The Future of Infectious Diseases Education

Abstract

The infectious diseases (ID) specialty continues to be in crisis due to a lack of interest by residents in the recruitment pool. It is possible that enhancing and innovating how microbiology is taught in medical school could increase the interest in ID. We need to improve teaching of preclinical medical microbiology and immunology by incorporating advancements in education and learning technologies to reignite the interest in the field. The shortage of ID specialists has important implications in our fight against ID threats such as the current COVID-19 global pandemic. In order to address this problem, we need to perform extensive research to identify the issues that medical learners and trainees are facing as they progress through their medical education towards the ID specialty.