​Are you seeking a career in helping people and communities? Do you want to work in health or science? Unsure about what area of medicine to specialise in? Do you want to work in an area of health where treatments may be personalised to suit the needs of a patient? Pursuing a career as an infectious diseases physician has all this and much more.

Last updated: 19 February 2021
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What is an infectious diseases physician?

Infectious diseases physicians investigate and understand how pathogens such as viruses and bacteria cause illness, how to prevent and control their spread and how to most effectively treat infected patients. Through working in this specialty you will not only use your skills to cure patients of infections that can be severe and even life-threatening, but you will increasingly be able to use cutting edge laboratory technology.

Genome sequencing (finding out the entire DNA sequence of infectious agents) has radically changed how we deliver care in infectious disease. We can now use these methods to tailor the most effective treatments for patients. Genome sequencing is also increasingly playing an important role in infectious disease surveillance and disease outbreak investigation, enhancing the public health response to support prevention and control of infectious diseases within a community or population.

Where do infectious diseases physicians work?

Infectious diseases physicians usually spend most of their time with patients in hospital settings. They work closely with teams of other clinicians such as nurses and laboratory scientists. Some choose not only to look after individual patients with infections, but to work also as medical microbiologists in diagnostic or public health laboratories, or as public health physicians.

It is possible to specialise in:

  • common acute and chronic infections, including those resistant to many antibiotics
  • pandemic and epidemic diseases
  • tropical infections
  • public health
  • infections in children
  • infections of global importance, for example, HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis
  • medical education and research.

Future for infectious diseases physicians

By choosing a career as an Infectious Diseases Physician you will enter one of the most rewarding and fastest growing areas of medicine. Genomic sequencing technologies are evolving rapidly. These technologies will undoubtedly continue to have an important impact on the future of medicine in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, controlling spread of infections and development of new medicines and vaccines.

Career path

  • HSC including science subjects and ATAR score for entry into an accredited medical degree*
  • Accredited Medical Degree
  • Completion of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Basic Physician Training program, including success in written and clinical examinations
  • Appointment to an appropriate advanced training position (Infectious Diseases or Infectious Diseases & Microbiology Joint Training Program)
  • Specialisation in Infectious Diseases - Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, (FRACP) or Infectious Diseases and Microbiology - Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA) if joint training is pursued.

* Please refer to individual entry requirements for accredited medical degree courses for more information.

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