Infectious Diseases

About Us

The Duke Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases is comprised of internationally-renowned experts in the molecular, translational, and clinical research of infections and the clinical management of these illnesses in children. Our division provides comprehensive inpatient consultation for children with common, unusual or severe infections, and is one of the few divisions in the country with a dedicated parallel pediatric transplant ID inpatient service for the vast number of immunocompromised children at Duke Children’s Hospital. Our busy outpatient clinic also provides specialized care to children referred from throughout North Carolina and the Southeastern US for both unique and more routine infectious concerns. However, what sets our division apart is our longstanding successful emphasis on training the next generation of physician-scientists in pediatric ID.

The division consists of 24 full or part-time faculty (MD, MD/PhD, or PhD), and has trained pediatric ID fellows for over 35 years. Faculty members in the division are active in clinical care; clinical, translational, and basic science research; and medical education. Division faculty members have won the prestigious Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Young Investigator Award 4 out of the past 10 years – more than any other division in the country; 3 of these awardees were former fellowship trainees. Several of our fellows have also been awarded the competitive NICHD-funded Pediatric Scientist Development Program and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society fellowships. The division has many faculty in prestigious national societies, including Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), and the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM).

In 2017, the division hired 6 new faculty to expand our clinical and research enterprises. This expansion will create one of the largest pediatric ID divisions in the country. The division runs two parallel inpatient consult services: a general pediatric ID service as well as a pediatric transplant ID service. In addition, we have dedicated faculty operating pediatric antimicrobial stewardship and pediatric infection control programs.

Our division faculty have significant leadership roles within Duke University Medical Center and the Department of Pediatrics. For example, Daniel Benjamin, MD PhD, serves as the associate faculty director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), the largest academic research organization in the world with over 1,100 faculty and staff performing clinical research. Michael Cohen-Wolkowiez, MD PhD, serves as the director of the Duke Early Phase Clinical Research Unit, which includes a 34-bed inpatient unit to accelerate research discovery. Sallie Permar, MD PhD, serves as the director of the Duke Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, the Department of Pediatric’s research hub. Tony Moody, MD, serves as the chief medical officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. Chip Walter, MD MPH, serves as the director of the Duke Clinical Vaccine Unit and co-PI of the Duke Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit (VTEU). Coleen Cunningham, MD is the vice chair for research, and Kathleen McGann, MD, is the vice chair for education in the Department of Pediatrics.

In 2017, the Duke Department of Pediatrics was ranked the second highest in NIH funding support for Pediatrics clinical departments throughout the country, including 3 faculty (2 in pediatric ID) in the top 10 of NIH-supported Pediatrics principal investigators. In addition, the Duke Division of Pediatric ID is one of the most well-funded research divisions in the nation. In 2017, division faculty led research programs funded through the NIH and other sources with extramural research totaling approximately $34 million from 35 awards, including 25 NIH awards (eight R01s, three P01s, and one U01). Faculty are currently involved in 195 IRB-approved projects and 16 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee-approved animal studies. Over the past five years, faculty have delivered 192 national or international presentations and published 447 peer-reviewed publications, 51 book chapters, and co-edited 5 textbooks. Faculty chair numerous national and international conferences, serve on the Red Book committee and other AAP and IDSA committees, and serve as an editor or author chapters in Feigin & Cherry’s Pediatric Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Nelson’s Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy, and the upcoming Pediatric Transplant and Oncology Infectious Diseases textbook. Pediatric ID faculty also serve as mentors for undergraduates, medical students, basic science graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and subspecialty fellows. Several division members have received departmental or institutional teaching awards, demonstrating the importance that our faculty place on medical education.