Gerald Medoff, MD, FIDSA, an emeritus professor of medicine and former director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and vice chair of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died peacefully Monday, Jan. 14 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

IDSA is in the process of establishing a Leadership Development Committee following the successful bylaws vote in support of replacing the Nominations Committee.

IDSA has developed a new toolkit for members who would like to advocate for evidence-based vaccine policy at the state and local level, created in response to member concerns about anti-vaccine legislation being considered in multiple states.

IDSA leaders recently met with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Tony Fauci, MD, FIDSA and other Institute leadership to discuss the NIAID research portfolio and opportunities to optimize the pipeline for the next generation of infectious diseases (ID) physician-scientists.

As we have reported previously, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) launched a new public webpage last summer to raise the visibility of openings throughout ABIM governance. Current openings include a position on the ID Item-Writing Task Force. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is offering loan repayment assistance through a new National Health Service Corps (NHSC) program to eligible health care clinicians in exchange for two-to-three-year service commitments in underserved communities affected by the opioid crisis.

In the Final Rule for the 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced two new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes to report the use of communication technology-based services.

A new discussion group for practice managers has just been added to the MyIDSA members-only online community.

The current partial federal government shutdown has become the longest in U.S. history. IDSA and HIVMA remain very concerned about the health impacts of the partial shutdown, and we continue to call on the House and Senate to work together to strike a deal to reopen the government.

IDSA has weighed in on the recently released Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Healthy People 2030 Proposed Objectives. These objectives consist of large-scale public health goals and priorities HHS sets every year for the upcoming decade and represent areas of federal interest and attention.

HIVMA is updating its directory of HIV training opportunities. We are currently compiling a new list of residency programs with concentrations in HIV as a resource for prospective HIV care providers.

Infectious Disease News discusses IDSA’s development of an antimicrobial stewardship program, “an important tool to combat antimicrobial resistance.” Read this and other contributions here.