Education

Vascular Neurology Fellowship

The Vascular Neurology fellowship offered at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Department of Neurology, is a comprehensive, clinical, interdisciplinary program in which fellows acquire in depth knowledge of the specifics and details of diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and overall management of all types of cerebrovascular disorders.

There are two fellowship programs tracks available. The first is an ACGME- accredited one-year fellowship program (3 positions). Qualified candidates must have completed an ACGME accredited neurology residency program. At the end of training, the trainee is expected to manage all cerebrovascular conditions, have expertise in neurosonology, and initiate independent clinical research. An additional second-year is optional for selected candidates that want to expand research activities. The second fellowship program track is a Stroke research track (NINDS StrokeNet) one-year research position (1 position) (see below).

Opportunities and Expectations

The vascular neurology fellowship will give trainees the opportunity to develop expertise in the following areas: Acute Stroke, Inpatient and Outpatient Stroke Management, Stroke management in the Neuro Critical Care Unit (NICU), Primary and Secondary Stroke Prevention methods, and Neurosonology. The fellow will also have the option to develop research skills in areas such as Clinical Epidemiology, Stroke Disparities, Vascular Dementia and interact with Basic Stroke Neuroscientists. After completion of the first year of cerebrovascular fellowship the vascular fellow is expected to be competent in obtaining a relevant cerebrovascular history; be able to perform a relevant cerebrovascular examination; appropriately localize vascular lesions and develop a differential diagnostic list based on historical and physical findings; plan a required diagnostic work up for inpatient stroke patients; interpret diagnostic neuroimaging data in the appropriate clinical setting, be able to emergently manage the acute stroke patients and administer thrombolytic treatment, outline a long-term plan for stroke prevention; appreciate differences in management and long term prognosis of different stroke etiologies; be able to provide cerebrovascular consultations and be a useful resource to general neurologists; supervise and teach junior residents and medical students; understand the health and financial impact of cerebrovascular diseases in the context of the health care system; interact with consultants in closely related fields such as cardiology, and neurosurgery; have an appreciation for academic medicine, clinical research and have completed a research project during the course of the fellowship.

The Vascular Neurology fellowship program is designed to allow the fellow to rotate during the 1st year through the Stroke wards, Outpatient clinics, Neurosonology Laboratory, Neurocritical care Unit, Neurointerventional and Neuroradiology services. Devoted time for research is also an essential part of this program. The didactic curriculum for fellows consists of weekly core lectures and case-conferences specifically geared for vascular neurology fellows and stroke faculty. The didactic lectures cover a wide range of topics, are well-attended by our fellows, faculty and senior neurology residents rotating on the Stroke rotation.

There are two fellowship programs tracks available. The first is an ACGME- accredited one-year fellowship program. The trainee is expected at the end of the training to manage all cerebrovascular conditions, have expertise in neurosonology, and to initiate independent clinical research. An additional non-ACGME second-year is optional for selected candidates that want to expand research activities. The second fellowship program track is a Stroke research track (NINDS SrokeNet) one-year research position. For eligibility please contact Dr. Tatjana Rundek, the Miami StrokeNet training director.

Call: On-call responsibilities are distributed accordingly amongst the vascular neurology fellows. Currently, we offer three ACGME-accredited one-year clinical vascular neurology fellowship positions. The fellows currently rotate on 2-week rotation blocks. During a given rotation block, one fellow covers daytime service at Jackson Memorial Hospital while a second fellow covers daytime service at University of Miami Hospital and the Miami VA Medical Center. Weeknight call is triaged by the Jackson Memorial Hospital fellow. Weekend call during the 2-week rotation block alternates between the Jackson Memorial Hospital fellow and the University of Miami Hospital/VA fellow. The third fellow on elective rotation has no call responsibilities.

Teaching Hospitals: Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami Hospital, and Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Applications accepted through ERAS. until April. For additional information please contact Andrea Ruiz 305-243-2742.

Faculty

The University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine is the premier medical center in South Florida. The Department of Neurology has a large faculty comprised of 50 clinicians and 20 Neuroscientists. The Cerebrovascular Division has full time faculty members who are board certified in Vascular Neurology. A variety of other individuals and services interact with the vascular neurology resident to enhance the teaching experience. Those intimately involved include, among others, Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Neurointerventional procedures and Neurointensive Care.

Services

In addition to inpatient and outpatient clinical activities, the Division is responsible for the Patrick Cesarano Neurovascular Laboratory, accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories. The Neurovascular Laboratory performs over 2000 annual procedures, including Transcranial Doppler studies, Vasomotor Reactivity studies, Shunt test studies, Emboli detection studies and Carotid and Vertebral Duplex studies. The fellow is expected to be actively involved in all of these activities. The cerebrovascular service cares for about 1200 new inpatients with stroke per year, between 200-300 inpatient consults from other departments each year and about 1500 new follow up outpatients.

Program Contact Information:

Andrea Ruiz, BGS, C-TAGME
Program Manager
Phone: 305-243-2742
Fax: 305-243-0359