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Our Fellows

1st Year Fellows

Alexander Pomakov, MD

Alexander Pomakov, MD

Residency
University of Buffalo Internal Medicine Residency, Buffalo, NY

Hometown
Buffalo, NY

Why did you choose Rochester?
I knew Rochester was a great academic center by reputation and from classmates from medical school who did residency there.  I was fortunate enough to rotate through the department as a medical student and got to experience the collegial environment first hand. The faculty and fellows I met there and on my interview day were phenomenal and I knew I wanted to train with them. Rochester also has every resource that a great ID fellowship needs; ample clinical and research exposure, a transplant center, and an immunodeficiency clinic. As a bonus my wife is an academic attending at the OB/Gyn department and we have been enjoying the many fine dining places around the city for several years now!  

Why did you choose Infectious Diseases?
I love the scope and breadth of the specialty: from outpatient to the ICU, encompassing every body system and a body of knowledge unlike any other specialty including understanding the patient’s immunity, the pharmacology of antimicrobials and the life cycles and physiology of the microbes. It’s a field that rewards attention to detail and has a high impact on individual patient outcomes as well as communities. 

Research Interests?
I am interested in multi drug resistant organisms, infections in critically ill patient and anti-microbial stewardship in the ICU setting.

Career Plans?
I am interested in clinical work as well as being part of resident and medical student education. I am currently interested in pursuing a combination of infectious disease and critical care medicine down the line, but am open to the many opportunities of the field, including academics. 

2nd Year Fellows

Aryn Andrzejewski, MD

Aryn Andrzejewski, MD

Residency
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Internal Medicine Residency Program

Hometown
Buffalo, NY

Why did you choose Rochester?
I knew that the University of Rochester would help me achieve my future goals. The expertise of each attending I have met with and the collegiality between all staff members of the ID team that is emulated here is unmatched by any another program. I am very fortunate to have such excellent training so close to my hometown.

Why did you choose Infectious Diseases?
What intrigued me about the field of Infectious Diseases was the variety of complex disease processes, as every organ system has the potential to be affected by many different pathogens. To make things more complicated, there are a lot of gray areas and the field is ever changing, oftentimes in a highly unpredictable manner, as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This leads to multiple challenges and opens doors to an endless number of learning and teaching opportunities unique to this field. In addition, fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together in Infectious Diseases requires the use of multiple layers of information coupled with expansive clinical expertise in a way that no other field does.

Research Interests?
My research interests include HIV, other infectious complications as a consequence of intravenous drug use, and the use of telemedicine in ID.

Career Plans?
In the future, I plan on pursuing an addiction medicine fellowship and to split my time between general ID consults and HIV clinic while balancing being a clinical-educator. I believe that having training in both fields, ID and addiction, is invaluable. Throughout residency, I realized how much the addiction population could benefit from one physician who could address both, their addiction and their infection, whether it be HIV, endocarditis, or even a simple skin and soft tissue infection. Indirectly this would decrease the burden of multiple doctors and visits, therefore increasing follow-up, compliance, and trust in the medical system, each of which is a crucial aspect of care in these conditions.

Rachel Simpson, MD, PhD; ABIM Research Pathway

Rachel Simpson

Residency
University of Rochester Internal Medicine Program

Hometown
Davenport, IA

Why did you choose Rochester?
When I interviewed at Rochester, I was struck by the collaborative atmosphere as well as the enthusiasm for fostering top notch research and innovative educational initiatives.  As a resident, here, I found the culture to be incredibly supportive and I love the breadth of pathology we are exposed to, from basic foot infections to heart transplant patients.  I am very grateful to have been here throughout the pandemic and am looking forward to working in the Infectious Diseases division as a fellow.

Why did you choose Infectious Diseases?
I have both a BS and PhD in microbiology and have always been fascinated by human-pathogen interactions.  This naturally led to a clinical interest in infectious diseases!

Research Interests?
In research, I love big data and using novel computational approaches to tackle sticky clinical problems.  In my PhD, I studied RNA editing in Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of African Sleeping sickness.  In fellowship and beyond, I’m interested in exploring the utilization of different types of large data, such as deep sequencing and large scale proteomics, to improve diagnostic and prognostic measures.

Career Plans?
My goal is to stay in academic medicine with a balance of research and clinical time.

Tyler Stephen, MD; Combined Adult/Peds ID Fellowship

Tyler Stephen

Residency
University of Rochester Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program
Hometown
Littleton, CO

Why did you choose Rochester?
I chose Rochester for the program’s flexibility and wide range of exposures. The faculty and fellows are super welcoming and there is a close relationship with the pediatric infectious diseases department.

Why did you choose Infectious Diseases?
I really liked the idea of being the expert on a medical team without having to subspecialize in one specific organ system. I also love trivia and ID really encourages using a breadth of knowledge to help make diagnoses and treat patients.

Research Interests?
My research interests are mostly around vaccines and vaccine hesitancy at the moment.

Career Plans?
I am pursing a combined med-peds fellowship and my goal is to practice clinical infectious diseases with both children and adults.