Trainee Research Program | Infectious Diseases

Faculty Lead: Cara Varley, MD, MPH

Goals of the Infectious Disease Trainee Research Program

  1. Streamline and increase trainee access to ID-related scholarly projects
  2. Increase our ability to provide opportunities for multi-level trainee projects where ID faculty, fellows, medical and pharmacy residents and students, MPH and PhD students can collaborate
  3. Increase ID scholarly collaborations between Divisions within the School of Medicine and the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health
  4. Improve trainee knowledge base on research methodology,  approaches and limitations during scholarly projects
  5. Increase opportunities for trainees to publish their scholarly work

Interested in ID research? Please contact Cara to discuss how to get started in our program.

Current Trainees

Mikaela Haglund – Epidemiology Student

Haley Miller – Epidemiology Student

Alexandria Shonk – Epidemiology Student

Katie Luis – Medical Student

Bruce Gregoire – Internal Medicine Resident

Rebecca Parmenter – Medical Student

Nora Fisher-Campbell – Medical Student

Benjamin Wagner - Internal Medicine Resident

Katie Luis – Medical Student

Austin Martin – Medical Student

Apoorva Bhaskara – Internal Medicine Resident

Farzana Karim – Epidemiology Student

Scholarly Work

Park HS, McCracken CM, Lininger N, Varley CD, Sikka MK, Evans C, Villamagna AH, Makadia JT, McGregor JC. Incidence and risk factors for clinically confirmed secondary bacterial infections in patients hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023 May 15. 1-7. doi: 10.1017/ice.2023.27.

Varley CD, Conte M, Streifel AC, Winders B, Sikka MK. Screening for Co-infections in Patients with Substance Use Disorders and Severe Bacterial Infections. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease. October 2022.  doi:10.1177/20499361221132132

Streifel A, Varley CD, Ham Y, Sikka M, Lewis J. The challenge of antibiotic selection in prosthetic joint infections due to Corynebacterium striatum: a case report. BMC Infectious Diseases. 2022/03; 22(1):290. doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07270-0.

Conte M, Schneider B, Varley CD, Streifel AC, Sikka MK. Description and outcomes of patients with substance use disorder with serious bacterial infections who had a multidisciplinary care conference. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease. January 2022.  doi:10.1177/20499361221117974

Keltner, C., Haedinger, L., Carney, P.A. et al. Preclinical Assessment Performance as a Predictor of USMLE Step 1 Scores or Passing Status. Med.Sci.Educ. 31, 1453–1462 (2021).  doi.org/10.1007/s40670-021-01334-7

Varley CD, Streifel AC, Bair AM, et al. Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease in the Immunocompromised Host. Clinics in Chest Medicine 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccm.2023.06.007. 

Zane H, Strnad L. The Approach to Intravascular Infections. In: Armstrong WS, Bonura EM. Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases: A medical student and faculty collaboration. Wolters Kluwer 2023 (in submission).

Sathe N, Evans C. Spirochetes, Rickettsiae, Chlamydiae and Mycoplasma. In: Armstrong WS, Bonura EM. Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases: A medical student and faculty collaboration. Wolters Kluwer 2023 (in submission).

Fisher-Campbell NE, Miller H, DeBacker NA, Wagner BM, Strnad LC, Varley CD. Discrepancies in Species Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing between Labs in Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria. Accepted to ATS 2024.

Abharika Sapru, MD, Marissa Maier, MD, Amy Moran, PhD, Kristina Hernandez, MA, Patty Carney, PhD, Kate Keller, PhD, Casey Seideman, MD, Seiko Izumi, PhD, Leah Reznick, MD, Brenda LaVigne, PA, Carmem Pfeifer, PhD, Amy Ross, PhD, RN, Christine Flores, MPH, Leslie Garcia, MPA, Amy Kobus, PhD. Gender Inequity in Academic Promotion during COVID19 Pandemic at OHSU. Oregon American College of Physicians, October 2023. First place for the “Health Systems” category.

Natalie Craig, MD, Peter Stenzel, MD, Erin Bonura, M.D., M.C.R. The vitality of early action in acute liver failure, a case of HSV-1 Hepatitis. Oregon American College of Physicians, October 2023.

Alexandria Shonk, Jessina C McGregor, Amber Streifel, Monica Sikka, ​Christopher Evans, Angela Holly Villamagna, Jina T Makadia, Cara D Varley. The Association Between Patient Insurance and Severe COVID-19 Outcomes​: OHSU Research Week, May 2023.

Sathe N, Bonura EM. Online Spaced Education to Teach Microbiology to Medical Students in a Threaded Medical School Curriculum. In: IDWeek (virtual). October 2020

Kristen McClellan, BA, BSN and others, 257. Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: Does Intravenous Drug Use Impact Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes?, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 7, Issue Supplement_1, October 2020, Pages S127–S128.  doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa439.301

  1. Title: Online Spaced Education to Teach Microbiology to Medical Students in a Threaded Medical School Curriculum
    Source: Infectious Diseases Society of America
    Amount: $2,000
    Role: Principal Investigator
    %Effort: Funded FTE 0
    Mentee/Co-investigator: Nishad Sathe
    Timeframe: 7/2018-6/2019
  2. Title: Online Spaced Education to Teach Microbiology to Medical Students in a Threaded Medical School Curriculum
    Source: OHSU SOM Innovations in Education Mini-grant
    Amount: $5,550
    Role: Principal Investigator
    %Effort: Funded FTE 0
    Mentee/Co-investigator: Nishad Sathe
    Timeframe: 7/2018-6/2019