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RESIDENCY EDUCATION IN NEUROLOGY
The Department of Neurology fosters quality resident education emphasizing effective and compassionate patient care that provides appropriate treatment to the patient and promotes good health. Our primary goal is to train excellent clinical neurologists. Graduates from our program will know and understand all facets of neurological diseases and will be able to utilize evidence and assimilate study information as accessed through computerized technology. We strongly encourage them to stay abreast of new and ongoing scientific studies of neurological diseases, both electronically and in published peer-reviewed scientific journals. Our faculty provides medical education through multi-specialty (but related) didactic lectures, hands-on inpatient and outpatient clinical duties that are personally supervised by the faculty members, and excellent library and electronic technology availability and support. Professional responsibilities are carried out with sound moral and ethical principles and in an environment that promotes racial, cultural, and religious diversity. Our trainees will have a broad-based understanding of the current health system issues and will confidently be able to access system resources to provide the best most cost-effective patient care.
The mission of the Divison of the Biological Sciences of the University of Chicago is to discover and create new knowledge of living systems, to preserve and communicate knowledge through education, and to nurture and sustain a community of scholars. The extensive interaction and collaboration with the faculty of the entire University, the active participation of faculty in governance, and the opportunity to teach and learn with fellow students at all levels are distinguishing features of the Division of the Biological Sciences. The University of Chicago Department of Neurology has traditionally trained our residents not only in the clinical realm, but at the research bench as well, if desired by the resident. Our goal is to train residents in an academic environment that prepares them to be future leaders of neurologic practice, education, and research.
WHAT'S NEW!
The University of Chicago is in a "boom" period with respect to the neurosciences. There are four chairmen (including the Chairman of Neurology) who have clinical or basic neuroscience as their main interest. The chairs are committed to continued recruitment of highly qualified individuals to further promote the growth of their departments. New appointments have already been made (see below), and we feel that continuation of this expansion will be a positive impact on the residency program. Some of the recent recruitments that have been made and several new programs that have been instituted in the Department of Neurology are:
1. A new Neurology/Neurosurgery ICU that is led by Dr. Jeffrey Frank, associate professor in the Department of Neurology. This unit has six acute beds and four step-down beds, and targets acute neurological and neurosurgical problems, especially stroke. Dr. Frank comes from the Cleveland Clinic where he very successfully ran a similar unit. He is presently director of an NIH-funded multi-institutional trial for acute stroke.
2. A Memory Disorders Clinic that is co-directed by James Mastrianni, assistant professor in the Department. Dr. Mastrianni comes from the University of California, San Francisco where he directed a similar Alzheimer disease center. Dr. Mastrianni was a researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who recently won the Nobel prize for prion disease. Dr. Mastrianni adds strength to what is already an impressive group of individuals in and outside the department with expertise in neurodegenerative diseases.
3. An Epilepsy Monitoring Center that is co-directed by Dr. John Ebersole, professor in the Department of Neurology, and Dr. Kurt Hecox, associate professor of pediatrics and neurology and chief of Pediatric Neurology in the Department of Pediatrics. There are four dedicated pediatric epilepsy monitoring rooms and four dedicated adult epilepsy monitoring rooms.
4. A new functional MRI center that is co-directed by Dr. Steven Small, associate professor in the Department of Neurology. The Center has a 3-T magnet dedicated to neuroscience research. Dr. Small is a cognitive neuroscientist who came from the University of Maryland where he ran a similar facility.
5. A new Department of Human Genetics that has recently been formed by the Marjorie I. and Bernard A. Mitchell Professor and Chairman, Dr. David Ledbetter. Dr. Ledbetter is an expert on developmental problems of the central nervous system, especially migrational problems involving the cerebral cortex. He appointed a pediatric neurology professor, Dr. William Dobyns, who runs a new neurogenetics clinic.
6. There is a new neuropathologist in the Department of Pathology, Dr. Manuel Utset. Dr. Utset trained at the University of California, San Francisco and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
7. The chairman of Psychiatry, Dr. Elliot Gershon, came to the University of Chicago from the National Institue of Mental Health. His main clinical and research interest is genetics of psychiatric disease. He is actively recruiting faculty for his department.
RESIDENCY PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
The neurology residency program at the University of Chicago provides full training in clinical neurology. Our objective is to produce neurologists who have been exposed to an excellent clinical and research environment during their training which will allow them to make the most informed decisions about their ultimate career direction. We emphasize an anatomically and physiologically minded approach to the diagnosis and management of neurologic disease.
