Explore UAB

I am delighted to welcome you to the website of the UAB Division of Infectious Disease. Our division provides a dynamic academic environment for interdisciplinary research, education and clinical care. Our Division has a long history of providing a spectrum of clinical care in infectious diseases at our three main inpatient facilities (UAB Hospital, UAB Highlands and the Birmingham VA Medical Center) and outpatient clinics focusing on a variety of ID areas (hiv, hepatitis, travel medicine, general ID, PREP, vaginitis etc).

We also have an actively growing outpatient antibiotic therapy (OPAT) program, strong interest in outcomes research, and a robust program in infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. Our clinical activities facilitate our involvement in education of medical students, residents, and fellows at UAB. Our faculty have a very strong educational presence both in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine through attending on the Tinsley Harrison General Medicine Service and on our consult services.

We continue to have outstanding growth in both the number of faculty and funding, and are ranked first in external funding in the UAB Department of Medicine. The Division has several major HIV-focused program awards sponsored by NIH, including the UAB CFAR and three NIAID-sponsored entities, the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU), HIV Vaccine Trials Unit (one of 10 in the U.S.), and Microbicide Trials Unit (one of 6 in the U.S.). We also work closely with the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), recently designated as a core DAIDS Clinical Research Site of the UAB CTU. In addition, we host the Mycoses Study Group, historically based in NIAID and now operating as an independent trials unit, and the NIH-funded UAB Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinical Trials Unit. Our ID fellowship program is in its 50th year and has successfully trained 128 fellows.

Global health research, education, and service are important elements of the UAB infectious disease division’s work.  Our faculty collaborate with partners across Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa.  We have particularly robust, longitudinal and productive partnerships in Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Panama, and Peru.  The Division hosts the Gorgas Courses in Clinical Tropical Medicine at the Alexander von Humboldt Tropical Medicine Institute in Lima, Peru, next to the Tropical Diseases Unit of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital, the major tropical diseases referral center for Peru. For trainees interested in investigative tropical or global medicine, this internationally renowned course is essential. Course objectives are to train providers in Tropical Medicine in a multicultural educational program with international experts in the field, to expose students to a broad spectrum of tropical diseases and provide them with the foundational clinical knowledge and skills needed to recognize, diagnose, treat and prevent the most relevant tropical diseases, and to create a network of experts committed to improving healthcare services for underserved populations globally.

We hope you enjoy our site, and don’t hesitate to provide feedback or refer questions to us.

J. Martin Rodriguez, MD

J. Martin Rodriguez, M.D., FACP, FIDSA

Tinsley Harrison Clinical Scholar
Interim Division Director
Director of Clinical Activities
Paul W. Burleson, M.D., Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine