Message from Program Director
Welcome to the Westchester Medical Center (WMC) Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. It is my great pleasure to serve as the Fellowship Program Director at WMC, the University Hospital affiliated with New York Medical College (NYMC), set on a beautiful wooded campus in the suburbs of New York City located in Westchester County extending along the eastern bank of the Hudson River.
Our fellowship program aspires to world-class training and mentoring of the next generation of clinicians, educators and researchers in the field of Infectious Diseases with special focus on tick borne diseases. The fellowship is a two-year program fully accredited by the ACGME. Two fellows are accepted each year for a total of four fellows.
WMC, the main training site for the program, is a 415-bed quaternary referral center and flagship hospital for a large healthcare system. It is also the primary teaching hospital for NYMC. WMC is known for having one of the highest case mix indices in the United States, meaning that its patients are among the most clinically complex of any hospital in the country providing the best opportunities to learn and care for a population spanning all medical and surgical subspecialties, including solid organ and bone marrow transplantation, HIV, tick borne diseases, critical care medicine including ECMO and LVAD, burn unit, neuro and level 1 trauma ICUs. Our program also has a vibrant antimicrobial stewardship team that provides guidance and clinical pathways for best antimicrobial use.
For a contrasting community-based experience, the fellows rotate also at Metropolitan Hospital Center, an affiliate site that is part of the NYC Health and Hospitals corporation that provides exposure to the outpatient and inpatient care of the prototypical community patients with HIV, HCV, STDs and tropical diseases. We believe that this combination of complementary training sites offers the broadest possible clinical scope, preparing fellows for practice in any environment upon graduation.
As part of a program based at an academic medical center and closely allied with NYMC located on campus, the fellows are granted four months of research time during their second year to pursue scholarly basic or clinically oriented projects with the encouragement and mentorship of the faculty. They also interact with NYMC medical students in multiple settings. There is an extensive list of conferences, journal clubs, board review sessions, and Grand rounds composed of both faculty and fellows presentations.
We greatly value our fellows’ contributions to our Division and are very proud of their consistent accomplishments in clinical care, research, and education during fellowship and beyond. Our fellows are committed to lifelong learning and most remain in close contact with us personally and professionally for years after completing their fellowship.
Our fellowship participates in ERAS and invites applications from candidates interested in its mission of providing premier clinical training in an environment conducive to scholarly output. I hope that the information on this website provides you with a helpful overview of our training program, As you consider your choice of fellowship programs, we hope that your individual goals and priorities will find a good fit here. If you have any questions about our program please feel free to contact me or our Program Coordinator, Lisa Giarratano (lisa.giarratano@wmchealth.org or 914.493.6612) at any time.
Sincerely,
Marc El Khoury, MD
Fellowship Program Director, Division of Infectious Diseases
Associate Professor of Medicine, Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College
Program Overview and Curriculum
The Infectious Diseases (ID) Division has responsibility to provide care for patients with a wide assortment of infections. They include tertiary care patients with solid organ (kidney, liver and heart) or bone marrow transplants; oncology, HIV/AIDS, high-risk obstetrics, level 1 trauma and burn patients; and critical care and post-surgical patients. ID faculty serves Westchester Medical Center as medical director of the AIDS Care Center, director of the Antibiotic Stewardship Program and as hospital epidemiologist. A Travelers’ Health Service provides vaccinations and advice for prospective travelers and offers care for post-travel infections.
A Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center was established to provide clinical care and conduct research studies on regional tick-borne infections. Focusing on prevention, treatment, diagnosis, pathogenesis and co-infections, cutting–edge research is conducted in collaboration with other departments at New York Medical College such as Microbiology and Immunology. Funding primarily comes from the NIH, CDC, New York State and private industry.
An ID Fellowship Program is based at Westchester Medical Center, but also includes College-affiliated Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York City. There currently are four fellows in the program who interact with up to 10 different adult and three pediatric ID physicians.
A core clinical research unit with a certified research coordinator, nurses and laboratory scientists is available for other clinical departments to use as well. Of special research interest are tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis, HIV/AIDS, infection control interventions, antibiotic resistant bacteria, staphylococcus infections and immunology of aging, with and without HIV infection. Other research endeavors involve the management of sinusitis and nasal polyps and the use of experimental antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral agents.
