Author: V. Lau

Yale Neurology Celebrates the Holiday Season

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Residents celebrated the winter holidays tonight at the department-wide Yale Neurology Annual Holiday Party. Taking place at the Woodwinds Wedding and Event Venue in Branford, the event brought together faculty and trainees, clinicians and researchers. Residents enjoyed live music, dancing and an open bar at the stately European Country Manor.

Residents and fellows with program director Dr. Moeller in the foyer of the Woodwinds

Residents and fellows with program director Dr. Moeller in the foyer of the Woodwinds

Department leadership Drs. Hafler and Greer thanked attendees for a successful year and look forward to a fruitful one ahead.

Teaching Rotation Prepares Residents for Clinician-Educator Career

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The Teaching Senior rotation continues in its third iteration this December with fourth year resident Dr. Vincent Lau.

Dr. Lau teaches a medical student lumbar puncture technique

Dr. Lau teaches lumbar puncture technique

The two-week elective exposes senior residents to a variety of teaching settings and to education scholarship, while enhancing the learning experience for rotating medical students and junior residents. Responsibilities include leading morning report, preparing a resident didactic and running student simulations. The schedule also accommodates self-tailored activities such as contributing to education literature and developing electronic teaching material. Core teaching faculty provides feedback for teaching activities.

The rotation is available to all senior residents, and is a requirement for residents on the education track.

International Experience at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda

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Dr. Monica Diaz departs for Uganda today to serve at Mulago Hospital in Kampala.

A Yale/Stanford Johnson & Johnson Global Health Scholar, Dr. Diaz was selected and sponsored among forty physicians to serve abroad. She will be a resident neurologist at Mulago Hospital for six weeks where she will primarily be responsible for ward consultations. Dr. Diaz’s expertise is expected to make significant impact to patient care at the busy Uganda hospital; at the time of this writing, Mulago has only one other full-time neurologist.

Dr. Diaz is a third-year neurology resident on the global health track, which connects residents with mentors and allows for continuous elective time for international service. Dr. Diaz’s mentors at Yale are neurology-infectious disease specialists Drs. Ana-Claire Meyer and Serena Spudich.

Yale Neurology Celebrates “America’s Best Hospitals” Ranking

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Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) Neurosciences celebrates its placement in the U.S. News & Worlds Report’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” listing today, ranking in the top 25. Along with 11 other specialties at YNHH, neurology and neurosurgery placed nationally among nearly 5000 hospitals surveyed. Ranking criteria included patient safety, mortality rates and patient volume.

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Neurology chair Dr. Hafler and neurosurgery chair Dr. Gunel

Over a celebratory lunch, neurology chair Dr. David Hafler and neurosurgery chair Dr. Murat Gunel thanked residents and faculty members for their contributions to the achievement.

Yale Senior Resident Receives R25 Award

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Senior resident Dr. Diane Chan starts her R25-funded research this month. In a rigorous selection process, the fourth-year resident worked closely with program administrators in the Clinical Neuroscience Training Program on the application that ultimately garnered her the competitive grant totaling over $100,000. Her advisors for the grant application were Dr. Jaime Grutzendler – also her research mentor – and Dr. Lauren Sansing. Dr. Chan’s research work on axonal dystrophy in Alzheimer’s disease has previously been published widely and presented at the Society for Neuroscience.

The fourth-year resident’s work is supported by the Yale Neurology residency research track, which maximizes lab time in the senior years. Research track residents work with the administration to create a schedule that strategically balances clinical responsibilities and research activities. MD/PhD residents are especially encouraged to apply.

After residency, Dr. Chan will be pursuing a fellowship in movement disorders with a strong emphasis on research.

Brain Imaging May Predict Cognitive Problems after Off-Pump Cardiac Surgery

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Dr. Paul Fu works with researchers at the Capital Medical University Anzhen Hospital in Beijing, China to investigate whether abnormalities in brain imaging correlates with cognitive problems following off-pump heart surgery.

In 556 enrolled patients who had off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, those with abnormal CT perfusion scans were found to have lower cognitive function based on MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) scores. Dr. Fu’s research adds to the controversial topic of postperfusion syndrome (in the media colloquially called “pumphead”) – cognitive problems following cardiopulmonary bypass.

