Our educational mission statement

The educational mission of the Department of Neurology is to provide an optimal educational environment to prepare the neurology resident for the independent practice of clinical neurology. An experienced faculty with board certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, with subspecialty expertise (and certification) in all major disciplines of neurology, ensures, through close supervision, that neurology residents receive extensive exposure to the basic neurosciences and clinical skills.

Our faculty, including the program director, is committed to finding the right balance between educational activities and patient care responsibilities that ensures the best possible training experience for our residents.

We aim to grow and develop neurologists who practice cost-effective health care and allocate resources without compromising the high quality of care they provide to their patients. To achieve this standard, we emphasize the importance of effective, caring and respectful communication with patients and their families, and we train our residents to apply their knowledge of study designs and statistical methods to the appraisal of clinical studies to assess their diagnostic and therapeutic effectiveness.

Didactic Schedule

Weekly Conferences

• Monday Chair's Report
• Thursday Program Director's Report

Neurological Examination

• Review of DeMyer's The Neurologic Examination: A Programmed Text, sixth edition
• Tuesdays – July through November
• PGY-2 residents
• 30-minute graduate-level seminar in which everyone participates
• The department purchases this text for residents

Basic Science Lectures

• Over the year, our residents present to each other 40 half-hour lectures on the basic sciences of Neurology.
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Reading Series

• Review chapters from Bradley's Neurology in Clinical Practice
• Each Wednesday
• 30 minutes
• Part of our two-year curriculum covering all of Neurology.
• Format includes:
  • Discussion
  • Small group assignments
  • Readiness Assessment Tests (RAT quizzes)
  • Team-based learning
• Text available at no cost to the residents through the Clinical Key program at Dykes Library

Core Curriculum Lectures

• 30-minute talks presented by our faculty experts covering the core curriculum in Neurology
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

Case Conference

• Friday mornings, 7 a.m.-8 a.m.
• Features Neurology and Neurosurgery residents presenting cases for discussion by the joint faculty.

Grand Rounds

• Friday mornings, 8 a.m.-9 a.m.
• Lectures on current research and topics are presented by KU Medical Center faculty and visiting faculty from around the world. View Grand Rounds videos.

Monthly lectures

Core Competency Lectures

• Second Tuesday of each month, 6:30 a.m.-7:30 a.m.
• Provided by the Graduate Medical Education committee

Neuro-ophthalmology Conference

• Fourth Thursday of each month

Evidence-Based Medicine Journal Club

• Fourth Thursday of each month
• Dr. Gary Gronseth, Chair of Neurology and Senior Evidence-Based Methodologist for the American Academy of Neurology, selects an article for review with the residents
• Emphasis is placed on understanding the inherent biases in clinical trials and in helping our residents make their own conclusions when looking at medical literature

Curriculum

• Over a two-year cycle, the faculty, under the direction of the chief residents, cover the core curriculum
• Core subjects include:
  • Cerebrovascular diseases
  • Clinical neurophysiology
  • Critical Care
  • Dementia
  • Epilepsy
  • Genetics
  • Geriatrics
  • Headache
  • Movement Disorders
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Neuro-endocrinology
  • Neuromuscular
  • Neurological infections
  • Neuro-oncology
  • Neuro-rehabilitation
  • Sleep
  • Women's issues

View the history of Neurology Part 1 (and Part 2) lecture series developed by Dr. Richard Barohn, a professor of Neurology and former chair of the department at KU Medical Center.

Research Day

We were the first department at KU Medical Center to annually host a Research Day featuring all our residents from PGY-2 through fellowship.

Each resident and fellow is allotted 15 minutes for a platform presentation. Awards are given for the best research for each level. PGY-2 residents usually present case reports, while presentations by PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents typically are hypothesis-driven. Yearly didactics on clinical research are given by the faculty.

More resources

Here are some additional resources that may be helpful to our residents.

• PubMed
• American Academy of Neurology
• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
• Dykes Library
• Dykes Online Journals
• KU Bookstore
• KUMC Parking Service