About

Brian Blackburn is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. He specializes in the treatment of infectious diseases with over a decade of practice in this specialty. His research interests include parasitology and international health, vehicle-borne diseases in refugees, and the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and filariasis. He has a particular focus on travel and tropical medicine, as well as infections in patients with compromised immune systems.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Family medicine
• Pedagogy
• Psychology
• Medical education
• Dermatology
• Pathology
• Pediatrics
• Obstetrics
• Internal medicine
• Immunology

Selected publications

• Infectious Diseases Fellowship Curriculum: IDSA Training Program Directors Community of Practice (TPDCOP), <i>C</i> urricular and Educational <i>RE</i> sources <i>W</i> orkgroup (CREW)

  Clinical Infectious Diseases · 2026-02-03

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Amplifying Our Voices: Fostering Advocacy in Infectious Diseases Fellowship

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2025-11-06

  articleOpen access

  Advocacy has long been at the core of the infectious diseases (ID) field, with clinicians and researchers advocating to ensure patients can access the care they need on an individual and global scale. The Infectious Diseases Society of America Training Program Directors' (PD) Committee met in 2024 and discussed ways that advocacy is and should be incorporated into fellowship training, as well as highlighted the role PDs play in advocating for their trainees. Policies with a negative impact on ID clinical care, public health, and research underscore the importance of mobilizing the field of ID to advocate for the patients and communities we serve, as well as for ourselves. This paper presents ideas generated at this meeting and is meant to serve as a reference for ID PDs, as well as the wider ID community, as a call to action for teaching and participating in advocacy work.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Shaping the Future of Infectious Diseases: The Journey to Promote Value, Opportunity, and Positive Messaging

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2024-11-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The field of infectious diseases (ID) offers a rewarding career path and is widely viewed as an essential subspecialty in medicine. However, in recent years, these positive aspects have been overshadowed by concerns surrounding low fellowship match rates, undercompensation, and burnout. The Infectious Diseases Society of America Fellowship Training Program Directors Committee met in 2023, discussed the future of ID as a specialty, and sought to develop strategies to highlight the value and opportunities of ID for future generations, as well as underscore the importance of and provide tools for positive messaging to trainees about the subspecialty. This paper presents ideas generated at this meeting and is meant to serve as a reference for ID training program directors, as well as the wider ID community, in uplifting and shaping the future of the field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Case Report: Relapsing Leptospirosis in an Immunocompromised Host

  American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · 2023-08-21 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Leptospirosis is typically a self-limited febrile illness; when it occurs, meningitis usually develops early in the course. Here, we describe a patient who had engaged in freshwater activities in Kauai that was immunocompromised due to a history of mantle cell lymphoma, autologous hematopoietic cell transplant, and hypogammaglobulinemia. He developed leptospiral meningoencephalitis 11 weeks after illness onset and persistently detectable Leptospira DNA in blood and cerebrospinal fluid along with ongoing clinical illness, despite appropriate treatment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Inclusion, Diversity, Access, and Equity in Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training: Tools for Program Directors

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2023-05-27

  articleOpen access

  The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has set clear priorities in recent years to promote inclusion, diversity, access, and equity (IDA&E) in infectious disease (ID) clinical practice, medical education, and research. The IDSA IDA&E Task Force was launched in 2018 to ensure implementation of these principles. The IDSA Training Program Directors Committee met in 2021 and discussed IDA&E best practices as they pertain to the education of ID fellows. Committee members sought to develop specific goals and strategies related to recruitment, clinical training, didactics, and faculty development. This article represents a presentation of ideas brought forth at the meeting in those spheres and is meant to serve as a reference document for ID training program directors seeking guidance in this area.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pathogenic Intestinal Parasites in Transplant Recipients

  2021-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Reactivation of Chagas Disease in a Patient With an Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease: Case Report and Review of the Literature

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2021 · 11 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Dermatology
  • Immunology

  Reactivation of Chagas disease has been described in immunosuppressed patients, but there is a paucity of literature describing reactivation in patients on immunosuppressive therapies for the treatment of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. We describe a case of Chagas disease reactivation in a woman taking azathioprine and prednisone for limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc). Reactivation manifested as indurated and erythematous cutaneous nodules. Sequencing of a skin biopsy specimen confirmed the diagnosis of Chagas disease. She was treated with benznidazole with clinical improvement in the cutaneous lesions. However, her clinical course was complicated and included disseminated CMV disease and subsequent septic shock due to bacteremia. Our case and review of the literature highlight that screening for Chagas disease should be strongly considered for patients who will undergo immunosuppression for treatment of autoimmune disease if epidemiologically indicated.

