Pediatrics, HIV.
Outpatient Infectious Diseases
The outpatient continuity practice is a key component of the education of our Infectious Diseases fellows. Fellows spend one half-day per week caring for a panel of outpatients that they will follow throughout their fellowship training. The fellows see patients under the supervision of an attending. One-on-one mentoring in a superb environment allows our fellows to develop the skills they need to practice outstanding patient-centered outpatient Infectious Diseases and HIV medicine.
On-Call
Our fellows are on call from home during weeknights. The weekend call will be divided equally among the four fellows. Fellows will be rounding during the day on-site with a faculty attending at Westchester Medical Center and by phone covering Metropolitan Hospital. At all times, faculty members are available for phone or in-person support.
Research Opportunities
All fellows are expected to formulate and complete at least one research project during the two-year fellowship, supervised by a faculty member of their choice. Formal submission and presentation of the fellow's work in a format suitable for publication is required. Travel is supported for fellows to present their work at regional and national meetings. The Senior Research Mentor for our Infectious Diseases fellows is Gary Wormser, MD, one of the most widely respected and prolific clinical researchers in the world with more than 1,000 publications and abstracts, several book chapters, and books. Under his tutelage, our fellows have had tremendous success in the research arena, with presentations at all major national venues. In addition, almost every fellow in the past 20 years has authored at least one publication during or following their training,
Quality Improvement Projects
All fellows are required to participate in a quality improvement project during their fellowship, which often leads to a dedicated research project and a publication. Projects will be presented during one of the ID grand rounds.
Conferences
Tuesdays
– Core curriculum lecture or 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
– Board review Sessions or 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
– Journal Club 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Wednesdays
ID Grand Round 9 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Case management rounds 10 am. - 10:30 a.m.
Inter-City Rounds every 3-4 months
Microbiology Rounds
With the help of Dr. Keller Marina our fantastic clinician and microbiology expert, fellows have the opportunity to have multiple stops in the microbiology labs during the week to review gram stains and interesting bacterial and fungal cultures, in addition to reviewing blood parasite smears and buffy coat smears. Fellows also will have monthly dedicated lectures with Dr. Chaturvedi Vishnu our microbiology lab director, who is a national expert in fungal diseases.
Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center
Under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Wormser, our world renowned tick-borne diseases expert and researcher, during the summer, the fellows have the opportunity to see patients in the Lyme Diagnostic Center and become experts in diagnosing and treating patients with Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis or any other tick-borne disease and learn from the best in the field. In addition they will have a chance to learn to identify different ticks with the help of an entomologist when available on-site. Fellows will also have the opportunity to participate in research in this field.
Vacation
Each fellow is allotted four weeks of vacation and four personal days during each year of training.
Sample Rotation Schedule
Current Fellows
Maria Cochran, MD
Medical School: Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara Facultad de Medicina
Residency: Universidad Central del Caribe Program (Internal Medicine - General)
Thomas Pustorino, MD
Medical School: St. George's University School of Medicine
Residency: Atlantic Health (Overlook) Program (Internal Medicine - General)
Chinwe Anekwe, MD
Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine, Barbados
Graduation Date: November 2018
Residency: Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL, United States of America, ACGME Residency
Kuldeep Ghosh, MD
Medical School: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Graduation Date: March 2012
Residency: New York Medical College-Metropolitan Hospital Center, New York, NY, United States of America, ACGME Residency
Alumni
Marie Barbara Bastien, MD (7/1/2021-6/30/2023)
Rachel Gnanaprakasam, MBBS (7/1/2021-6/30/2023)
Thai Ngyuen, MD (7/1/2020-6/30/2022)
Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona, FL
Maria Rosa Velasquez Espiritu, MD (7/1/2020-6/30/2022)
NYC Health and Hospitals, Metropolitan Hospital, Infectious Diseases, New York, NY
Tarun Popli, MD (7/1/2019-6/30/2021)
Full time ID specialist at Marshal University School of Medicine, Huntington Medical Center, Huntington, West Virginia
Anthony Tran, MD (7/1/2019-6/30/2021)
Critical Care Fellowship, Oregon Health & Science University
Luis Tatem, MD (12/1/2017-11/30/2019)
Full time ID specialist at SUNY Downstate, NY
Julieta Sanchez Ruiz MD (7/1/2018-6/30/2020)
Full time ID specialist at SUNY Downstate, NY
Adam Ferin, MD (7/1/2018-6/30/2020)
Full time ID specialist at Virtua Infectious Diseases, Mount Laurel, NJ
Piotr Kapinos, MD (07/01/2016-06/30/18)
Locum Tenens, ID specialist
Arturo Pascual, MD (07/01/16-06/30/18)
Full-time ID specialist in West Nyack, NY, Group practice.
