OVERVIEW
The foundation of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington is its academic training program. Our goal is to prepare physicians for a career in academic neurological surgery that combines patient care, research and teaching, while fostering independent investigation and advancement of this complex discipline.
RESIDENCY TRAINING
The UW Neurological Surgery residency is an 8-year program that includes six years of ACGME training at 4 Seattle hospitals and 1 year as a registrar in neurosurgery in London, England. The program consists of 6 months of general surgery; 3 months of neurology; 54 months of clinical neurological surgery (12 months in England); 24 months of laboratory research; and 6 months of electives (laboratory research or specialty fellowships).
The first year of residency is spent as an intern in the General Surgery program at the UW. Nine months of this year are spent on surgical rotations, including general surgery, burns/plastics, cardiothoracic surgery, emergency/trauma medicine, orthopaedics, and neurological surgery. The remaining three months are spent on neurology rotations.
Years 02-08 consist of clinical neurosurgery, elective and laboratory rotations. There is some flexibility in the sequence, as clinical rotations may be separated by laboratory or elective rotations.
During the second clinical year, the resident serves 6 months as the junior resident on the neurological surgery service at the University Hospital and cares for patients with brain tumors, complex spinal pathologies (often requiring instrumentation), medically intractable epilepsy, peripheral nerve lesions, skull base abnormalities, and complex pain and spasticity problems. The resident develops basic neurosurgical technique and attends outpatient clinics when time permits.
The resident then spends 6 months at Harborview Medical Center. Here the second year resident is expected to run the clinical service with the aid and mentoring of the chief resident and faculty. The junior resident operates daily, becoming familiar with the management of subarachnoid hemorrhage, movement disorders, extra- and intra-cranial vascular abnormalities, neurosurgical trauma (including spinal cord injuries and vertebral fractures), epilepsy and brain tumors.
The third clinical year is broken into two six-month rotations. The first six months are spent as the Chief Resident at the Puget Sound Veterans Administration Health Care System facility in Seattle. The chief resident is the primary physician for patients on the neurosurgery service and deals directly with each patient, the referring physician and the family. The chief resident is thus responsible for the administration of the service and reports to the full-time faculty members at the VA. Additionally, the resident supervises a rehabilitation medicine intern and three physician assistants.
Following the VA rotation, six months are spent at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center as Chief Resident on the pediatric neurosurgery service. In addition to managing the clinical service and supervising two nurse practitioners, the chief resident operates daily. The chief resident is thus responsible for the administration of the service and reports to the full-time faculty members at CHRMC. The full spectrum of pediatric neurosurgery is encountered on this rotation, including spinal dysraphism, craniofacial abnormalities, brain and spinal cord tumors, hydrocephalus, scoliosis, and other congenital malformations and syndromic abnormalities.
Atkinson Morley's Hospital in Wimbledon, England (St. George's Medical School in London) is the location for the fourth year resident's clinical rotation. The year is spent as a senior registrar (Chief Resident) on the neurosurgery service. All aspects of adult neurosurgery are covered, including spinal instrumentation.
The fifth clinical year is split into two six-month rotations, first as Chief Resident for the combined neurosurgery-orthopedic surgery spine service at Harborview Medical Center, followed by Chief Resident for the neurosurgery service at the University Hospital. The chief resident is responsible for coordinating the operative schedule, mentoring junior residents and pre-residency fellows and supervising the clinical activities on these neurosurgery services. Surgical experience is directed at complex cases such as spinal deformity correction and reconstruction, spinal trauma, skull base lesions, intraoperative electrocorticography, peripheral nerve lesions, brain and spinal cord lesions and extracranial vascular disease.
The first 6 months of this time are spent as Chief Resident for the neurosurgery service at Harborview Medical Center. During this rotation, the resident serves as a junior faculty member, managing the neurosurgery service and coordinating the surgical schedule. The clinical emphasis of this rotation is complex vascular disease, including aneurysms and AVM's, skull base approaches, tumors, spine instrumentation and trauma.
Depending on the individual resident's sequence of rotations, years 06 - 08 may consist of laboratory research, clinical elective, and Chief Resident time.
Residents are given two years of laboratory research time during which they are expected to pursue a hypothesis-driven project. As part of their academic training, residents are encouraged to apply for various research awards and grants, present their work at local, national, and international meetings, and prepare manuscripts on clinical and research work.
Clinical elective rotations include additional research time and formal pediatric, spine, epilepsy, skull base and vascular, neurointerventional, and Gamma Knife fellowships, and can be pursued simultaneously with other rotations.
FELLOWSHIPS
The Department also offers the following two-year fellowships: Cerebrovascular Hemodynamics Research; Clinical; Epilepsy Fellowship In Neurological Surgery; Neuro-oncology Clinical Fellowship in Neurological Surgery; Neuro-oncology Research; Pediatric Fellowship in Neurological Surgery; Spine Surgery.
For additional information, visit the Neurological Surgery web site.
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PROGRAM DIRECTOR |
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PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR |
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Anthony Avellino, MD |
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Kelly Jain |
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Program Director |
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Program Coordinator |
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Neurological Surgery |
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Neurological Surgery |
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Box 359300 |
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Box 359300 |
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CHRMC G-0035 |
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CHRMC (W7729) |
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Phone: 206-987-2544 |
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Phone: 206-987-4525 |
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Fax: 206-744-3925 |
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Fax: 206-987-3925 |
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Anthony.avellino@seattlechildrens.org |
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kelly.jain@seattlchildrens.org |
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