Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program
Our Saint Louis University (SLU) allergy and immunology fellowship is a single, totally integrated internal medicine-pediatric program that provides comprehensive exposure to clinical allergy, asthma and immunology in children and adults, in addition to providing research training in clinical and translational medicine.
Information for Applicants
Overview
Graduates of our program are equipped to function as clinician allergists/immunologists caring for both adults and children, physician educators, or physician-scientists, depending on the individual career goals of the individual. The program is jointly sponsored by the departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, and administered by the Section of Allergy and Immunology, Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy and Immunology (IDAI), Department of Internal Medicine, in collaboration with the Pediatric Division of Allergy and Immunology.
SLU Allergy and Immunology faculty physicians are recognized national experts in the treatment of asthma, allergies, and immune-deficiency diseases. In addition to patient care and teaching, faculty are actively involved in research, are engaged in the development of national and international patient care guidelines for improved diagnosis and treatment of allergic disorders and asthma, and serve as advisors to the FDA. Our faculty physicians are all board certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
Program Structure
The two-year program is structured in one-month rotations. Each academic year, a fellow rotates through four months each of three different rotations:
- SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital (SLUH)/SLUCare Outpatient Clinics
- SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital [CG]
- Glennon Clinical Scholar/Research Rotation, with the possibility of electives during this time
Also, note that fellows attend the same conferences (average 3.0 hours/week) during all rotations.
There is no night call. On-site duty hours typically range from 44-50 hours/week. A fellow rotates on call for evenings and weekends every third week.
The SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital rotation emphasizes predominantly adult ambulatory clinical experience (five half-day clinics/week at SLU in the physically contiguous Allergy, Asthma, Immunology (AAI) Clinic at the Center for Specialized Medicine, which opened in 2020. There is typically remaining time (three half-days, i.e. Monday mornings, and Tuesday and Friday afternoons) to perform research and scholarly activity. Occasional inpatient consults at SLU Hospital are seen during these half days, but the volume of these consults is relatively low. The most common requests for inpatient consultation are for drug-allergy evaluation and drug desensitization.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30–11:30 a.m. (one Monday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Friday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) |
8–9 a.m. Pediatric A/I conference via Teams or in person (location varies) |
8 a.m.–noon A/I SLUCare clinic (Dykewicz) |
8:30 a.m.–noon Available for inpatient consults, research, scholarly activity |
8:30 a.m.–noon A/I SLUCare clinic (Dykewicz) |
| 11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Adult A/I conference via Teams |
9 a.m.–noon. Available for inpatient consults, research, scholarly activity | 1–5 p.m. A/I SLUCare clinic (Dykewicz) |
1–5 p.m. A/I SLUCare clinic (Dykewicz) |
Noon–5 p.m. Available for inpatient consults, research, scholarly activity |
| 1–5:30 p.m. Fellow continuity clinic A/I SLUCare (Slavin/Dykewicz) |
Noon–1 p.m. (some Tuesdays) IAM lectures (CG) |
2–3 p.m. (one Friday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Monday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) |
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| Noon–5 p.m. Otherwise available for inpatient consults, research, scholarly activity |
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| 3–3:30 p.m. (most Tuesdays) Touch-base meeting with program director via Teams |
The SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital (CG) rotation is a predominantly pediatric clinical rotation with extensive ambulatory clinical experience (six half-day clinics per week) with a very active pediatric inpatient service. Consequently, except for conferences, most of the time not spent in clinic is spent on inpatient service, although residents may have limited time available for research and scholarly activity.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30–11:30 a.m. (one Monday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Friday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) Remainder of Monday mornings for research, scholarly activity |
8–9 a.m. Pediatric A/I conference |
8 a.m.–1 p.m. Inpatient consults |
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Immune deficiency clinic (Donegan) |
8:30 a.m.–noon IVIG infusions Food/drug challenges (Donegan) |
| 11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Adult A/I conference |
9 a.m.–noon IVIG infusions Food/drug challenges (Donegan) |
1–5 p.m. (fourth Wednesday of each month via TeleMed) General A & I (Becker) |
1:30–5 p.m. Immune deficiency clinic (Becker) |
Noon–5 p.m. Inpatient consults |
| 1–5 p.m. General clinic (Becker) |
Noon–1 p.m. (some Tuesdays) IAM lectures (CG) |
2–3 p.m. (one Friday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Monday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) |
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| Noon–5 p.m. Otherwise available for inpatient consults (NB Dr. Becker off site at South County) |
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| 3–3:30 p.m. (most Tuesdays) Touch-base meeting with program director via Teams |
Glennon Scholar and Research (GSR) rotation, sponsored by SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, has clinical responsibilities generally limited to one half-day SLUCare fellow continuity clinic on Monday, and one half-day continuity clinic at CG on Wednesday. Therefore, most of this rotation serves as protected time for scholarly activity and research. With advanced planning, some half-day elective experiences (e.g. Dermatology) may be scheduled.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30–11:30 a.m. (one Monday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Friday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) Remainder of Monday mornings for research, scholarly activity |
8–9 a.m. Pediatric A/I Conference |
8:30 a.m.–noon CG continuity clinic (Donegan) |
8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Research, scholarly activity |
8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Research, scholarly activity OR 11 a.m.–2 p.m. (two Fridays per month) SLUCare clinic (Dixit) |
| 11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. Adult A/I conference |
9–noon Research, scholarly activity |
Noon–5 p.m. Research, scholarly activity |
2–3 p.m. (one Friday per month) Middleton review presented by fellows (see Monday Middleton review session held once per month for a total of two sessions each month) |
|
| 1–5 p.m. A/I SLUCare fellow continuity clinic (Slavin/Dykewicz) |
Noon–1 p.m. (some Tuesdays) IAM lectures (CG) |
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| Noon–5 p.m. Otherwise available for research, scholarly activity |
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| 3–3:30 p.m. (most Tuesdays) Touch-base meeting with program director via Teams |
Since its inception in 1970, the fellowship program has been continuously accredited by the Allergy and Immunology Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and has no citations. The program has a total of three positions (two positions available in the 2025 NRMP subspecialty match for entry in July 2026).
