Table of Contents
Credits
Host: Sara Dong
Guest: Scott James
Writing/Producing/Editing/Cover Art: Sara Dong
Our Guests
Scott James, MD
Scott H. James, MD is Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He has served as the UAB Peds ID Fellowship Program Director since 2016 and is also Principal Investigator of an NIH-funded laboratory focused on antiviral screening and drug development. He is active in clinical research as Co-Investigator on several multicenter trials through the Congenital and Perinatal Infections Consortium. He serves as Chair of the PIDS Training Programs Committee and the newly formed Fellowship Training Task Force, is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research, the Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society, the PIDS Pediatric COVID-19 Therapies Task Force, the APPD Subspecialty Pediatrics Investigators Network, and the Council of Pediatric Subspecialties. Scott lives in Birmingham, AL with his wife Jaime and their four children
Consult Notes
Key Points
Make sure to check out the Season 2 Finale and 2023 Match Update at episode 65 with Dr. Brad Cutrell:
https://febrilepodcast.com/65-matchupdate/
- We discussed a few topics related to workforce and recruitment including a bit of historical context
Match Statistics
Adult ID 2024 Appointment | Adult ID 2023 Appointment | Pediatric ID 2024 Appointment | Pediatric ID 2023 Appointment | |
Certified programs | 189 | 175 | 53 | 56 |
Programs filled | 96 (50.8%) | 98 (56%) | 20 (37.7%) | 24 (43%) |
Programs unfilled | 93 (49.2%) | 77 (44%) | 33 (62.3%) | 32 (57%) |
Certified positions | 450 | 441 | 77 | 81 |
Positions filled | 303 (67.3%) | 328 (74%) | 37 (48.1%) | 40 (49%) |
Positions unfilled | 147 (32.7%) | 113 (26%) | 40 (51.9%) | 41 (51%) |
- Resources that will be put in Consult Notes
- Some official match responses:
Scott discussed the landscape of the pediatric ID workforce
- There is a high demand for pediatric ID physicians, and the PIDS job board has >100 listings
- There are an estimated 1.7 PID subspecialists per 100k children <18 years old in the US, but not distributed evenly. 45% or 25 million children must travel >20 miles to be cared for by a PID specialist.
We mentioned a few PIDS programs including:
- SUMMERS program, Summer Research Scholars Award, trying to expose early learners and pair with ID mentorship
- meetID (Mentored, Engaging, Educational, Trainee-Focused) program, trainees able to attend meeting (St. Jude/PIDS, PAS, IDWeek)
Scott discussed a variety of topics including
- Fair compensation, which IDSA and PIDS have been trying to advocate for larger systems changes
- Salaries are on average lower than general pediatricians
- Rochlin, Jonathan M, and Harold K Simon. “Does fellowship pay: what is the long-term financial impact of subspecialty training in pediatrics?.” Pediatrics vol. 127,2 (2011): 254-60. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-1285: this analysis showed that the investment in PID fellowship training and career with lifetime earning deficit of $870k
- Catenaccio, Eva et al. “Differences in Lifetime Earning Potential for Pediatric Subspecialists.” Pediatrics vol. 147,4 (2021): e2020027771. doi:10.1542/peds.2020-027771
- Another important point is that lower PID salaries contribute to disparities in access to care and may thwart efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity of PID
- Salaries are on average lower than general pediatricians
- Debt relief programs, such as the Pediatric Subspecialty Loan Repayment Program
- The 2 year vs 3 year track debate in the setting of pediatric ID fellowship training
- Addressing the physician scientist journey
- Impact of combined fellowships
- Take a look at some of these resources:
- Especially this recent article: Myers, Angela L et al. “Averting a Crisis: Innovating Pediatric Infectious Diseases Recruitment and Training.” Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society vol. 12,11 (2023): 559-563. doi:10.1093/jpids/piad084
- Snowden, Jessica, and Scott H James. “Developing a Career in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.” Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society vol. 7,suppl_2 (2018): S57-S59. doi:10.1093/jpids/piy123
- JPIDS Supplement Dec 2022 Eliminating Health Disparities in Pediatric ID
- Tanya Rogo, Sabina Holland, Magali Fassiotto, Yvonne Maldonado, Tuhina Joseph, Octavio Ramilo, Katrina Byrd, Shirley Delair, Strategies to Increase Workforce Diversity in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Volume 11, Issue Supplement_4, December 2022, Pages S148–S154, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piac094
- Anthony R Flores, Tina Q Tan, Kristina A Bryant, Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Pediatric Infectious Diseases Workforce, Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Volume 11, Issue Supplement_4, December 2022, Pages S125–S126, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piac103
- Yeh SH, Vijayan V, Hahn A, et al. Profile of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Workforce in 2015 [published correction appears in J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2019 Jul 1;8(3):287]. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2019;8(1):29-38. doi:10.1093/jpids/pix094
- Macy ML, Leslie LK, Turner A, Freed GL. Growth and changes in the pediatric medical subspecialty workforce pipeline. Pediatr Res. 2021;89(5):1297-1303. doi:10.1038/s41390-020-01311-7
- Catenaccio E, Rochlin JM, Simon HK. Differences in Lifetime Earning Potential for Pediatric Subspecialists. Pediatrics. 2021 Apr;147(4):e2020027771. doi: 10.1542/peds.2020-027771. Epub 2021 Mar 8. PMID: 33685988.
- Orr, Colin J et al. “Pursuing a Career in Pediatrics: Intersection of Educational Debt and Race/Ethnicity.” The Journal of pediatrics vol. 252 (2023): 162-170. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.08.014
Infographics
Disclosures
Our guest (Scott James) as well as Febrile podcast and hosts report no relevant financial disclosures
Citation
James, S., Dong, S. “#89: Season 3 Finale & Match Update”. Febrile: A Cultured Podcast. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/78115403-e1ae-45db-b324-0f0466db9ba6