Community of Leaders is the advanced, application-based pathway of the IDSA Leadership Institute. The program is designed for mid- and senior-career infectious diseases and HIV professionals who are moving into leadership responsibilities or want to improve their effectiveness in an existing role.
Participants examine how others experience their leadership, identify specific behaviors to strengthen and apply what they learn to a workplace challenge. The program combines asynchronous learning, Leadership Practices Inventory® (LPI) 360+ feedback, coaching and an intensive two-day in-person capstone within a cohort of ID/HIV professionals from varied roles, organizations and practice settings.
Important Dates
- Applications open: September 7, 2026
- Application deadline: December 3, 2026
- Admission decisions announced: January 22, 2027
- Online learning: February–May 2027
- In-person capstone: May 3–4, 2027, in Arlington, Virginia
Attendance at the full in-person capstone is required.
Is Community of Leaders Right for You?
Community of Leaders may be a good fit if you:
- Have significant professional experience and increasing responsibility for people, programs, institutional priorities or organizational change.
- Lead through influence and professional relationships, including when you do not have direct authority over everyone involved.
- Want structured feedback on how managers, colleagues, direct reports and others experience your leadership behavior.
- Are prepared to reflect on your leadership practice and make specific behavioral changes.
- Want to strengthen your ability to communicate, manage conflict and guide change.
- Can apply the program’s content to a meaningful challenge in your workplace.
- Value learning with and contributing to a close cohort of ID/HIV professionals.
Community of Leaders is not limited to people with executive titles. Developmental readiness, professional experience and the scope of an applicant’s leadership responsibilities are more important than a particular title or number of years since training.
Professionals whose primary need is foundational leadership education may be better matched to Rising Leaders, the Leadership Institute’s fully online, coaching-centered pathway offered each fall.
Who Should Apply?
The program is intended for mid- and senior-career infectious diseases and HIV professionals across the healthcare team. Potential applicants include physicians, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, nurses, public health professionals, infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship leaders, researchers, educators and healthcare administrators.
IDSA seeks a cohort representing different professional roles, experiences, perspectives, practice settings and leadership trajectories. There is no single profile of an ideal participant. Applicants should consider whether the program’s advanced feedback, applied curriculum and in-person format match their current responsibilities and developmental needs.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the following criteria when applying:
- Hold active IDSA membership.
- Have at least five years of relevant professional experience.
- Be engaged primarily in infectious diseases or HIV clinical practice, clinical or basic research, administration, education, public health or a related field.
- Have a history of substantive service to the profession at the local, regional or national level.
- Demonstrate curiosity, openness to feedback and a commitment to continued development.
What You Will Develop
Community of Leaders focuses on four connected areas of leadership practice:
- Leadership identity and philosophy: Clarify how you intend to lead and how your values, decisions and behavior shape the experience of others.
- Leadership behavior: Use multisource feedback to identify strengths, possible blind spots and specific priorities for continued development.
- Communication and conflict: Strengthen your ability to listen, communicate clearly, address disagreement, negotiate and maintain productive working relationships.
- Organizational change: Apply leadership and change-management principles to a real workplace need and outline an initiative for moving that work forward.
Participants leave the program with a more explicit leadership philosophy, targeted behavior-development priorities, stronger communication and conflict-management tools and an outline for a meaningful workplace change initiative.
The Program Experience
Asynchronous Preparation
Participants complete required online learning before the in-person capstone. This preparation establishes a shared foundation and allows the capstone to focus on discussion, practice, coaching and application.
Leadership Practices Inventory 360+ Feedback
Participants complete the LPI 360+ and invite observers from multiple professional groups to provide feedback on observable leadership behaviors. Comparing self-perception with the perspectives of others can help participants confirm strengths, identify blind spots and select specific development priorities.
Coached Development Planning
Coaching helps participants interpret their assessment results and translate feedback into practical goals. The assessment is used as a developmental tool rather than as a test or professional certification.
Two-Day In-Person Capstone
The required capstone uses exercises, facilitated discussion, coaching, case-based work and peer interaction to connect the program’s concepts to participants’ leadership responsibilities. Participants also begin outlining an initiative related to a workplace problem or organizational need.
Leadership Institute Alumni Community
Program graduates join the Leadership Institute Alumni Community, which provides opportunities for continued professional connection, learning and engagement across program cohorts.
Application and Selection
Community of Leaders uses an application-based selection process to create a cohort whose members can benefit from and contribute to the experience. Application reviewers consider:
- Professional experience and leadership trajectory.
