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.