Post-Graduate Education and Training
Program Overview
The Department of Neurology, through its training programs, provides rigorous education and training for the next generation of neurologists and neurologist leaders. At the center of this program is our four-year categorical adult neurology residency program, which is accredited by the ACGME and recognized by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Our adult neurology residents work closely with residents in the combined Neurology-Psychiatry, Child Neurology, and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities programs.
Eligible neurology residents may also apply for a position in our R25 research education grant, funded through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. This program provides motivated trainees with six months of dedicated, protected research time during their PGY4 year and financial support for an additional 12 months of post-residency research. This may be completed in combination with a subspecialty clinical fellowship.
Additionally, the Department offers fellowships in numerous clinical neurological subspecialties; laboratory-based research fellowships are available to those pursuing clinician-scientist careers.
Diverse Clinical Settings
Our residents serve incredibly diverse patient populations and are exposed to a large and broad range of clinical experiences. As such, this is not a "one-program-one-hospital experience, but rather a program that affords its trainees with a rich collection of complementary clinical settings. The pillars of this experience include:
Since its founding in 1894, Parkland Hospital has earned a national reputation for excellent patient care as well as medical education and training. Parkland is one of the busiest public hospitals in the nation, and our trainees reap the benefits.
Parkland is the primary teaching facility at UT Southwestern. The Neurology Department staffs a number of services, including the epilepsy monitoring unit (accredited as a Level 4 Epilepsy Center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers), as well as primary inpatient services in general neurology, vascular neurology, and neurocritical care. Parkland is certified by the Joint Commission as a Comprehensive Stroke Center.
Our neurology resident outpatient continuity clinics are housed in Parkland’s ambulatory care center; EEGs, EMG/NCS, autonomic testing, and chemodenervation for dystonia and headache are readily accessible for clinic patients; residents and fellows participate in the performance or interpretation of each of these procedures during training. A new, state-of-the-art Sleep Center opened its doors in the summer of 2020; this will be a site for resident and fellow education as well. Serving our patients at Parkland is an enormous privilege, and this hospital holds a special place in the hearts of our residents and faculty.
In 2020, Clements University Hospital was named the Best Hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth by U.S. News & World Report for the fourth consecutive year. Since opening in December 2014, Clements has offered world-class medical care in numerous medical and surgical subspecialties. Neurology delivers ‘round the clock emergency room and inpatient consultative services in the main hospital.
Clements University Hospital is undergoing a $480 million expansion, which includes a new 12-story tower that will serve as the clinical home for the O’Donnell Brain Institute. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in January 2021, at which time our primary neurological services will transfer from Zale Lipshy Pavilion to the third tower. This move will consolidate all of our services into the main hospital.
Aston is a nine-story outpatient building where most faculty general neurology and subspecialty clinics take place, including neuromuscular medicine, movement disorders, autonomic neurology, epilepsy, behavioral neurology, neuroimmunology, general neurology, vascular neurology, and headache medicine.
Neurology residents have numerous outpatient rotations at Aston over the course of their training, and outpatient-based neurology fellowships take place there as well.
Children’s Health is home to the only academic healthcare system in North Texas that is dedicated exclusively to the comprehensive care of children. Children’s Health is one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country and is the fifth largest healthcare provider in the nation. The Pediatric Neurology Division at Children’s takes care of patients with conditions across the neurological and developmental spectrum, from birth to early adulthood. We have primary and consultative inpatient services at Children’s, as well as a busy epilepsy monitoring unit and numerous subspecialty outpatient neurology clinic.
Scottish Rite for Children, one mile south of UT Southwestern, is recognized internationally for clinical care and research in chronic neurological and orthopedic disorders. Neurology residents gain outpatient exposure to rare chronic neurological disorders in Scottish Rite for Children’s ultra-subspecialized subspecialty clinics. This is one of the many unique experiences that makes our program so educationally rich and diverse.
The Dallas VA hospital is located south of downtown Dallas and serves a 30-county area. Neurology residents provide inpatient neurology consultation and participate in outpatient movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders, autonomic disorders, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, sleep disorders, and general neurology clinics. Additionally, residents spend time in several procedure clinics, including chemodenervation for migraine and movement disorders, EMG/NCS, and autonomic function testing.