Extensive electrophysiologic, neuropathologic, neuropsychiatric, neuroophthalmologic, and neuroradiologic test facilities are available to supplement this method of patient management. A broad spectrum of neurologic diseases is seen in outpatient and inpatient settings at the University of Chicago Medical. Many of these diseases are the object of active investigation at clinical and basic research levels by members of the Departments of Neurology, Pediatrics, Pathology, and Neurobiology/Pharmacology/Physiology, and members of the Committees of Immunology, Virology, and Neurobiology. New research observations are quickly integrated into the clinical training program. Staff and trainees share in selected opportunities for teaching medical students and house officers.
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER AND ITS AFFILIATES
Neurology is an autonomous department within the University of Chicago Medical Center. The medical center combines the joint efforts of the Division of Biological Sciences and its Pritzker School of Medicine and the University of Chicago Hospitals. The hospitals include the Bernard Mitchell Hospital, the primary adult patient care facility, Chicago Lying-In Hospital, a women's specialty hospital, and The University of Chicago Children's Hospital, dedicated to the needs of children. All of these facilities are located on the campus of the University of Chicago. Mitchell Hospital, with 561 beds and a multi- state referral base, is the base for the neurology residency program.
ROTATIONS AND ELECTIVES
The adult neurology training program is a three year program. Four new trainees in adult neurology and one candidate in pediatric neurology are selected each year. During the first year, most training is accomplished on the ward of the University of Chicago neurology, neurosurgery, and neuro-ICU services. First year residents also rotate through pediatric neurology, neuroradiology, and begin to train on the consultation service. In the second year, residents rotate again through pediatric neurology as well as through clinical neurophysiology (EEG, EMG, evoked potentials, polysomnography and O.R. monitoring), the consultation service and the outpatient clinic at the University of Chicago. Third year residents spend time on the neurology service at the University of Chicago as the senior resident, during which time the trainee functions as the deputy of the chief of service. Other third year rotations include neuropathology and elective time. Elective time can be spent either in basic research laboratories or on clinical services such as neuroradiology, neurosurgery, neuro-ophthalmology, and psychiatry. Additional training in neuropathology, neurophysiology or clinical electives in neurology are also offered. Residents take four weeks of vacation each year.
The pediatric neurology training program is also a three year program. The first-year rotations are identical to the adult program. In the second year, the pediatric resident has clinical rotations at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital, and supervises the consult service at the Children's Hospital. Rotations in the third year include neuropathology, neurophysiology and elective time in the lab or on other clinical services.
Resident rotation through the neurointensive care service represents an important component of the neurology residency training Program. The service is run by neurologists who specialize in neurointensive care and acute stroke, and the rotation provides a wide exposure to the management of critically ill patients with neurological and neurosurgical problems. The neurointensive care service is closely linked with neurology and neurosurgery, so this rotation allows the residents to interface with many neurosurgical problems and, at times, assist and observe in the operating room.
The neurosurgery section has an international reputation for handling diverse and complicated neurosurgical problems. A busy program of rounds and lectures is also available to rotators. Rotators should develop an insight into the surgical approach to common problems such as subarachnoid hemmorrhage, intracerebral hemmorrhage, brain tumors, and sine/disc pathology.
RESEARCH ACTIVITY AND ELECTIVE TIME
The Department of Neurology at the University of Chicago is active in basic and clinical research studies of the neurological sciences. Investigative work is being carried out in the following fields: neuroimmunology, cell biology, tissue culture of immune and CNS cells, molecular biology of the nervous system, neurooncology, neuropharmacology, neurovirology, peripheral neuropathy, cerebrovascular disease, neuroanatomy, degenerative diseases, sleep studies, 3-dimensional evoked potentials, and functional imaging. Residents are encouraged to pursue their interests in investigative work during their elective time. The emphasis of the program, however, is on clinical training in Neurology. All residents spend most of their time on the clinical rotations and are required to build and improve their clinical skills. Elective time is available for residents to concentrate on some of the subspecialty skills that are important for their future careers. Those residents interested in pursuing a career in the practice of clinical neurology are encouraged to spend their elective time on the clinical or supportive services. For those interested in pursuing academic or investigative careers, there is a good opportunity for them to start laboratory work during their elective time as well.
