Neurology Residency Curriculum

The neurologists on the faculty of Ohio State’s Neurological Institute represent the full range of neurological subspecialties:

• Cerebrovascular Disease
• Cognitive
• Epilepsy
• General
• Headache
• Health Services Research
• Movement
• Neurocritical Care
• Neurogenetics
• Neuro-Hospitalist
• Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology
• Neuromuscular
• Neuro-Oncology
• Neuro-Otology
• Neuropsychology
• Pain (Interventional)
• Sleep
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Sports Concussion
• Teleneurology

In addition, we have built up a number of multi-disciplinary clinics to provide comprehensive care for patients with specific needs.

• Functional Movement Disorders Clinic
• Movement Disorders Neuromodulation Clinic
• Parkinson’s Disease Multidisciplinary Clinic
• Huntington’s Disease Center Multidisciplinary Clinic
• Young Onset Dementia Clinic
• Epilepsy Pregnancy Clinic
• Epilepsy Transition Clinic
• Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Event Clinic
• MS Psychotherapy Clinic
• Neuro-Rheumatology Clinic
• Neurosarcoidosis Clinic
• Quality of Life MS Clinic
• MS Multidisciplinary Symptom Management Clinic
• MS Fatigue/Sleep Clinic
• ALS/Motor Neuron Disease Multidisciplinary Clinic and Research Program
• Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic
• Myasthenia Gravis Clinic
• Myositis Clinic

Our department actively partners with the departments of Internal Medicine, Neurosurgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Health.

Didactics

Resident conferences are held noon – 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for all neurology residents. During the first two months, lectures focus on neurologic examination, special diagnostic tests and emergency neurological management. The remainder of the year is a structured study of the basic neurological sciences and neuroradiology, morbidity and mortality, case conferences (under the following disciplines: general neurology, cognitive disorder and movement disorder) and journal club. In addition, we have dedicated wellness activities on the fourth Wednesday of every month.

The following conferences are designed to attend during specific rotations:

• Deep Brain Stimulator/Focused Ultrasound Ablation (DBS/FUSA)
• EMG
• Epilepsy Surgery
• Neurocritical Care
• Neuroimmunology
• Neuromuscular
• Neuro-oncology
• Neurovascular

Our department Grand Rounds are held on Tuesdays between 7:30-8:30 a.m. (either in-person or virtual format). We invite highly recognized expert speakers in the fields. Residents have the opportunity to interact with the invited speakers after each Grand Round presentation.

Research

Under the guidance of research committee, residents are assigned to research mentors. Research projects are selected ranging from case reports, retrospective chart reviews, QI projects, clinical research and/or basic science experiments. The expectation is to pursue research project(s) that will culminate in a formal medical communication — peer-reviewed publications and/or conference presentations (oral and/or poster presentations). In May, we hold our annual Neuroscience Day conference, where residents present the progress/results of their research projects. We strongly encourage our residents to present in external peer-reviewed conferences (e.g., AAN annual meeting).

Other Education Activities

Annually, we hold a Neurology DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) Symposium in October. The goal of this symposium is to bring awareness to advancement challenges in underrepresented groups in medicine, provide career development guidance to residents and foster collaboration and mentorship. Residents will have an opportunity to attend lecture presentations and panel discussions given by experts and leaders in neurology and DEI, and benefit from networking opportunities.

Presentation topics include:

• Women, gender minorities and other marginalized groups in medicine
• Career development in medicine
• Disparities in health outcomes and clinical research

We also encourage our residents to participate in educational programs offered by external institutions. Such educational activities will cultivate exposure to subspecialty fields and networking with potential mentors to ultimately promote our residents’ career development. Formal nomination is made through recommendation by a mini-committee consisting of relevant faculty.

Rotation Assignments

After your first year of residency, clinical assignments are four-week blocks and may vary from year to year, but rotation assignments in post-graduate years (PGY 2-4) are set. During night float/elective block, residents will alternate rotations per week (one week on night float, the following week on elective, etc.). The Child Neurology rotation consists of a total three blocks through residency.  

PGY1