Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Residency Program
The Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology offer a six-year ACGME-accredited categorical residency program in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NDD), combining two years of Pediatrics training at Children's Medical Center and four years of NDD training at a comprehensive care center for autism and developmental disabilities. The program emphasizes multidisciplinary, team-based care, with training alongside experts in psychology, psychiatry, neurology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, social work, and behavioral therapy. Residents gain exposure to a dedicated neonatal neurocritical care team and benefit from unique clinical & research opportunities, including Cerebral Palsy & Dyslexia care at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Additional elective experiences are available in palliative care, foster care, and complex care medicine. Graduates are eligible for board certification in Pediatrics, Neurology with Special Certification in Child Neurology, and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
Welcome to the UT Southwestern NDD Residency Program! The next six years are designed to foster your growth as a clinician, scholar, and leader. Our faculty are deeply committed to helping residents become not only astute physicians, but also advocates and authorities in neurodevelopment. What truly sets our program apart is our strong culture of teamwork and the lasting impact of our graduates, who continue to shape the field.”
Program Years
- Postgraduate Years 1-2: Pediatric Training
Residents spend their first two years as integrated members of the Pediatrics Residency program at UT Southwestern - Children's Health℠.
- Postgraduate Year 3: Adult Neurology and Intro to Child Neurology
The first block of this year is dedicated to An Introduction to Neurology and Management of Acute Neurologic Emergencies. This focused review of neuroscience, neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and neuroradiology occurs without the burden of primary clinical responsibilities.
Residents complete six months of adult inpatient neurology with the focus on direct care of patients with acute neurologic disease on the neurology inpatient and consult services, while under the direct supervision of adult neurology senior residents and attending faculty. They also complete one block each of adult outpatient specialty clinics, adult neurology elective, and neuropathology.
Integrated throughout training is a weekly Child Neurology Continuity Clinic where residents follow patients longitudinally and assess disease progression and management, especially as it pertains to a developing child.
- Postgraduate Year 4: Mastering Skills in Child Neurology
During their fourth year, residents will complete their adult neurology training requirements including adult outpatient specialty clinics and adult neurology electives. Residents spend more time developing and mastering their skills in child neurology. They develop diagnostic skills and become familiar with the management of acute and chronic child neurologic disorders under direct supervision of senior residents and attendings in a variety of settings, including the ICUs, general and subspecialty pediatrics floors, EMU, the Emergency Room, and outpatient clinic rotations.
- Postgraduate Year 5: Becoming a Child Neurologist
Year five completes the core pediatric neurology training, and the neurodevelopmental training begins in earnest. The NDD resident is expected to begin leading multidisciplinary teams in clinical and educational settings. Senior residents assume the major teaching duties and lead teams consisting of medical students, junior child-neurology residents, and rotating residents from other services. Residents complete scheduled rotations within general and subspecialty pediatric neurology clinics including stroke, epilepsy, neurodevelopmental disabilities, neuromuscular, headache medicine, concussion, neurogenetics, rare disorders, neuroimmunology, neuro-oncology, and more.
- Postgraduate Year 6: Becoming a Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Neurologist
The NDD resident will spend most of the last year in electives and research. The resident will participate in electives, specifically neuro-ophthalmology, neurogenetics/metabolic disease, neuromuscular disorders, neuro-oncology, and neurologic rehabilitation. Additionally, residents will complete the research projects they started at the beginning of the four-year Child Neurology phase.
- Clinical Training Locations
Trainees rotate with pediatric PM&R, neurosurvery, and palliative care groups and have elective time with diagnostics and behavioral therapy.
- Inpatient Neurology at Children's Medical Center Dallas: Neurology consultation in tandem with the child neurology program with exposure to Neurocritical Care and Neonatal Neurocritical Care.