The third-year resident’s research was published in Neurological Research this month.

Yale Resident Awarded AHA/ASA Young Investigator Database Research Seed Grant

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This summer, Dr. Stacy Chu begins her research on seasonal patterns in stroke in partnership with the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

The AHA/ASA Young Investigator Database Research Award is a seed grant given to three selected applicants per cycle, a joint effort from the Council on Clinical Cardiology, the Stroke Council, The Council on Cardiopulmonary, Critical Care, Perioperative and Resuscitation (AHA Council 3 CPR), and The Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science. Dr. Chu will investigate the temporal changes in incidence and outcomes of stroke through analysis of the “Stroke Get With the Guidelines” database, in an effort to better understand the epidemiological basis of the disease.

Dr. Chu is a third-year resident on the research track, which maximizes elective time for research in senior years.

Yale Neurology Celebrates Graduating Residents

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Yale Neurology celebrated the completion of training of seven residents and three fellows last night.

Taking place at Amarante’s Sea Cliff boasting a seaside deck and bar, the dinner was attended by over a hundred faculty members, trainees and family members. The department celebrated seven graduating residents, five of whom will be staying at Yale:

  • Dr. Benjamin Blond: Yale University, Clinical Neurophysiology (Epilepsy)
  • Dr. Shivani Ghoshal: Columbia University, Neurocritical Care Fellowship
  • Dr. Mark Landreneau: Yale University, Neurocritical Care Fellowship
  • Dr. Brian MacGrory: Yale University, Vascular Neurology Fellowship
  • Dr. Ashish Ranpura: Queen’s Square, London, Research and Clinical Practice
  • Dr. Sara Schaefer: Yale University, Movement Disorders Fellowship
  • Dr. Emmanuelle Schindler: Veteran Affairs Advanced Fellowship in Neuroscience

The department also recognized fellows Dr. Sharon Stoll for completion of neuro-immunology fellowship, Dr. Annya Tisher for behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, and Dr. Teddy Youn for vascular neurology. Other fellows will be recognized at a separate event.

Residents with program director and Attending of the Year Dr. Jeremy Moeller

Residents with program director and Attending of the Year Dr. Jeremy Moeller

Resident Dr. Shivani Ghoshal was honored with the Resident of the Year Award, Dr. Diane Chan the Gilbert Glaser Award and Dr. Rachel Beekman the Lewis Levy Award.

Dr. Jeremy Moeller was named the Attending of the Year as selected by residents.

Yale Attends the Penry Residents Epilepsy Program

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Dr. Saien Lai returns from the Penry Residents Epilepsy Program taking place June 7-10 at the Graylyn International Conference Center of Wake Forest University in North Carolina. The intensive three-day course offered resident-level focused didactics on antiepileptic management, childhood epilepsy syndromes and acute seizure management. In addition to lectures during the day, Dr. Lai also attended dinners with small-group case discussions with faculty into late evenings. Attendees to the conference are nominated by program directors of selected neurology programs.

Participants discuss epilepsy at the beautiful Graylyn International Conference Center of Wake Forest University

Participants discuss epilepsy at the beautiful Graylyn International Conference Center of Wake Forest University

Dr. Lai was joined by Yale epileptologist Dr. Mattson, a course director and one of the chairs of the program.

Yale epileptologist Dr. Mattson lectures to residents from around the country

Yale epileptologist Dr. Mattson lectures to residents from around the country

After completion of her fourth year of residency, Dr. Lai will be joining Stanford for epilepsy fellowship starting 2017.

Spotlight on Peer Mentorship in Neurology Residency

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Dr. Reshma Narula presents her work today on peer mentorship at Medical Education Day at Yale 2016 sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Center.

Last year, she designed a program matching entering junior residents with seniors. Among several encouraged activities, seniors helped new resident neurologists identify hospital and community resources, guided them through workflow and clinical issues, and offered early career advice. Met with significant positive feedback, her work had also been previously presented at an education conference in Rhode Island last month.

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Dr. Narula discusses importance of mentorship with conference attendees

 

With research mentor Dr. Jeremy Moeller

With research mentor Dr. Jeremy Moeller

Dr. Narula begins her last year of residency in July, after which she will be a stroke fellow at Yale with plans to continue her work in medical education.