Sarosh Khan, MD (07/01/15-06/30/17)
Full-time ID specialist in Morristown, NJ
Quarat Ul Ain Mudassar, MD (07/01/15-06/30/18)
Full-time ID specialist at White Plains Hospital, NY
Eliana Lopez, MD (07/01/14-06/30/16)
Full-time ID specialist at Metropolitan Hospital, New York City, NY
Praveen Sudhindra, MD (07/01/14-06/30/14)
Full-time ID critical care specialist, in UnityPoint Health, Peoria, IL
Alfonso Llosa, MD (07/01/13-06/30/15)
Full-time ID specialist, Phelps Memorial Hospital, NY
Irida Molla, MD (07/01/13-06/30/15)
Full-time ID specialist, Richmond, KY
Faculty
Marc El Khoury, MD
Acting Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Program Director, Fellowship Program at Westchester Medical Center
Gary P. Wormser, MD
Associate Program Director
Division Director, New York Medical College
Marisa Montecalvo, MD
Director, Students Health Office, New York Medical College
Deputy Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Health, NY
General Infectious Diseases
Maymonah Belal, MD
Maria Ng, MD
Jaishvi Eapen, MD
Alexander Hrycko, MD
Transplant Infectious Diseases
Abhay Dhand, MD
Director, Transplant ID and Antimicrobial Stewardship Team
Rajat Nog, MD
Infection Control and Prevention
Donald Chen, MD
Hospital Epidemiologist/Director, Infection Control
Stephen Lobo, MD
Marina Keller, MD
Ambulatory Clinics: AIDS Care Center
Rebecca Glassman MD
Medical Director of the HIV Clinic
Metropolitan Faculty
Maria Rosa Velasquez Espiritu, MD
Alfonso Llosa, MD
How to Apply
Those interested in applying to the program must do so through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) www.nrmp.org. Applications are accepted through Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS).
In order to apply to the program, we require a complete application package to be submitted via ERAS. A minimum of three letters of recommendation, including one from your Internal Medicine Residency Program Director, is required.
Please access the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) for more information on our programs.
Virtual Interviews
The Fellowship Selection Committee will review your application after the required materials have been submitted via ERAS. Interviews will take place during the months of September to November 2023. This year the Infectious Diseases Society of America and its Training Program Directors' Committee has rendered guidance that 2023 recruitment should be all-virtual for all programs and applicants. When invited for interview through ERAS, you will be contacted by our fellowship coordinator for further instructions and the link needed for the virtual interview.
However, If applicants would like to come for a tour at a later date to see our facilities, they are welcome (please contact us 48 hours in advance). If you are not able to come for a tour, this will not impact your application in any way.
Visa Sponsorship
WMC will sponsor J-1 Visas. Sponsorship of H1-B Visas will be considered on a case-by-case basis for the most highly qualified applicants.
Contact Us
Phone: 914.493.6612
Fax: 914.493.6708
Marc El Khoury, MD
Program Director
Email: Marc.elkhoury@wmchealth.org
Gary Wormser MD
Associate Program Director
Email: Gwormser@nymc.edu
Lisa Giarratano
Division Manager/Fellowship Coordinator
Email: Lisa.giarratano@wmchealth.org