VAMPSS FIT Program

Applications are now closed for the 2024-25 VAMPSS FIT position.

Purpose of the VAMPSS FIT Program
To provide additional scholarly activity regarding the interface between allergy / immunology and reproductive medicine, including:
•    Interrelationships between medical problems, particularly asthma and allergic diseases, and pregnancy.
•    The safety and use of medications during pregnancy.
•    Research designs to study the safety of medications in pregnancy, including cohort, case-control, and database studies.

Specific Activities
•    Participate in weekly VAMPSS Investigative Task Force teleconferences (as the FIT schedule allows).
•    Attend VAMPSS Advisory Committee meetings (typically one in-person and one by teleconference each year).
•    A mutually agreed upon project with the FIT, the FIT Program Director, and the VAMPSS team.
•    Serve as a liaison between VAMPSS and the FIT Assembly.

Selection Process
•    Applications accepted beginning November 1 of the FIT first year and are due by March 1.
•    Applicant chosen by VAMPSS Investigative Task Force and approved by the applicant’s Program Director.
•    Applicant notified May 1 to begin July 1.
•    Participant selection is based on the applicant’s experience (clinical, research, organizational, leadership) and statement of interest and career goals.

Eligibility
•    Current first year (or second year in a three-year program) Fellows-in-Training (FITs) at any U.S. ACGME-accredited A/I Fellowship Training Program.
•    Approval of the Program Director.

What is VAMPSS?
Because pregnant women are excluded from clinical trials, there is a lack of adequate safety information for most medications taken during pregnancy. VAMPSS is a national surveillance system designed to monitor the safety of vaccines and medications during pregnancy. VAMPSS uses three complimentary data collection approaches to get information about how vaccines and medications might affect the baby. One arm is a prospective cohort study that collects information from women while they are pregnant and evaluates this information in relationship to pregnancy outcomes and infant outcomes up to one year after their baby is born. The second arm, case-control surveillance, recruits women who have infants born with congenital malformations and compares their exposure during pregnancy to women whose infants are born without malformations. The third arm is a retrospective database study using commercial and Medicaid claims data to evaluate perinatal and infant outcomes in women exposed to vaccines and medications during pregnancy.

2023-24 VAMPSS FIT
Kelly Colas, DO, PhD, a second year fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington is the 2023-2024 VAMPSS FIT.

Kelly previously attended Michigan State University, where she completed medical school and a PhD in medical anthropology. Her doctoral research examined the impact of social, cultural, and economic variables on decision making and outcome during childbirth at public Mexican hospitals. Kelly subsequently completed her internal medicine residency at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. Ultimately, Kelly hopes to work as a clinician-researcher focusing on reducing risk associated with prenatal exposure and improving health outcomes of mothers and babies.

2022-23 VAMPSS FIT
Laura Ann Wang, MD, completed her allergy and immunology fellowship training at the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital of Colorado in June 2023. During her time as a VAMPSS FIT Fellow from 2022-2023, she examined the impact of maternal penicillin allergy labels on the outcomes of infants born to mothers who tested positive for Group B Streptococcus under the mentorship of Christina Chambers, PhD, and Jennifer Namazy, MD. Laura is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado where she continues to pursue her research interests in drug allergy and pregnancy outcomes.

Questions
Contact Lauri Sweetman, VAMPSS Staff Liaison at (414) 272-6071 or lsweetman@aaaai.org.