Current Fellows
Thai Ngyuen, MD-PGY5
Medical School: The University of South Carolina (USC) School of Medicine
Graduation Date: May 2017
Residency: Prisma Health/USC (2017-2020)
Maria Rosa Velasquez Espiritu, MD-PGY5
Medical School: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Graduation Date: March 2010
Residency: Metropolitan Hospital, NYC, NY (2017-2020)
Marie Barbara Bastien, MD-PGY4
Medical School: Université Notre Dame d'Haïti Faculté de Médecine
Graduation Date: December 2006
Residency: Bronxcare Health System Program (Internal Medicine - General) (2018-2021)
Rachel Gnanaprakasam, MBBS-PGY4
Medical School: Madurai Medical College
Graduation Date: September 2008
Residency: Bronxcare Health System Program (Internal Medicine - General) (2018-2021)
Alumni
Tarun Popli, MD (7/1/2019-6/30/2021)
Full time ID specialist at Marshal University School of Medicine, Huntington Medical Center, Huntington, West Virginia
Anthony Tran, MD (7/1/2019-6/30/2021)
Critical Care Fellowship, Oregon Health & Science University
Luis Tatem, MD (12/1/2017-11/30/2019)
Full time ID specialist at SUNY Downstate, NY
Julieta Sanchez Ruiz MD (7/1/2018-6/30/2020)
Full time ID specialist at SUNY Downstate, NY
Adam Ferin, MD (7/1/2018-6/30/2020)
Full time ID specialist at Virtua Infectious Diseases, Mount Laurel, NJ
Piotr Kapinos, MD (07/01/2016-06/30/18)
Locum Tenens, ID specialist
Arturo Pascual, MD (07/01/16-06/30/18)
Full-time ID specialist in West Nyack, NY, Group practice.
Sarosh Khan, MD (07/01/15-06/30/17)
Full-time ID specialist in Morristown, NJ
Quarat Ul Ain Mudassar, MD (07/01/15-06/30/18)
Full-time ID specialist at White Plains Hospital, NY
Eliana Lopez, MD (07/01/14-06/30/16)
Full-time ID specialist at Metropolitan Hospital, New York City, NY
Praveen Sudhindra, MD (07/01/14-06/30/14)
Full-time ID critical care specialist, in UnityPoint Health, Peoria, IL
Alfonso Llosa, MD (07/01/13-06/30/15)
Full-time ID specialist, Phelps Memorial Hospital, NY
Irida Molla, MD (07/01/13-06/30/15)
Full-time ID specialist, Richmond, KY
Faculty
Marc El Khoury, MD
Acting Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Program Director, Fellowship Program at Westchester Medical Center
Gary P. Wormser, MD
Associate Program Director
Division Director, New York Medical College
Marisa Montecalvo, MD
Director, Students Health Office, New York Medical College
Deputy Commissioner, Westchester County Department of Health, NY
General Infectious Diseases
Maymonah Belal, MD
Maria Ng, MD
Zachary Fleischner, MD
Alexander Hrycko, MD
Transplant Infectious Diseases
Abhay Dhand, MD
Director, Transplant ID and Antimicrobial Stewardship Team
Rajat Nog, MD
Infection Control and Prevention
Donald Chen, MD
Hospital Epidemiologist/Director, Infection Control
Stephen Lobo, MD
Marina Keller, MD
Ambulatory Clinics: AIDS Care Center
Rebecca Glassman MD
Medical Director of the HIV Clinic
Metropolitan Faculty
Khatuna Kadeishvili, MD
Acting Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Eliana Lopez, MD
How to Apply
Those interested in applying to the program must do so through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) www.nrmp.org. Applications are accepted through Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS).
In order to apply to the program, we require a complete application package to be submitted via ERAS. A minimum of three letters of recommendation, including one from your Internal Medicine Residency Program Director, is required.
Please access the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) for more information on our programs.
Virtual Interviews
The Fellowship Selection Committee will review your application after the required materials have been submitted via ERAS. Interviews will take place during the months of September and October (specific dates TBD). This year the Infectious Diseases Society of America and its Training Program Directors' Committee has rendered guidance that 2021 recruitment should be all-virtual for all programs and applicants. When invited for interview through ERAS, you will be contacted by our fellowship coordinator for further instructions and the link needed for the virtual interview.
Visa Sponsorship
WMC will sponsor J-1 Visas. Sponsorship of H1-B Visas will be considered on a case-by-case basis for the most highly qualified applicants.
Contact Us
Phone: 914.493.6612
Fax: 914.493.6708
Marc El Khoury, MD
Program Director
Email: Marc.elkhoury@wmchealth.org
Gary Wormser MD
Associate Program Director
Email: Gwormser@nymc.edu
Lisa Giarratano
Division Manager/Fellowship Coordinator
Email: Lisa.giarratano@wmchealth.org