Infectious Diseases Global Health Track

The Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) / Global Health Research Training Pathway is a specialized fellowship designed for pediatricians pursuing clinical and research careers in childhood infectious diseases with a focus on global health. This combined pathway is integrated into the second and third years of a traditional three-year Pediatric ID fellowship, concentrating on research and scholarly activities.

Program Highlights

  • Dual Focus: In addition to the foundational Pediatric ID training, fellows engage deeply in global health research, collaborating with both local and international partners to develop expertise in infectious diseases within global contexts.
  • Field Experience: Fellows have the option to undertake clinical electives in low- and middle-income countries, where they work on a targeted research or quality-improvement project aligned with global health needs.
  • Scholarly Output: The program emphasizes scholarly achievements, expecting fellows to produce a first-authored publication or other scholarly output (e.g., a manuscript) by the end of the fellowship to meet board eligibility requirements set by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP).
  • Ongoing Learning: Fellows engage in seminars, lectures, and journal clubs relevant to global health.

Graduates receive a Certificate in Global Health Research and meet the standards of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and ABP, preparing them for impactful careers in childhood infectious disease within global health contexts.

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Current Fellows

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Katherine McAleese

MD

Dr. McAleese attended medical school at Georgetown University, and completed her combined medical training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics with a certificate in global health at Medstar Georgetown in Washington, DC. She was inspired to pursue a medical career after her work on Lymphatic Filariasis in Leogane, Haiti with the University of Notre Dame. She continued her work on neglected parasitic infections while at Georgetown with her research on Chagas disease in transplant recipients. She is currently a clinical fellow in the pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her current research focus is understanding treatment outcomes of pediatric patients with Chagas disease in the Boston area, in addition to expanding screening programs in both pregnant women and children.

Projects

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ID Fellowship Faculty

Geoffrey Guenther, MD, MPH

Geoffrey Guenther, MD, MPH is an Assistant in Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the lead faculty for Infectious Diseases education in the Margaret C. Ryan Global Health Program at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He collaborates closely with researchers at the Blantyre Malaria Project and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Blantyre, Malawi. His current research projects focus on tackling child health challenges in resource-limited settings in Malawi: improving the application of malaria rapid diagnostic tests and developing an algorithmic outpatient approach to children with fever in malaria-endemic communities. Dr. Guenther is also the recipient of several teaching awards and has launched numerous educational initiatives at Boston Children's Hospital, most recently collaborating on an Infectious Diseases curriculum for Pediatrics trainees at John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia.

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Geoffrey Guenther, MD, MPH
Infectious Diseases Education Faculty

Projects

COVID Transmission and Morbidity in Malawi

During his infectious disease global health fellowship, Geoffrey Guenther MD, MPH and his collaborators investigated whether malaria or other parasitic diseases endemic to Malawi are playing a role in less severe illness from COVID-19 or are affecting the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Guenther works with partners in Malawi to support establishing research sites and training the study staff who will be working in the field to increase local infectious disease research capacity.

TB Screening in Pregnant and Postpartum Women Living With HIV in Botswana

Dr. Melanie Dubois contributed to two research studies on maternal, pediatric and adolescent tuberculosis, contributed to improved tuberculosis care delivery for pregnant women and children.

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