Program Overview

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Prelim Year: PGY-1

The majority of this year is spent with the Columbia Medicine Residency Program, which provides an unparalleled Internal Medicine training experience. The PGY1 residents do spend 8 weeks on the neurology service. Four weeks are spent with the consult team, 2 weeks in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, 1 week in neuroradiology, and 1 week is a combined week of a self-paced virtual neuroanatomy course and time in the neurology faculty practice.

First Year (PGY-2)

The goals of the PGY-2 experience are focused on the acquisition of medical knowledge and clinical skills, including electroencephalography interpretation. The emphasis in PGY-2 is on clinical localization in neurology, hospital and ambulatory-based practice, and the evaluation and management of neurological emergencies. During this time, residents also have the opportunity to begin exploring subspecialties, future research and scholarly interests. 

Rotation and weeks (approximate)

  • Continuity Clinic: 8 weeks
  • Neurological Intensive Care Unit: 9 weeks
  • Neurology Ward Service: 4 weeks
  • Stroke Service: 5 weeks
  • General Neurology Consult: 4 weeks
  • Neuro-oncology: 1 week

  • Junior Night Float: 4 weeks
  • Admitting Night Float: 1 weeks
  • Child Neurology: 4 weeks
  • Electives: 5 weeks
  • Neuromuscular: 2 weeks

  • Pathology/Teach: 1 week

  • Ambulatory Faculty Practice: 1 weeks
  • Vacation: 4 weeks

Total Electives: 26 weeks

Second Year (PGY-3)

The PGY-3 training builds upon the foundation of knowledge and clinical skills acquired during the PGY-2 rotations. The goals of the PGY-3 experience include an expansion of clinical responsibility for the care of patients, and increased independence in the assessment of neurological emergencies. The PGY-3 resident increasingly explores the subspecialties of neurology, becomes a mentor and role model for PGY-2 residents and medical students, and begins to develop research, educational, and leadership initiatives. 

Rotation and weeks (approximate)

  • Continuity Clinic: 8 weeks
  • General Neurology Consult: 5 weeks
  • Stroke Consult Rotation: 5 weeks
  • Stroke Service Senior: 3 weeks
  • Neurology Ward Senior: 5 weeks
  • Neurological Intensive Care Unit: 2 weeks

  • Neuro-Oncology: 2 weeks
  • Child Neurology: 4 weeks
  • Pathology/Teach: 1 weeks
  • Admitting Night Float: 4 weeks
  • Electives: 8 weeks
  • Vacation: 4 weeks

Total Electives: 26 weeks

Third Year: PGY-4

The PGY-4 experience allows residents to consolidate their large body of neurological knowledge and subspecialty depth, in preparation for the board certification examination and the independent practice of neurology. The PGY-4 resident is expected to participate in research, education, and leadership initiatives, while developing a professional identity and career plan for fellowship training or clinical practice. 

Rotation and weeks (approximate)

  • Continuity Clinic: 8 weeks
  • Neurology Ward Senior: 5 weeks
  • Neurology Stroke Senior: 2 weeks
  • Neurology Consult Senior: 5 weeks
  • Night Float Consult: 5 weeks
  • Child Neurology: 4 weeks
  • Teach: 2 weeks
  • Electives: 13 weeks
  • Pathology/Teach: 2 weeks
  • Psychiatry: 4 weeks
  • Vacation: 4 weeks