  PublisherDOI

• Virtual Recruitment is Here to Stay: 2020 ID Fellowship Program and Matched Applicant Recruitment Experiences

  medRxiv · 2021-05-10

  preprintOpen access

  Background Graduate Medical Education training programs transitioned to all-virtual recruitment in 2020. Few data have been published regarding the consequences of this transition. We desired to understand (1) infectious diseases (ID) fellowship programs’ recruitment efforts and the effect of virtual recruitment on application and interview numbers, and (2) the number of programs to which matched applicants applied and interviewed, and their perspectives on virtual recruitment. Methods In 2020-21 we surveyed all United States ID fellowship program directors (PDs) and matched applicants. Descriptive data analysis was performed on quantitative survey items. Free-text responses were analyzed through a quantitative content analysis approach. Results PD response rate was 68/158 (43%); applicant response rate was at least 23% (85/365). PDs reported a 27% increase in mean number of applications received and a 45% increase in mean number of applicants interviewed. Applicants especially valued online program structure information, PD program overview videos, fellow testimonials, didactic and curriculum content, and current fellow profiles. Most applicants preferred interviews lasting no more than 40 minutes and interview days lasting no more than 5 hours. Nearly all (60/64, 94%) PDs adequately learned about candidates; most (48/64, 75%) felt unable to showcase their program as well as when in-person. Most PDs (54/64, 84%) and applicants (56/73, 77%) want at least an option for virtual recruitment moving forward. Conclusions Virtual recruitment enabled programs to accommodate more applicants and highlighted applicants’ preferences for programs’ augmented online presences and time-limited interview days. Most programs and applicants want the option for virtual interviews. Main Points Virtual recruitment enables programs to accommodate more applicants. Applicants value programs’ augmented online presences and favor time-limited interview days. Most programs and applicants prefer in-person interviews and want at least an option for virtual interviews.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Virtual Recruitment Is Here to Stay: A Survey of ID Fellowship Program Directors and Matched Applicants Regarding Their 2020 Virtual Recruitment Experiences

  Open Forum Infectious Diseases · 2021 · 25 citations

  • Medicine
  • Medical education
  • Family medicine

  BACKGROUND: Graduate Medical Education training programs transitioned to all-virtual recruitment in 2020. Limited data have been published regarding the consequences of this transition. We aimed to understand (1) infectious diseases (ID) fellowship programs' recruitment efforts and the effect of virtual recruitment on application and interview numbers and (2) the number of programs to which matched applicants applied and interviewed and applicants' perspectives on virtual recruitment. METHODS: In 2020-2021, we surveyed all US ID fellowship program directors (PDs) and matched applicants. Descriptive data analysis was performed on quantitative survey items. Free-text responses were analyzed through a quantitative content analysis approach. RESULTS: The PD response rate was 68/158 (43%); the applicant response rate was at least 23% (85/365). PDs reported a 27% increase in mean number of applications received and a 45% increase in mean number of applicants interviewed compared with the previous year. Applicants especially valued the online program structure information, PD program overview videos, didactic and curriculum content, and fellow testimonials and profiles. Most applicants preferred interviews lasting no more than 40 minutes and interview days lasting no more than 5 hours. Nearly all (60/64, 94%) PDs adequately learned about candidates; most (48/64, 75%) felt unable to showcase their program as well as when in-person. Most PDs (54/64, 84%) and applicants (56/73, 77%) want an option for virtual recruitment. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual recruitment enabled programs to accommodate more applicants and highlighted applicants' preferences for programs' augmented online presences and time-limited interview days. Most programs and applicants want an option for virtual interviews.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pathogenic Intestinal Parasites in Transplant Recipients

  2020-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Natasha S. Hochberg

  Boston Medical Center

  28 shared

• Barbara L. Herwaldt

  Center for Global Health

  26 shared

• James J. Sejvar

  National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

  26 shared

• Karyn Leniek

  3M (United States)

  25 shared

• Aprajit Mahajan

  15 shared

• José G. Montoya

  Palo Alto Institute

  12 shared

• Emmanuel S. Miri

  Carter Center

  10 shared

• Alessandro Tarozzi

  European University Institute

  10 shared

Labs

• Stanford Infectious Diseases LaboratoryPI