An initiative of
Dr. Evelyn Lo
Program Director
Deb Stratton
The Subspecialty Training Program in Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba is accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as a two year period of training. Candidates may enter our program after completing three core years of training in either Internal Medicine.
The strengths of our program are it’s strong microbiology training and collaboration, our close ties with national public health given that Winnipeg is the site for both the NCCID and NML (see below), and global health research connections, particularly in Colombia, Africa and India. We are also proud of our connectedness between adult and pediatric ID programs along with medical microbiology allowing a larger community of residents in the programs while at the same time our smaller size allows for more flexibility in individual resident’s training.
Adult ID has not started competency based curriculum at this time. We expect to implement CBD in the future according to RCPSC timelines.
The clinical component of the adult program is based on the four Infectious Diseases consulting services at the University of Manitoba teaching hospitals, including the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Service with Drs. Joanne Embree, Paul Van Caeseele, Sergio Fanella, Rachel Dwilow, , Guillaume Poliquin, Maryanne Crockett and Jared Bullard (Department Head); and the General Infectious Diseases Consult Service at St. Boniface General Hospital with Drs. Evelyn Lo, Cathy Smith, Amila Heendeniya and Terry Wuerz; and the Surgical and Medical Infectious Diseases Consulting Services at the Health Sciences Centre with Drs. Greg Hammond, Fred Aoki, Pamela Orr, Eric Bow, Ken Kasper, Andrew Walkty, Yoav Keynan, Lauren MacKenzie, John Embil and Kelly MacDonald (Department Head). Adult Infectious Diseases residents complete two pediatric rotations, three rotations at St. Boniface General Hospital and two rotations each on the Surgical and the Medical Infectious Diseases Services at the Health Sciences Centre. Other mandatory rotations includes Infection control rotation, Public Health and Antimicrobial Stewardship. Our site also has a mandatory multispecialty clinic block which includes areas that have significant outpatient components including STD clinic, TB clinic, Hepatology and travel health. Electives can be undertaken in dermatology, allergy/immunology, research, community IV program and transplant/immunodeficiency. As Winnipeg also hosts the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID), residents may undertake an elective there as well additionally or for part of their public health block.
The laboratory training component of the program occurs in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratories of the Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface General Hospital, Cadham Provincial Laboratory and National Microbiology Laboratory. We attempt to have our residents begin their laboratory training at the St. Boniface General Hospital Clinical Microbiology Laboratory with Drs. Lagace-Wiens, Christine Turenne, and James Karlowsky within the first two rotations in order to acquire a timely overview and fundamental skills required in a hospital Microbiology Laboratory. Additional general clinical microbiology skills are obtained in the Microbiology Laboratory of the Health Sciences Centre with Drs. Andrew Walkty and Heather Adam. Residents spend additional time in the Mycobacteriology and Mycology Sections of the laboratory. The Cadham Provincial Laboratory offers training in environmental bacteriology, serological diagnosis and medical virology including retrovirology. Molecular diagnostic techniques can be acquired in the laboratories of both the Health Sciences Centre and the St. Boniface General Hospital. As per new 2016 standards, the number of laboratory rotations have been reduced. Although the minimum requirement is now 3 blocks, U of M will be offering 4.5 blocks of microbiology we believe this is a strong component of our program. This will include a 2 week block at the National Microbiology laboratory.
As part of the clinical training that is undertaken with the University of Manitoba, all trainees will participate in continuity of care clinics. During the first year, a general Infectious Diseases Clinic is attended, while in second year, the trainees participate in a continuity of care clinic focusing on persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. The clinic based activity is to highlight the importance of ambulatory care in the management of persons with infectious diseases. The range of pathology presenting to these clinics is broad and consists of patients referred from primary care physicians from the community as well as patients seen on the inpatient consultation service.
The trainees will have access to the Centre for Global Public Health, which is currently working on research projects in 3 countries. Other unique local educational resources include the National Microbiology Laboratory, opportunities to participate in remote and northern medicine as it pertains to infectious diseases and the NCCID (National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease) which is the national centre for knowledge translation for ID.
There are a number of scheduled educational events for Infectious Diseases residents. These include weekly case presentations on Friday mornings which are televised between the two teaching hospitals (this has consistently been one of our best educational and quality control programs); weekly “Plate” Rounds in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratories of each of the teaching hospitals during which the microbiology of important or interesting isolates for the week are reviewed. In addition, Medical Microbiology Review Seminars and a Medical Microbiology Journal Club are held monthly together with the graduate students in the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba. The monthly Joint Infectious Disease and Clinical Microbiology Journal Club is held over lunch hour after case rounds. Residents also attend Visiting Professor Rounds in both the Department of Medicine and the Department of Medical Microbiology. A weekly academic half day incorporates clinical teaching seminars and workshops on clinical Infectious disease, Non –medical expert competencies and in addition, a series of graduate level University courses cover – Clinical Bacteriology (coordinated by faculty members of the Section of Infectious Diseases), Clinical Parasitology and Clinical Virology.
During the course of the two year program we involve our residents in research activities. It is a priority for Infectious Diseases residents to develop research skills. As per Royal college requirements, residents must complete a publishable research project during their tenure here.
Careers in Infectious Diseases vary considerably. Some residents have elected to combine Clinical Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology training by adding a third year to their training program and thus completing a combined med micro/ID residency which allows them to sit for the royal college exams for both medical microbiology and Infectious Diseases. If accepted for ID and acceptable to the Med micro program, the third year of funding has been secured for these trainees. The Director for the Subspecialty Training Program in Medical Microbiology is Dr. Andrew Walkty. Other residents have elected to pursue further clinical research through the Clinical Investigators Program offered by the University of Manitoba, a Master’s Degree in Public Health and Epidemiology or graduate research training toward a Ph.D. Degree in Basic Sciences. Public Health and Infection Control remain additional areas that individuals can pursue. Similar to the American model, a few residents have elected to pursue a clinical career comprising Clinical Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine and Infection Control in community hospitals.
This residency program is for 2 year(s)
Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.
Two Year Infectious Diseases Fellowship:
The applicants must indicate which publications are in peer reviewed versus non-peer reviewed journals/publications. If the applicant has submitted an article for publication at the time of CaRMS application, the applicant must provide evidence of journal notification of submission. The applicants must indicate all presentations at local resident research day as well as national and international conferences, and any prizes awarded. If a presentation (oral or abstract) has been submitted to a conference, the applicant should include any letter of acceptance by conference organizers.
A current curriculum vitae (CV) including all relevant information required for assessment of education, leadership, administrative and research experience is mandatory. Where applicable, please document whether activities are voluntary or reimbursed. Your CV should be downloaded to the document section. For research papers that have been submitted but not yet published, please include acknowledgement of submission from the journal. See comments above under Research/Publications for information regarding how to document your work.
International or US Medical Graduates Only – you must provide a RCPSC assessment of training form from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada: website: www.rcpsc.medical.org
For the CaRMS Match which will take place in the Fall of 2021, all interviews will be conducted electronically. The applicant may meet electronically with a panel of interviewers, or with interviewers individually, or a combination of both.
Please be advised that the 2023 PGME New Resident Orientation Day is scheduled for Thursday, June 29, 2023.
This Orientation is mandatory for all incoming residents.
