The above is a schedule of the conferences attended by the residents throughout residency. Click here to view the pdf of the schedule.

We have many, varied conferences available to residents throughout the year including:

• Professor Rounds (monthly)
• Neurovascular Conference (weekly)
• Neurophysiology Conference (weekly)
• Morbidity and Mortality Conference (every other month)
• Brain Tumor Board (weekly)
• Brain Cutting (weekly)
• Epilepsy Surgery Conference (as needed, often weekly)
• Neurobiology Lectures (varies widely)
• Pediatric Neurology Conference (bimonthly)

On Wednesday mornings, we hold 1-hour sessions with one of our neuroradiologists to discuss neuroimaging studies. During these morning reports, residents present cases to the neuroradiologist who then guides residents through the relevant imaging modalities on the studies performed on the patient, highlighting interesting or unusual findings.

On Monday, Thursday, and Friday mornings, we hold 30 minute morning reports with an established faculty member. During these morning reports, residents present patients to an attending who then guides residents through the history, physical exam, imaging findings, differential diagnosis and appropriate workup and treatment.

These are instrumental in residents’ development of methodical approaches to patient care and evaluation. We present both typical general neurology patients and challenging diagnostic dilemmas in a very candid environment with residents, rotators, and students with input from everyone involved. This allows everyone to learn from each others’ patients and to extend the number of cases to which residents are exposed while in training.

Every day from 12-1pm, residents attend Neuroscience Didactics Lecture Series with free lunch provided. The topics early in the academic year focus on emergent neurological problems, anatomy, and frequently encountered diagnoses in the clinic. In January and February the topics focus on topics that are heavy on the Residency In-Training Exam and on Neurology Board Exams. In March through June, lectures will cover extensive topics throughout neurology including a few talks focusing on financial planning, setting up a clinical practice, professional development, and various topics that are of interest to the residents. Each year, virtually all clinically relevant topics are covered at least once for the residents.

Neurology Grand Rounds is scheduled each Tuesday morning from 8:00-9:00am. This serves as a format from which neurologists at UAB and from the surrounding community can learn about developing research, novel treatment approaches, and other topics relating to neurology. From our senior residents to internationally acclaimed neurologists, the topics covered in our Grand Rounds are applicable to neurology and often represent future directions within our specialty.

Under the supervision and direction of a chosen attending, each resident directs at least two journal clubs during their training. Typically, a recent article in a reputable journal is presented by the resident, followed by a discussion on critiques of the study design, applicability of the findings, and future study to strengthen or weaken the data presented. This lively discussion helps the residents to learn how to incorporate new information into their clinical practice.

PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents have a half day of general neurology clinic at the VA on Thursday afternoons. PGY-4 residents have a half day of general neurology clinic on Friday morning. Residents on inpatient services are excused from their inpatient duties (except when on the Stroke team or night float) to attend their VA continuity clinic. On a typical day, neurology residents will see one to two new patients and then follow-ups from prior visits. The clinic is fairly busy as it is the only general neurology clinic in Alabama offered to Veterans with the VA Health System.

The upper level neurology resident performs EMGs two half-days per week. Besides attending a continuity clinic at the VA, residents also attend a VA staff attending subspecialty clinic five half-days per week. Because of this extra clinic, you will not have your Cooper Green continuity clinic during the VA rotation.

Because the VA Hospital is located just across the street from University Hospital, residents can easily and quickly walk across the street to attend the lectures and conferences. The VA service is a very realistic neurology experience because you will take care of inpatients, perform consults, read EEGs, perform EMGs, and go to clinics all in the same rotation!

As a PGY-2, residents also participate in a half-day (Friday afternoon) of continuity clinic at Cooper Green Hospital. As with the VA, residents on inpatient services (except stroke and night float) are excused from inpatient duties to attend this continuity clinic. The patients cared for at Cooper green are usually disadvantaged. Because of this, patients present to clinic at different stages of common and uncommon neurological disorders.

Our Comprehensive Stroke Center in the Division of Cerebrovascular Disease is a member of the NIH StrokeNet. We regularly conduct clinical trials in the prevention and acute treatment of stroke. We have special expertise in neurosonology with one of the nation’s best trainers in the modality of cerebrovascular ultrasound. We also specialize in studies on recovery from injury at our adjoining Spain Rehabilitation Center and on the cognitive effects of cerebrovascular disease.

The Division of Epilepsy and its NAEC Level 4 center has a long history in the research of seizure treatments.  We were one of the original sites to pioneer the use of levetiracetam, and we continue to investigate novel pharmacotherapies for seizures, including through our UAB Cannabidiol Program. Our many surgical cases often employ novel technologies and protocols. We also have one of the few magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic source imaging (MSI) laboratories.

The Division of Memory Disorders and Behavioral Neurology houses our NIA-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center that focuses on Deep South disparities. We are part of many national collaborations including the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial Consortium (ACTC), the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC), the ARTFL-LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD) research consortium, the Frontotemporal Dementia Prevention Initiative (FPI), the Alzheimer Disease Cooperative Study, and the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN).

The Division of Movement Disorders is a stronghold for research from the leadership of President Ray Watts and Dr. David Standaert, the Department’s Chair. We are leaders in Parkinson’s disease research and are an American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) Center for Advanced Research and a NINDS Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research. We are also a Parkinson Study Group site and a Michael J. Fox Foundation Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) site. The Neuromodulation Laboratory is funded through the NIH BRAIN initiative to advance deep brain stimulation (DBS) technology. We also have a Huntington’s Disease Society of America Center of Excellence and are an Enroll-HD site.

The Division of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis has basic, translational and clinical research through its Comprehensive MS Center. Human studies in the MS Center are focused on how and why the disease begins, how it evolves over time, and patient outcomes. Discoveries made in the lab can validate new targets for drugs and other therapies. Physician-scientists at UAB have participated in clinical research to develop MS disease-modifying drugs since the pivotal study of interferon beta-1b in the late 1980s.

The Division of Neuromuscular Disease is home to the Shin J. Oh Muscle and Nerve Histopathology Laboratory and serves as a large biorepository for tissue-based research. Clinical investigation includes new therapies for treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, CIDP and myasthenia gravis.

In the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is the Division of Neuro-Oncology. We are a leading member site for the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy (NABTT), and we have bench-based and clinical studies ongoing.