Hooked on ID with Rehan Syed, MD, MSc
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In retrospect, my path to infectious diseases began before I recognized it.
I lived in South and Southeast Asia for much of my childhood, and while studying development economics at Stanford, I began applying statistical approaches to practical issues of public health. While taking D. Scott Smith’s “Parasites and Pestilence” course, I recognized that many of the medical problems I had encountered in childhood, such as dengue and malaria, involve a complex interplay of pathogen, vector, host, natural and built environment, socioeconomic disparities and other determinants.
The impact of these diseases stayed with me, and after working in a clinic on the Thailand-Myanmar border and studying public health in the United Kingdom at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, I began medical school knowing I was going into ID.
I love ID because it accommodates all of these interests and more. As an ID fellow, I get to care for patients in the hospital, in outpatient clinics and as an HIV primary care provider, and I feel privileged to work with those who are underserved and marginalized. We get to be “detectives,” and we truly get to know our patients well. In addition, the science relevant to our field is incredible both in depth and breadth, from bench to bedside. For example, I have enjoyed seeing novel tuberculosis treatment regimens go from publication to practice in the TB clinic.
I am now using skills initially developed while learning econometrics to analyze whole-genome sequencing data in our research lab. I would say it has come full circle, but the beauty of ID is that I never felt I had to leave anything behind.
— Rehan Syed, MD, MSc
Infectious diseases fellow
University of California, San Diego