- The scope and significance of the applicant’s leadership responsibilities.
- Readiness for feedback, reflection and continued development.
- The applicant’s reasons for pursuing the program.
- The ability to apply the learning in a professional setting.
- The perspectives and experience the applicant would contribute to the cohort.
Admission is based on program fit and cohort composition. Applicants should provide specific examples that help reviewers understand their professional context, current responsibilities and developmental goals.
What Past Participants Report
Past participants have reported strong program fit, knowledge gain and relevance to their daily leadership responsibilities. In a survey of 38 alumni from the 2021–2024 cohorts, Community of Leaders received a Net Promoter Score of +61. Alumni also described improvements in career outcomes, leadership skills, confidence, professional preparation and readiness for expanded responsibility.
Continuing Education Credit
CME, CPE, CNE and MOC credit will be available for the asynchronous and in-person portions of Community of Leaders.
IDSA is unable to offer pediatric MOC credit for this program.
Program Fee
The fee for the 2027 Community of Leaders is $5,250.
Applicants should consider their ability to complete the required asynchronous work, participate in the assessment and coaching process and attend the full two-day in-person capstone before applying.
The program fee includes:
- Access to the asynchronous curriculum and in-person capstone.
- CME & MOC credit
- Required reading materials
- The Leadership Practices Inventory 360+®
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Monday, May 3 and Tuesday, May 4
- (optional) Arrival reception on Sunday, May 2, 2027
Limited financial assistance is available. See the application for more details.
Nominate a Colleague
Colleagues may nominate an ID/HIV professional whose leadership contributions, trajectory and developmental needs make them a strong candidate for Community of Leaders.
Nominees receive the following benefits:
- The nomination serves as their professional endorsement, so they do not need to submit a separate letter of recommendation.
- Application reviewers are informed that a colleague has identified and endorsed the nominee.
- Nominees who are accepted receive $250 off the program fee, reducing the 2027 fee from $5,250 to $5,000.
A nomination does not guarantee admission. Nominees must submit their own application by December 3, 2026, and applications are reviewed through the standard selection process. A nomination is not required to apply.
Nominate a colleague for the 2027 Community of Leaders
Questions?
Contact leadershipinstitute@idsociety.org or learn more about the IDSA Leadership Institute.
2027 Community of Leaders
Community of Leaders is the advanced, application-based pathway of the IDSA Leadership Institute. The program is designed for mid- and senior-career infectious diseases and HIV professionals who are moving into leadership responsibilities or want to improve their effectiveness in an existing role.
Participants examine how others experience their leadership, identify specific behaviors to strengthen and apply what they learn to a workplace challenge. The program combines asynchronous learning, Leadership Practices Inventory® (LPI) 360+ feedback, coaching and an intensive two-day in-person capstone within a cohort of ID/HIV professionals from varied roles, organizations and practice settings.
Important Dates
- Applications open: September 7, 2026
- Application deadline: December 3, 2026
- Admission decisions announced: January 22, 2027
- Online learning: February–May 2027
- In-person capstone: May 3–4, 2027, in Arlington, Virginia
Attendance at the full in-person capstone is required.
Is Community of Leaders Right for You?
Community of Leaders may be a good fit if you:
- Have significant professional experience and increasing responsibility for people, programs, institutional priorities or organizational change.
- Lead through influence and professional relationships, including when you do not have direct authority over everyone involved.
- Want structured feedback on how managers, colleagues, direct reports and others experience your leadership behavior.
- Are prepared to reflect on your leadership practice and make specific behavioral changes.
- Want to strengthen your ability to communicate, manage conflict and guide change.
- Can apply the program’s content to a meaningful challenge in your workplace.
- Value learning with and contributing to a close cohort of ID/HIV professionals.
Community of Leaders is not limited to people with executive titles. Developmental readiness, professional experience and the scope of an applicant’s leadership responsibilities are more important than a particular title or number of years since training.
Professionals whose primary need is foundational leadership education may be better matched to Rising Leaders, the Leadership Institute’s fully online, coaching-centered pathway offered each fall.
Who Should Apply?
The program is intended for mid- and senior-career infectious diseases and HIV professionals across the healthcare team. Potential applicants include physicians, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, nurses, public health professionals, infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship leaders, researchers, educators and healthcare administrators.
IDSA seeks a cohort representing different professional roles, experiences, perspectives, practice settings and leadership trajectories. There is no single profile of an ideal participant. Applicants should consider whether the program’s advanced feedback, applied curriculum and in-person format match their current responsibilities and developmental needs.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the following criteria when applying:
- Hold active IDSA membership.