Total Electives: 26 weeks

  • Admitting Night Float Rotation (ANF) is done in PGY-2 year and early PGY-3 year. The ANF resident works closely with the Senior Consult Night Float resident, admitting patients to both the Merritt Neurology Ward Service, as well as the Neurovascular Service, from various places including the Emergency Room, outside hospitals, the NICU, and other Medical Center services. The ANF rotation is often the first opportunity residents have to learn how to run acute stroke activation and how to do a neurological consultation.
  • Child Neurology Rotation is based at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. The clinical activities of our Division of Child Neurology are headquartered at CHONY. The residents are members of the Child Neurology Consult Team, which is responsible for new consultations and follow-ups from the pediatric ER, ICU's, and floors, and which works in parallel with our child neurology residents and attendings.
  • Adult Epilepsy Monitoring Unit is an educational experience for PGY-2 residents. During this rotation, residents become a member of the Epilepsy Division and care for patients in the adult EMU, which includes learning how to read EEGs and care for patients with epilepsy. 
  • Junior Night Float (JNF) Rotation is a five-night per week rotation. On three nights, the resident is responsible for cross coverage of the neurology floor patients. On two nights of the week, the resident instead serves in the Admitting Night Float (ANF) role.  
  • Neurology Ward Service Rotation  provides PGY-2 residents with their main opportunity to care for patients with general neurological diseases. These patients have been admitted to the Medical Center's Milstein Hospital from the Emergency Room, the Neurological Intensive Care Unit, the faculty practice doctors at the Neurological Institute, and outside hospitals. Typical diagnoses on this general neurology service include neuro-oncology, autoimmune neurology, epilepsy, encephalopathy, neurodegenerative disease, and neuromuscular disease, among others. 
  • Neurological Care Unit (NICU) Rotation exposes residents to the dynamic environment of our 18-bed, state-of-the-art NICU. Here, residents learn to effectively evaluate and manage patients with severe and acute neurological emergencies, many of whom require advanced monitoring, mechanical ventilation, cardiovascular support, invasive procedures, and neurosurgical interventions. 
  • Neurology Consult Service Rotation involves residents  providing neurological expertise throughout NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, including the ICU's, the Emergency Room, and the general medical and surgical floors. The consult team consists of one PGY-4 resident, two PGY-3s (one for stroke and one for general neurology), one PGY-2, psychiatry rotators, neurology intern rotators, sub interns and medical students. This educational experience most closely resembles the work of a practicing consultant neurologist in the acute hospital setting. The service makes daily rounds, seven days a week, providing over 2000 neurological consultations annually to every service in the Medical Center.
  • Neuro-Oncology Rotation enables PGY-3 residents to experience the complexities of both outpatient and inpatient management of patients with brain cancer through our outstanding Division of Neuro-Oncology. While on this rotation, residents are able to see patients in the outpatient setting, as well as in consultation in Milstein Hospital. Residents also attend Tumor Board every week with our neuro-oncology faculty.  
  • Neuropathology Rotation introduces PGY3s and PGY-4 residents to the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology's remarkable Division of Neuropathology. Here, residents are exposed to a broad range of pathology, both grossly and under the microscope, and attend brain cutting sessions each Friday morning. Working alongside the neuropathology faculty and fellows, residents are able to gain a deeper understanding of both neuroanatomy and neuropathology, often going to the OR to look at frozen sections. 
  • Neurovascular ("Stroke Service") Rotation teaches residents to care for patients with neurovascular conditions of all types, including ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, vasculitis, arteriovenous malformations, and others. Like the Merritt Neurology Ward Rotation, patients are admitted to the Neurovascular Unit at Milstein Hospital from a variety of sources. 
  • Psychiatry Rotation for PGY-4 residents is an inpatient experience on the Psychiatry Consult Liaison Service. As required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), all neurology residents must participate in this four-week clinical experience. This rotation exposes neurology residents to the principles of psychiatric evaluation, interviewing techniques, the multi-axial psychiatric diagnostic framework, psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and a systems-based approach to patient care and disposition. 
  • Night Float Consult esidents have the highest level of responsibility and independence in medical decision making in the Neurology Residency Program. The consult night float is responsible for evaluating and recommending a plan of diagnosis and management for patients with acute and emergent neurological problems who present to the ER, or who are already hospitalized on other services at the Medical Center. The ability to fill this role represents an important milestone in the development of an independent neurological consultant. 
  • Neuromuscular/EMG Rotation allows PGY-3 residents to interact and learn from our clinical neurophysiology fellows and faculty. Clinical testing sessions are supplemented with didactic lectures and patient care rounds, including one session of nerve and muscle histopathology, daily case review, weekly EMG didactic lectures, weekly combined clinical neurophysiology lectures, the weekly Muscle Rounds Conference, MDA Clinic participation, and impromptu lectures based on clinical studies.
  • Ambulatory Faculty Practice rotation is based in the outpatient faculty practice of the general neurologists and is designed to provide residents with experience in the everyday practice of neurology. Residents will experience neurological manifestations that are not routinely encountered in the hospital setting.
  • Clinic: The mission of the Ambulatory Neurology Continuity Clinic of the residency program is to provide high-quality neurologic care to the members of our community and advance resident education and engagement in ambulatory neurology. The clinic rotation occurs in blocks every 6 weeks.
  • Electives: The range and abundance of elective time during neurology residency allows residents to explore many areas of neurology in greater depth. The total elective time is 19 weeks spread over the 3 years of training.  Examples of electives include: Advanced EMG, Continuous EEG, Clinical Trials, Epilepsy, Headache, Movement Disorders, Cognitive Disorders, Neuroimmunology, Neuro-infectious disease, Neuro-interventional, Neuro-muscular, Neuro-oncology, Neuroradiology, Neuroradiology/cEEG combined elective , Rehabilitation Medicine , Neurovascular ultrasound , Palliative Care , Stroke (Outpatient), Stroke fellow, International Elective