CONFERENCES
Neurology and Neurosurgery Grand Rounds are held weekly. A new lecture series began with the 2002-2003 academic year that focuses on important neurological diseases and emergencies that a new resident trainee may encounter early in their training. This series is scheduled at the very beginning of the training year so that the resident trainees are prepared for possible scenarios they may encounter early in their training while on the service. A neuroscience lectures series completes the training year. The neuropathology conference alternates weekly with the pediatric neurology conference. There are also biweekly adult and pediatric neurology clinical review sessions. Weekly teaching sessions include a neuroradiology conference led by an attending neuroradiologist, and a Neurophysiology conference. Clinical lectures alternate with a formal series of conferences given by the clinical neurophysiology group. There are also basic research conferences on Friday, as well as frequent research conferences in Neurology, Psychiatry, Neurobiology, and Immunology.
While scheduled on the ward, residents begin the day with ward work rounds followed by morning report with a faculty member. Ward attending rounds begin after morning report. Morning report is held every weekday morning except Friday, when there is a formal brain cutting session. Senior residents are provided the opportunity for extensive exposure to neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropharmacology. During the third year, residents serve as teaching assistants in Medical Neurobiology 305. This is a spring quarter course with more than 113 hours exposure time and 12-17 laboratories. During this time residents are adjunctive instructors in the laboratories; as such they have the opportunity to review basic neuroscience and the opportunity to teach and demonstrate their clinical skills to first year medical students. Residents also teach and supervise fourth year medical students as they rotate through the required Neurology clerkship.
OUTPATIENT NEUROLOGY AND SPECIALTY CLINICS
Outpatient care is done at the University of Chicago's Center for Advanced Medicine, a dedicated outpatient facililty that provides clinic space, radiology and laboratory services, outpatient surgery, and most other ancillary services under one roof. Residents see and follow their own patients over a three-year period. During each session of the clinic, there are faculty and resident staff seeing patients. Residents discuss all their patients with one of the attendings. Special clinics include the ALS clinic and post-polio clinic, neuropathy, the MS clinic, the epilepsy clinic, the movement disorders clinic, the memory disorders clinic, the headache clinic and the muscular dystrophy (neuromuscular disease) clinic. There is also an active sleep clinic and a new, fully equipped sleep study laboratory. Approximately 650 adult and 400 pediatric patients are seen each month; of these 300 are new cases.
CONSULTATION SERVICES
All consults are seen by a resident and reviewed with an attending physician. Consultations average 70-90/month at Mitchell Hospital, and 30 pediatric neurology consults at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital.
POST-RESIDENCY FELLOWSHIPS
The department accepts three fellows in clinical neurophysiology (EEG, EMG, or sleep), and one to two in neuroimmunology each year. Residents pursue careers in academic medicine as well as private practice.
FACULTY
Department of Neurology is staffed with 24 full-time faculty, which includes two Ph.D. scientists, and 2 part-time clinical attending physicians. There are 19 adult neurology attending physicians and 8 pediatric neurology attending physicians. The Department has 13 research associates. Supporting facilities include a state-of-the-art neurophysiology laboratory providing EEG and EMG services, and evoked potentials, a sleep lab, a neuroradiological service, neurosurgery, neuropathology, neuroimmunology laboratory, several MRI and CT scanners, and neuropsychiatric testing.
RESIDENCY DIRECTOR
Helene Rubeiz, MD
Director, Neurology Residency Program
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Mailing Address:
5841 S. Maryland Ave.
MC 2030
Chicago, IL 60637
773-702-0151, voice
773-834-3662, fax
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Marla Scofield, Education Coordinator.
REQUIREMENTS
Applicants must have graduated from an American or Canadian medical school and passed the National Board Examination or the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE). Relevant examination numbers and dates passed must be indicated on the application. One year of clinical training in internal medicine in an approved program in the United States or Canada is required for entry into the neurology residency training program. Two years of pediatric training are required for the pediatric neurology program. In addition, the applicant must also be eligible to obtain valid visa status.
APPLICATION
Beginning with the 2008 match we will be utilizing the ERAS Residency & Osteopathic Internship Applicants site and NRMP - National Resident Matching Program.
If you have any questions, pleas call or write the education coordinator, Marla Scofield.
Applicants who are already in clinical training need to provide three letters of reference from their most recent clinical experience. One of these letters should be from their current Program Director. Candidates whose applications are considered competitive will be selected for interview. When interviews are completed, selected applicants will be submitted to the Neurology Matching Program. Residents (adult) are appointed through the Matching Program, to which all applicants should apply.
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