ID Fellow Spotlight: Christine Zurawski, MD

The Emory University Department of Medicine is nationally known for its exceptional sub-specialty fellowship programs. Emory’s access to a large and varied patient population provides fellows with unique training opportunities. Strong collaborations with the Rollins School of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other affiliated centers enable the infectious diseases fellowship program to provide a rich clinical environment with an emphasis on excellence in patient care. In the Division of Infectious Diseases, fellows are the focal point of all education activities. The development of new infectious diseases specialists is a vital part of the division’s mission and goal to establish careers in clinical care, research, public health, and leadership.

Former fellow Christine Zurawski, MD completed her training in 1997 and has been a devoted physician at the forefront of infectious diseases treatment in Atlanta for the past two decades.

Can you tell us about your overall experience as an infectious diseases fellow at Emory?

Zurawski: My journey as an infectious disease specialist began in 1986 after the completion of my undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. From there, I completed my medical school, internal medicine residency, and fellowship training at Emory. Both my residency and infectious diseases fellowship training provided a wide variety of clinical experiences and unlimited research opportunities. The ID fellowship program itself has always been one of the best. The association with the Rollins School of Public Health and the CDC only made the program better. There is something for everyone.

What did you enjoy most about your fellowship at Emory?

Zurawski: The supportive faculty and their sincere interest in teaching still stands out to me today. They always went out of their way to make sure that we became the best infectious diseases doctors that we could be, and that we were prepared to graduate with the skills necessary to do any job that we wanted.

How did your fellowship experience impact your career today?

Zurawski: Throughout my years at Emory, I made lifelong friendships with colleagues who I consider invaluable. In fact, 40 percent of the providers in my practice today are Emory graduates. I still have opportunities to interact with, seek advice from, and collaborate with many of the people with whom I worked as a fellow. It is a wonderful gift to have been able to do that over the years, especially when I was starting out.

After completing fellowship, I went into private practice, which has grown from two physicians to 10 physicians. Today, my offices treat more than 3,000 HIV patients and have participated in more than 20 HIV-related clinical trials. It is the largest private infectious diseases practice in Georgia.

What advice do you have for future Emory ID fellows?

Zurawski: Don’t believe that there is only one path to a successful career. You need to find a job that feels right to you and makes you happy. Make use of all resources available to you while you are in training to explore those possibilities.

For more information on the fellowship program in the Division of Infectious Diseases, visit http://bit.ly/ID-fellowship.