We are excited to share that the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Division of Infectious Diseases has been selected as a 2025 recipient of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) ID STEP (Infectious Diseases – Spark, Train, Educate, and Prepare) grant. This nationally competitive award provides $30,000 in funding to support innovative programming that strengthens the infectious diseases (ID) workforce pipeline by engaging medical students, enhancing mentorship, and supporting faculty educators.
Introducing BRIDGE-ID
Through this award, we will launch and expand BRIDGE-ID (Building Recruitment, Inclusion, and Development for Growth in Infectious Diseases Education), a comprehensive initiative designed to connect learners to careers in infectious diseases through mentorship, innovation, and community engagement.
BRIDGE-ID builds on UNMC’s strong foundation in ID education and will:
- Expand support for student engagement through the ID Interest Group and innovative experiential learning activities
- Provide structured mentorship and support for scholarly projects
- Increase exposure to ID careers across the medical school curriculum
- Strengthen pathways for students into ID careers
Led by Dr. Jasmine Marcelin and an interprofessional team of dedicated faculty and students, this work aligns directly with IDSA’s broader mission to address critical workforce shortages in infectious diseases and inspire the next generation of clinicians, scientists, and public health leaders.
Expanding Our Blog: New Faculty Teaching Tools Column
As part of this initiative, we are also excited to announce a new feature on the UNMC ID blog: a dedicated column focused on faculty teaching tools.
This quarterly column will highlight practical, high-impact educational resources curated from IDSA and beyond, including:
- “Chalk Talk” teaching scripts and slide decks
- Curated updates from IDMedED and other educator-focused resources
- Toolkits and strategies to enhance ID teaching across clinical and classroom settings
These resources are designed to support clinician-educators and strengthen how we teach infectious diseases, helping translate cutting-edge knowledge into engaging, effective learning experiences.
We are thrilled to be among the institutions selected for this important national initiative and look forward to sharing updates as BRIDGE-ID grows. Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts featuring teaching tools, program highlights, and opportunities to get involved.