- Outpatient Neurology Clinics at Children's Medical Center Dallas:
- General Neurology with an option to persue continuity clinic
- Epilepsy
- Ketogenic Diet
- Rett Syndrome
- Tuberous Sclerosis Clinic with exposure to pediatric to adult transition
- Headache and Concussion
- Acquired Brain Injury Clinic
- Functional Neurological Disorders
- Movement Disorders
- Functional Seizures
- Neurofibramatosis 1 (NF1)
- Neurogenetics
- MS /Neuroimmunology
- Neuromuscular Clinic (MDA)
- Neonatal Neurocritical Care follow up
- Cerebrovascular & Stroke
- Texas Scottish Rite For Children:
- Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Clinic
- Neuromuscular Clinic
- Epilepsy Clinic
- Intraoperative monitoring elective
- Cerebral Palsy Multidisciplinary Clinic
- Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia elective
- Parkland Memorial Hospital
- EMU
- Inpatient Stroke (primary and consults)
- Adult Neurocritical Care (Elective)
- Inpatient general neurology (primary and consults)
- Inpatient General Neurology at Clement's University Hospital: trainees can be on primary service or consults. Additionally, residents have the option to moonlight.
- Adult Outpatient Neurology at Aston Ambulatory Center:
- Neuromuscle clinic
- Neuroimmunology clinic
- Movement disorder clinic
- Dementia clinic
- General neuro clinic
- Neuro-ophthalmology clinic
- Electives (Business of neurology, Neuro IR, pain, neuro-sonology, procedures, sleep neurology, stroke clinic)
- Teaching Conferences
Weekly
- Department of Pediatrics Conference: each Wednesday trainees participate in M&M, case conferences, targeted teaching topics, journal club, Read All About it)
- EEG rounds 3x/week at CMC and weekly EEG/EMG rounds at Parkland Health
- Neuroradiology rounds 3x/week
- Tumor Board Rounds
- Epilepsy surgery conference
- Gene therapy Rounds
- lectures in neuroscience topics led by the OBI
- Department of Psychiatry or Neurology Grand Rounds: residents have the option to attend grand rounds hosted by either department.
- Afternoon Report at Parkland Health
- Semiweekly CPC at Parkland Health
Monthly
- Autism Research Interest Group meetings led by the OBI
- Q&S Conference at Parkland Health
Quarterly
- Journal Club Classics: Provides a collaborative forum for trainees and faculty to critically review and discuss current scientific literature relevant to neuromuscular specialty. Participants analyze current research articles, evaluate study design and methodology, and explore clinical implications to enhance evidence-based practice.
- Program Leadership
Professor
Program Director
Associate Professor
Associate Program Director
Contact Us
PediNeuroEducation@UTSouthwestern.edu our GME program coordinators if you have any questions.
From Alumni
At UTSW, the focus is on achieving clinical excellence through patient volume -- whether that's in outpatient clinic where you see every possible variant of autism & neurodevelopmental syndromes or in the inpatient setting where what is considered rare in the textbooks will seem commonplace by the end of training. The built-in flexibility in the 5th & 6th years allows development of idiosyncratic interests; several recent NDD graduates have gone one to subspecialize in everything from neonatal neurology to neuromuscular neurology to palliative care. I am grateful that Dr. Evans, from day one, supported my stated career goals. It's a testament to her hard work and vision that graduates have universally gone on to top institutions as their first position post residency (e.g. Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Emory, Ohio State) or have gone to work in pharmaceutical institutions where they are paving the way for the next revolutionary treatment of NDDs. The broader leadership under Dr. Minassian is forward-looking and takes resident career development very seriously.
Training with Dr. Evans at UT Southwestern is one of the best opportunities I've had in my professional career. As a father of four, I needed to be in a place where I could balance clinical education, academic inquiry and caring for my family. And there is no one who is more supportive and more encouraging than Dr. Patricia Evans. She imbues a culture of belonging, safety and advocacy, and it affects all who are in the program. Because of my training in this program, I feel confident in my ability to care for and advocate for patients with various neurodevelopmental disabilities. But most of all, I feel I have been able to maintain and grow my family in a way that can be hard to do when training in a large academic setting.
I dedicated myself to mastering the complexities of child neurology and neurodevelopmental medicine. My research into dystrophinopathies during this time earned the Leon Weisberg Award for best research paper, while a Hegi Research Scholarship allowed me to dive deeper into the study of rare neurometabolic diseases and lead to publications of book chapters and peer reviewed research articles.
This foundation allowed me to focus my subsequent faculty work on the intersection of rare genetic conditions and neurodevelopment, specifically treating children with rare autism variants and mitochondrial disorders. The mentorship I received from Dr. Evans was instrumental in my transition to Associate Residency Director, a role where I aimed to pass on the same high standards of compassionate, specialized care she modeled for me.