- Have at least five years of relevant professional experience.
- Be engaged primarily in infectious diseases or HIV clinical practice, clinical or basic research, administration, education, public health or a related field.
- Have a history of substantive service to the profession at the local, regional or national level.
- Demonstrate curiosity, openness to feedback and a commitment to continued development.
What You Will Develop
Community of Leaders focuses on four connected areas of leadership practice:
- Leadership identity and philosophy: Clarify how you intend to lead and how your values, decisions and behavior shape the experience of others.
- Leadership behavior: Use multisource feedback to identify strengths, possible blind spots and specific priorities for continued development.
- Communication and conflict: Strengthen your ability to listen, communicate clearly, address disagreement, negotiate and maintain productive working relationships.
- Organizational change: Apply leadership and change-management principles to a real workplace need and outline an initiative for moving that work forward.
Participants leave the program with a more explicit leadership philosophy, targeted behavior-development priorities, stronger communication and conflict-management tools and an outline for a meaningful workplace change initiative.
The Program Experience
Asynchronous Preparation
Participants complete required online learning before the in-person capstone. This preparation establishes a shared foundation and allows the capstone to focus on discussion, practice, coaching and application.
Leadership Practices Inventory 360+ Feedback
Participants complete the LPI 360+ and invite observers from multiple professional groups to provide feedback on observable leadership behaviors. Comparing self-perception with the perspectives of others can help participants confirm strengths, identify blind spots and select specific development priorities.
Coached Development Planning
Coaching helps participants interpret their assessment results and translate feedback into practical goals. The assessment is used as a developmental tool rather than as a test or professional certification.
Two-Day In-Person Capstone
The required capstone uses exercises, facilitated discussion, coaching, case-based work and peer interaction to connect the program’s concepts to participants’ leadership responsibilities. Participants also begin outlining an initiative related to a workplace problem or organizational need.
Leadership Institute Alumni Community
Program graduates join the Leadership Institute Alumni Community, which provides opportunities for continued professional connection, learning and engagement across program cohorts.
Application and Selection
Community of Leaders uses an application-based selection process to create a cohort whose members can benefit from and contribute to the experience. Application reviewers consider:
- Professional experience and leadership trajectory.
- The scope and significance of the applicant’s leadership responsibilities.
- Readiness for feedback, reflection and continued development.
- The applicant’s reasons for pursuing the program.
- The ability to apply the learning in a professional setting.
- The perspectives and experience the applicant would contribute to the cohort.
Admission is based on program fit and cohort composition. Applicants should provide specific examples that help reviewers understand their professional context, current responsibilities and developmental goals.
What Past Participants Report
Past participants have reported strong program fit, knowledge gain and relevance to their daily leadership responsibilities. In a survey of 38 alumni from the 2021–2024 cohorts, Community of Leaders received a Net Promoter Score of +61. Alumni also described improvements in career outcomes, leadership skills, confidence, professional preparation and readiness for expanded responsibility.
Continuing Education Credit
CME, CPE, CNE and MOC credit will be available for the asynchronous and in-person portions of Community of Leaders.
IDSA is unable to offer pediatric MOC credit for this program.
Program Fee
The fee for the 2027 Community of Leaders is $5,250.
Applicants should consider their ability to complete the required asynchronous work, participate in the assessment and coaching process and attend the full two-day in-person capstone before applying.
The program fee includes:
- Access to the asynchronous curriculum and in-person capstone.
- CME & MOC credit
- Required reading materials
- The Leadership Practices Inventory 360+®
- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Monday, May 3 and Tuesday, May 4
- (optional) Arrival reception on Sunday, May 2, 2027
Limited financial assistance is available. See the application for more details.
Nominate a Colleague
Colleagues may nominate an ID/HIV professional whose leadership contributions, trajectory and developmental needs make them a strong candidate for Community of Leaders.
Nominees receive the following benefits:
- The nomination serves as their professional endorsement, so they do not need to submit a separate letter of recommendation.
- Application reviewers are informed that a colleague has identified and endorsed the nominee.
- Nominees who are accepted receive $250 off the program fee, reducing the 2027 fee from $5,250 to $5,000.
A nomination does not guarantee admission. Nominees must submit their own application by December 3, 2026, and applications are reviewed through the standard selection process. A nomination is not required to apply.
Nominate a colleague for the 2027 Community of Leaders
Questions?
Contact leadershipinstitute@idsociety.org or learn more about the IDSA Leadership Institute.