Rochester General Hospital(RGH)is a seven-story general hospital with more than 500 beds. Inpatient facilities include 22 pediatric beds, with a 2-bed intermediate level care unit; 2 rooming-in units for 33 mothers and their newborn infants; and a 14 bed level II nursery. About 3,000 deliveries and 1,400 admissions occur annually. Most admissions to the inpatient unit are for acute, non-life-threatening illnesses or for elective medical and surgical procedures.

The RGH emergency room is one of the busiest in Rochester. Pediatric housestaff see approximately 9,200 patients annually. The Rochester General Pediatric Association (RGPA) provides primary care, as well as acute and urgent care, for children of all ages for more than 32,000 visits per year. Nearly half of the pediatric house officers have their Continuity Clinic practice in RGPA.

Pediatric Infectious Diseases


The Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases provides inpatient and outpatient services for children with known or suspected infectious diseases. The Division conducts a monthly infectious diseases core curriculum conference for the housestaff and offers an elective. In this elective, one-on-one teaching experiences with faculty are supplemented by diagnostic microbiology, epidemiology, and the pharmacology of antibiotics. Streptococcus pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A, Pneumocystis carinii, HIV and HHV-6 are the pathogens currently being studied. Many house officers are involved in clinical research projects with the Infectious Diseases faculty.

Fellowship Training

The main focus of our training program is to provide research training for pediatric clinician-investigators in the area of opportunistic infections (OIs) and other infections in the immunocompromised host. ( Other areas of training are possible and interested individuals should not hesitate to contact us.) The need for such a training program is based on the following premises:

Premise 1: There are a large number of pediatric patients who are immunocompromised and at risk for OIs and other infections.

Premise 2: Because of developmental, physiologic, and disease specific differences between children and adults, researchers with specific pediatric expertise should be involved in basic investigations related to OIs and infection in the immunocompromised child.

Premise 3: There is a lack of pediatric physician-scientist involvement in the study of OIs and other infections in the immunocompromised host.