HIV and ID Observations

Over at Open Forum Infectious Diseases, I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Angela Caliendo about the latest advances in diagnostic microbiology. She touches on molecular testing in general, rapid pathogen identification (especially with MALDI-TOF, everyone’s favorite acronym), “syndromic” diagnostic testing for respiratory infections and diarrhea, use of Xpert for TB even here in the United States, and, of course the cost of implementing all these new technologies.

It’s incredibly entertaining, especially for ID geeks like me, and that’s because of the person I’m interviewing. Here are few key facts about Dr. Caliendo:

• She goes by Angie.
• She’s Professor of Medicine at Brown, and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine. Before that, she was the Medical Director of the microbiology lab at Emory for 14 years.
• She’s one of those rare individuals who understands both the clinical and the laboratory side of medicine, an MD/PhD who really does blend both of those degrees.
• She’s an incredible teacher. If you’re looking for a Grand Rounds speaker on an ID topic, look no further!
• She’s been a major driver in the effort to improve diagnostics in Infectious Diseases, and was the lead author in this widely cited position paper.

Angie and I were medical residents and ID fellows together (a few years ago, ahem), and I can only remember one weakness (if you can call it that) — she has a horrible sense of direction. Really hopeless. I once told her to drive “towards the river” two blocks away from the Charles, and she looked at me as if I’d asked her to navigate to Mars. She admitted that she only knew where the river was if she could literally see it. 

Aside from that, however, working with Angie was all gold.

Interview here, transcript here.