The Infectious Diseases Society of America Foundation has awarded the Infectious Diseases Interest Group at the Wayne State University School of Medicine a $500 grant to help fund events and activities.

The grant is intended to help fund the operational costs of the specialty interest group, with the goal of fostering future careers in infectious diseases.

Group members include first-year and second-year medical students, including sophomore medical student Lucas Werner.

“The pandemic has further underscored the public health impact that infectious disease physicians can have on a community and country,” he said.

The group will use the funding to create educational materials about the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination effort to attach to handwashing stations that have been built and placed around the city of Detroit by a coalition of WSU faculty and student organizations, including Street Medicine Detroit. The handwashing stations are meant to promote hand hygiene for those who do not have access to consistent handwashing facilities. They have been placed in parks, at shelters and at other locations for public use.

Professor of Medicine Teena Chopra, M.D., M.P.H., is the group’s faculty mentor. Dr. Chopra is corporate medical director of Infectious Disease Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology and Antibiotic Stewardship at WSU and the Detroit Medical Center.

“I am honored and humbled to mentor this group at Wayne State University. I believe we are not only building the knowledge and skills in our future infectious disease leaders, but also enhancing their professional socialization and success,” Dr. Chopra said. “The group at the School of Medicine provides students with a platform to further their careers in different areas of the specialty, including infection prevention, HIV, public health and more. I am particularly proud of my group as they are all involved in some great projects that are helping further science.”