Advanced General Neurology Fellowship
Massachusetts General Hospital

Program Description

Duration: one year
The program is designed for advanced and in-depth clinical training in general neurology to meet the needs of the complex, changing neurological problems seen in modern, academic, tertiary care medical centers. The referral process to academic centers filters in patients with unusual manifestations of common diseases and as well as rare diseases. The training will be broad-based and set primarily in the neurology outpatient setting but with selected inpatient experience. There will be several areas of concentration in clinical neurology that are outside the current established neurological subspecialties:

Goals of the Fellowship: Clinical Skills Refinement

  • Refinement of skills in history and examination to uncover and identify clues to systemic disorders relevant to the neurological syndromes
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  • History elicitation for clues of occupational and toxic exposure and medication and travel history that may bear on the neurological syndromes
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  • Refinement of examination skills in recognizing physical signs of systemic illness and multi-system disorders
  • Refinement of skills in the dermatological and ophthalmic examination, which often provide clues to the neurological syndrome
  • Review of esoteric laboratory tests in the diagnosis of complex and unusual neurological syndromes: correct methods of testing, interpretation and limitations

    • Educational Structure of the Fellowship

  • Supervised clinical experience in the general neurology clinics: patients are screened by the faculty who select cases that fit with the purposes of the general neurology fellowship, such as neurological complications of systemic diseases and multi-system disorders
  • Supervised clinical experience in the neurological complications of infectious diseases in the Neuro-Infectious diseases clinic
  • Supervised clinical experience in the specialty clinics such as movement disorders, behavioral neurology clinic, neuromuscular disorders clinic etc. The specific subspecialty clinics may vary depending on the interests of the fellow
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  • Coordination of care in consultation with other medical specialists as the cases will be mostly interdisciplinary
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  • Presentation of diagnostic and therapeutically challenging cases at the Clinical Vignette conferences where several of the general neurology faculty will be present
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  • Didactic lectures once a week when the fellow and sometimes the faculty review state of the art and science of selected topics of interest for the fellowship
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    Areas of concentration for the Fellowship

  • Neurological aspects of systemic diseases
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  • Neurology of multi-system disorders
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  • Neurological complications of drugs and procedures and anesthesia
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  • Neurology of organ transplantation
  • Neurology of infectious diseases
  • Neurology of immunological disorders
  • Neurology of medical spinal cord disorders
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  • Metabolic and toxic encephalopathies
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  • Immuno-therapies for neurological disorders

    • Didactic Activities:  Clinical Vignette conference:  3 times a month. A case of a patient from the ambulatory neurology practice is brought in for the conference and the clinical and neurobiological aspects of the case are presented and discussed. The fellow will review a seminal paper about the disorder. The cases selected would be typical presentations of common diseases, unusual presentations of common disorders, rare diseases but conceptually important and syndromes that are difficult diagnostic challenges. The general neurology precepting faculty and the neurology residents attend this forum.

    Neurology Chief Rounds: Once a week. This consists of clinical case presentations and discussions of the complex neurology cases seen in the neurology inpatient service. The residents present the case, which is discussed by the Chief of Neurology at MGH (Dr. Anne B. Young) alternating with the Chief of Neurology at the BWH (Dr. Marty Samuels) and is available by videoconference. This venue attended by the Fellow and all neurology residents.

    Neuropathology Conference. Once a week. A comprehensive clinical-pathological conference precepted by Dr Hedley-Whyte, Chief of Neuropathology and attended by Neurology faculty and residents at MGH

    General Neurology Didactic Session: Once a week. The Advanced General Neurology Fellow will present and discuss a journal article, or provide a critical review of a subject relevant to academic hospital neurology. Attended by the core General Neurology preceptors and it is open to the residents.

    Neurology Department Grand Rounds:  Once a week. This is a forum where leading experts and researchers from the US and abroad present cutting edge knowledge and concepts and ideas in neurobiology and clinical neurology.

    Neuro-ID Conference: Once a week. This consists of a brief review of neuro-infectious disease topic will be presented by the Neurology Fellow. Precepted by Dr Nagagopal Venna and by neurology resident and ID Fellow assigned to the Neuro-ID clinic.

    Morbidity-Mortality Conference: Once a month. Presented by the senior resident in neurology reviewing the cases of the month of inpatient RDA and Fisher services of the neurology department. Neurology residents and faculty attend this conference. 

    Clinical Rotations General Neurology Clinics. 3 half-day clinics a week. For new consultations and follow-up of the patients seen by the Fellow. Dr Venna and the core preceptors will screen the referrals to the fellow’s clinics to ensure that they cases are appropriate to the fellowship purposes. Each clinic will be supervised by one of the core preceptors.

    Neuro-ID Clinic: 1 clinic a week. Half-day session. This clinic is precepted by Dr Nagagopal Venna. The fellow will see patient for evaluation of neurological complications associated with HIV infection or other infectious diseases.

    Neurology Subspecialty Clinic Electives:  The electives are available in several subspecialty clinics of the Department of Neurology. The choice depends on the interests of the fellow. The subspecialty fields include Stroke, Behavioral Neurology, Movement disorders, Neuro-ophthalmology, Multiple Sclerosis, Mitochondrial disorders, Neuromuscular disorders. 

    Please email mghneurology@partners.org or call Dr. Gopal Venna at 617.726.3805 for more information on the General Neurology Fellowship Program.
    Neurology Mass General Hospital