The division provides family-centered general and subspecialized pediatric care in infectious diseases to children and youth up to 18 years of age in Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec and the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut. 

The division’s seven faculty members are appointed within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and collaborate with Ottawa Public Health and partner hospitals in the management of community infectious diseases outbreaks affecting children. 

Faculty members actively teach within the University of Ottawa’s undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education programs.We prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor infectious diseases so kids, families and our community can be their healthiest.

Our busy inpatient service provides consultations and ongoing care to infants, children and youth with infections who are admitted to medical, surgical, critical care and neonatal intensive care units. Given our diverse population and the types of clinical programs at our hospital, our practice includes the care of children with infections related to primary and acquired immunodeficiencies, immunosuppressant therapies and global travel, in addition to routine childhood infections requiring secondary and tertiary care.

Inpatient care

• 60-70 new consults per month
• Daily microbiology lab rounds
• Weekly divisional clinical rounds improves continuity of care, ensures consistency in approach and enhances our evidence-based approach to care. 

We have an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program in the PICU and are expanded to the medical wards.

Outpatient care

We have over 2,200 outpatient clinic visits per year. Our ambulatory clinics include, but are not limited to:

• General infectious diseases
• HIV
• Tuberculosis
• Home IV therapy
• Primary immune deficiencies
• International adoption
• Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) prevention

The Division of Infectious Diseases IDeas Research Unit (IDeas RU) runs a cohesive and strategic research program with the support of the CHEO Research Institute. The unit conducts studies emphasizing knowledge generation and translation focusing on, but not limited to, pediatric infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, perinatal HIV infection, novel diagnostic tests, immunizations and respiratory infections in children.

Specific IDeas RU Themes:

• Vaccination/immunizations
• Primary and acquired immunodeficiencies/HIV
• Molecular diagnostics
• Health care-associated infections
• New Canadians (immigrants, refugees, internationally adopted)
• Evidence-based health advocacy

Specific areas of research focus by division members include:

• Long-term effects of exposure to HIV and antiretrovirals in utero as well as the long-term management and outcomes of children living with perinatally acquired HIV infection from the biological, psychological and sociological perspectives, including functional “cure”
• Epidemiology and clinical care of pediatric HIV in Canada and globally, as well as the investigation of long-term toxicities associated with antiretroviral therapy and HIV
• Primary immunodeficiencies, infections in the immunocompromised host and immunization safety and practices
• Prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection
• Vaccine preventable disease
• Rapid diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases using molecular technologies
• Antimicrobial resistance and health systems 

Infectious Diseases research at the CHEO Research Institute

Undergraduate training opportunities

Our division regularly welcomes medical students for an elective in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Elective opportunities in both the inpatient and outpatient clinical setting are available. Trainees also get exposure to the microbiology, virology and molecular biology laboratories which are located within CHEO. At the end of a rotation, the student will acquire knowledge of the etiology, clinical features, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of common pediatric infectious diseases, knowledge of the routine pediatric immunization program and relevant contra-indications, knowledge of the principles of infection control with respect to routine practices and isolation precautions and knowledge of common antimicrobial therapies.

Postgraduate training program

The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Training Program is designed to provide the trainee with the necessary expertise to be a successful pediatric infectious diseases consultant of the highest academic calibre. It is a two- to three-year program with a minimum of two years required for Royal College certification. The program is integrated with the University Ottawa Faculty of  Medicine Adult Infectious Diseases program. This joint program is fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and enables the trainee to obtain the required core knowledge of pediatric infectious diseases, while being flexible enough to facilitate any research interests that he/she may have. In this context, there are excellent opportunities for the trainee to acquire skills in basic as well as clinical research in infectious diseases. The opportunity exists to take graduate level courses in microbiology/immunology or clinical epidemiology as part of the second year of the program.