The fellow case mix is about 45% adults, 55% children. In most diagnostic categories tracked by the RRC, our fellows see patient numbers above the 50th percentile of all programs nationally, with asthma, immune deficiency disorders, food allergy, atopic dermatitis and rhinitis ranking above the 90th percentile.
Saint Louis University, founded in 1818 as the first university west of the Mississippi River and the second Jesuit Catholic university in the country, has 8,200 undergraduates and 4,600 graduate students (including 770 medical students). With a slogan, “Higher Purpose, Greater Good”, SLU’s missions are academic excellence, life-changing research, compassionate health care, and a strong commitment to faith and service. Our fellowship program’s two sponsoring hospitals are both on the SLU South/Medical Campus.
- SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital is a quaternary 356-bed academic teaching hospital that is staffed by the SSM Health SLUCare Physician Group, the SLU medical faculty group practice. Most inpatient areas of the hospital are in a new primary pavilion that opened in 2020. The pavilion was part of a $550 million project that also included construction of the Center for Specialized Medicine — the outpaitient clinic where our adult allergy and immunology clinic is now located.
- SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, a 190-bed inpatient and outpatient academic pediatric medical center provides nationally ranked care and includes a Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic & Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies. The immunodeficiency program at Cardinal Glennon is a clinical referral center for both the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JFM) and the Immunodeficiency Foundation (IDF), and is also a designated center of an NIH sponsored Primary Immunodeficiency Disease Treatment Consortium. The Pediatric Division of Allergy and Immunology, headed by Bradley Becker, M.D., professor of pediatrics, works with the Bone Marrow Transplant program in transplantation of severe T-cell immunodeficiencies. Other notable services at Cardinal Glennon include the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank - the second largest in the world. A new 200-bed hospital building is scheduled to open in 2027.
On the internal medicine side, the Section of Allergy and Immunology headed by Mark Dykewicz, M.D., Raymond and Alberta Slavin Endowed Professor in Allergy and Immunology, is part of its parent Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy and Immunology (IDAI), led by Division Director Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D., the Dianna and J. Joseph Adorjan Chair in Infectious Diseases and Immunology. The division has outstanding new research facilities; has investigators who are conducting translational studies on mechanisms of asthma in murine models; basic research on Th2 and Th9 cells; and operates an internationally recognized Center for Vaccine Development. The division is funded by the National Institute of Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as one of only nine Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEU). SLU is designated as one of the VTEU network’s two Omics Core Facilities for cutting-edge research to study transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic responses to infection, vaccination and allergic responses. Major research support is also provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This environment offers robust opportunities for basic and translational research for Allergy & Immunology fellows.
Other components of the SLU medical center campus are its Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing and Doisy College of Health Sciences. The SLU College of Public Health and Social Justice, located several blocks from the Medical Center Campus, provides additional opportunities for collaborative health care initiatives and research studies.
Greater St. Louis, with a metropolitan population of 2.9 million, offers world-class higher education, cultural institutions and multiple attractions, including the 79-acre Missouri Botanical Garden with one of the largest Japanese gardens in North America; several major museums including the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park, Gateway Arch, St. Louis Symphony (ranked in the top 10 in the U.S.), the country’s largest outdoor musical theater (the Muny), the St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Cardinals Baseball, St. Louis Blues Hockey, an extensive variety of restaurants, one of the largest urban networks of hiking and bicycle trails in the U.S., and an abundance of parks and outdoor recreation. Widely considered a great place to raise children, the area offers award winning schools, Midwestern friendliness and a cost of living below the national average.
Scheduled weekly specialty conferences include:
- An adult clinical conference every Monday at noon
- A pediatric clinical conference every Tuesday at 8 a.m.
- Review of Cellular and Molecular Immunology by Abbas
- Research conferences are also scheduled
In addition, our fellows also attend national conferences and meetings. Traditionally, the first-year fellows attend the Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) and the second-year fellows attend the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).
Find a complete list of benefits on the SSM Health website.