Welcome to the Penn State Hershey Neurology residency program! This is an exciting time for our department. Under the leadership of our Chairman, Dr. David Good, we have enjoyed rapid growth over the past six years, increasing our faculty size from 10 to 20. Our residency size has increased from two residents per year to four. The amount of funding for our research programs has more than doubled in that time.

Before we give you some information about the structure of the department, we wanted to highlight what we think are the strengths of our Neurology residency. First, when you visit our program, you will notice the collegial environment. The residency is a priority for the department and all faculty are actively involved in teaching. We work hard to balance the educational and personal goals of our residents with the service requirements of our department. The size of our department is ideal: we are able to have programs in each of the subspecialties of neurology yet remain close knit so that residents are able to get to know each of the faculty during their residency. Next, an advantage for our residency is that almost all required rotations are at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. This is the only hospital that the residents cover when they are on call and we have a night float system in place. In the medical center, all neuroscience patient rooms, from the Neuroscience ICU to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit are on the same floor as the resident work room and call room. Lastly, the Hershey area is a wonderful community that provides excellent schooling, a safe area, and an affordable place to live.

In terms of the structure of our department, we have programs in each of the following areas:

• Neuromuscular disease (including the ALS, MDA and pediatric MDA clinics and a AGCME approved Neuromuscular Fellowship)
• Epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology (including the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and an ACGME approved Neurophysiology Fellowship)
• Stroke and vascular neurology (including a JACHO certified stroke center and a ACGME approved Vascular Neurology Fellowship)
• Movement disorders (including the Comprehensive Movement Disorders Clinic)
• Multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology (including the MS clinic)
• Cognitive and behavioral neurology (including the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Clinic and Neuropsychology)
• Headache
• General neurology (including a new model for neurologic care, our Walk-In Clinic)
• Pediatric neurology (housed in the Pediatrics department)
• Neuro-ophthalmology (housed in the Ophthalmology department)
• Sleep neurology (in collaboration with Pulmonary and Psychiatry)
• Neuro-oncology (in collaboration with Neurosurgery as part of our newly built Cancer Center)
• Neurocritical care (in collaboration with Neurosurgery and Anesthesia)
• Neurorehabilitation (the construction of our new Penn State Rehabilitation Hospital is ongoing)
• Pain Medicine (in collaboration with Anesthesia with a Pain fellowship)
• Neuropathology (housed in Pathology and Neurosurgery)
• Neuroradiology (including an interventional neuroradiology program in collaboration with Radiology and Neurosurgery)

As you can see, one other hallmark of our department is close collaboration with other affiliated departments including Neurosurgery, Anesthesia, Pediatrics, Pathology, and Radiology. This collaboration is reinforced by the Penn State Neuroscience Institute that encourages collaboration on clinical, educational, research and community outreach projects.

Along the lines of research, our department has nationally and internationally renowned basic and clinical science research programs in many of the programs listed above. Let us highlight several of our stellar research programs. First, our ALS program, headed by Dr. Zachary Simmons has studies looking at the basic mechanisms of ALS and how iron may be involved in the disease process to clinical studies aimed at finding the best way to identify cognitive changes in ALS. Our movement disorders researchers, Drs. Xuemei Huang and Thyagarajan Subramanian have research programs looking at novel imaging methods to identify how Parkinson’s disease affects the brain and whether stem cells can play a role in treatment. Lastly, we have an active Memory and Aging Program that is following a cohort of patients with memory disorders to identify new techniques to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and how lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise affect our brain’s ability to learn. Our broad involvement in research provides ample opportunities for our residents to become involved in their own research projects.

As you can see, it is a great time to be part of our department. We invite you to apply to our Neurology Residency Program.