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 infectious diseases.

The division consists of 20 full or part-time faculty (MD, MD/PhD, or PhD), and has trained pediatric ID fellows for over 40 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 5 out of the past 12 years – more than any other division in the country; 3 of these awardees were former fellowship trainees. The division has many faculty in prestigious national societies, including Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR), the American Pediatric Society (APS), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Duke Pediatric Infectious Diseases faculty directly lead multiple national and international research initiatives, offering unique opportunities for our fellows and our faculty. This includes the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN), a $98M NIH-funded consortium to study off-patent therapeutics in children, the $112M Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center (CIVIC), and the $11M International Pediatric Fungal Network. Duke adult or pediatric infectious diseases faculty lead multiple other national consortiums, such as the $78M Antibiotic Resistance Leadership Group, the Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection, and others.

Our division faculty have significant leadership roles within Duke University Medical Center and the Department of Pediatrics. For example, William Steinbach, MD is the Medical Director of the Children’s Clinical Research Unit (CCRU) and the Basic Science Research Director of the Duke Transplant Center. Daniel Benjamin, MD PhD, serves as the Deputy Executive 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 Therapeutic Area Lead for Pediatric Research of the DCRI and was most recently 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 Associate Dean for Physician-Scientist Development of Duke University School of Medicine, and Director of the Duke Children's Health and Discovery Initiative (CHDI), the Department of Pediatric’s research hub. Tony Moody, MD, serves as the Director of the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center and also the Centers for Research of Emerging Infectious Disease Coordinating Center. 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) and the Chief Medical Officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI). Coleen Cunningham, MD is the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics, and Kathleen McGann, MD, is the Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Pediatrics.

In 2019, the Duke Department of Pediatrics was ranked #1 in NIH funding support for Pediatrics clinical departments throughout the country with $55.6M in research funding, including 3 faculty (2 in pediatric ID) in the top 10 of NIH-supported Pediatrics principal investigators. In addition, the Duke Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases is the most well-funded research division in the nation. In 2019, Duke pediatric infectious diseases faculty led research programs funded by $34 million from 25 NIH awards (including twelve R01s, three P01s, one U01, and others), and other federal and non-federal contracts led by our division faculty total another $20 million each year. 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 over 200 national or international presentations and published nearly 500 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 book chapters. Faculty chair numerous national and international conferences, serve on the Red Book committee and other AAP, PIDS and IDSA committees, and serve as an editor for Feigin & Cherry’s Pediatric Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Nelson’s Pediatric Antimicrobial Therapy, and the new 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. Several of our fellows have also been awarded the competitive NICHD-funded Pediatric Scientist Development Program and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society fellowships.