Yale Neurons - Highlights of Resident Activities

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

June 30, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

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

June 25, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

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

June 16, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

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

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

June 11, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

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

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

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

May 19, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

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.

Dr. Narula discusses importance of mentorship with conference attendees

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.

Yale Neurology Welcomes International Medical Educator

May 19, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

Yale welcomes Dr. Olle ten Cate for two days of educational activities. Currently based in the Netherlands, Dr. ten Cate is an internationally renowned medical educator who served as president of the Netherlands Association of Medical Education from 2006 to 2012. He continues to be a lead educator and education researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht, and in 2012 was also named an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at UCSF.

Yesterday, he presented his work on competency-based teaching at Neuroscience Grand Rounds.

Neuroscience Grand Rounds

This afternoon, Dr. ten Cate’s presented his keynote address at Medical Education Day 2016 to great acclaim.

Medical Education Day 2016

Coincidentally, earlier this week Dr. ten Cate published his article “Measuring cognitive load during procedural skills training with colonoscopy a s an exemplar” in Medical Education, accompanied by a commentary written by third-year Yale resident Dr. Vincent Lau with program director Dr. Jeremy Moeller.

Residents Drs. Lau (left) and Dewey (right) with Dr. ten Cate

50 Studies Every Neurologist Should Know

May 11, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

Yale Neurology publishes 50 Studies Every Neurologist Should Know today. Led by faculty members Drs. David Hwang and David Greer, sixteen Yale neurology residents collaborated to author this collection of 50 “must know” clinical trials that shape the practice of clinical neurology today. The book covers all subspecialties with special emphasis on neurocritical care and vascular neurology.

Current residents who participated on the large-scale project include Drs. Benjamin Blond, Shivani Ghoshal, Mark Landreneau, Brian MacGrory and Ashish Ranpura. Prior residents include Drs. Hardik Amin, Allison Arch, Daniel Brooks, Sarah Buckingham, Amy Chan, Irene Chan, Robert Claycomb, Matthew Kalp, Joshua Lovinger, Sarah Mulukutla and Kimberly Robeson. Current fellow Dr. Teddy Youn also participated.

Interdisciplinary Education in Neurology and Internal Medicine

April 28, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

Senior resident Dr. Jeffrey Dewey led residents from two specialties through a joint neurology-medicine conference today.

A collaborative effort between the programs that started this academic year, interdepartmental case conferences allow neurology and internal medicine residents to discuss topics in the crossover between the closely related fields. The cases on cortical vein thrombosis today highlighted the intersection between stroke neurology and hematology, while prior conferences have addressed neurological complications of systemic sarcoidosis (led by senior neurology resident Dr. Benjamin Blond) and strokes in the young as related to endocrine disorders (led by senior neurology resident Dr. Shivani Ghoshal).

This year, residents from both departments also collaborated in teaching the “Top Ten” joint medicine-neurology clerkship conferences for third year medical students at Yale School of Medicine. Neurology residents currently teach four of the ten sessions in each cycle. The goal is for medical students to develop expertise in approaching patients who present with neurological complaints stemming for systemic medical disease and vice versa.

Leadership from the two departments are continuing to seek collaborative educational opportunities.

68th American Academy of Neurology Annual Conference

April 23, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

The 68th American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual conference in Vancouver was well-attended by Yale trainees this year including seven resident physicians and three fellows. Presenters included fellows Drs. Amy Chan, Irene Yang and Teddy Youn as well as residents Drs. Diane Chan, Ilena George, Vincent Lau and Sirisha Sanamandra. Recent Yale alumnus and current Vanderbilt fellow Dr. Matt Schrag discussed tPA for central retinal artery occlusion based on joint research from the two institutions.

Neuro-oncology fellow Dr. Amy Chan discusses treatment of Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia with central nervous system involvement

Dr. Matthew Schrag presenting joint research from Yale and Vanderbilt

Recent alumnus Dr. Matthew Schrag presents joint research from Yale and Vanderbilt

At the awards luncheon, chief resident Dr. Sara Schaefer was honored with the Award for Creative Expression of Human Values in Neurology based on her piece “Caring for Maggie“, published in the Neurology journal in August 2015. Dr. Ilena George also represented Yale as an editor of Neurology (an example of her work is found here in a recent podcast).

Highlights from residency leadership included department chair Dr. Hafler’s plenary speech, vice-chair Dr. Greer’s discussion on brain death and program director Dr. Moeller’s talk on neurology simulation. Residents also praised presentations on EMG waveform reading, neuro-ophthalmology cases and unusual movement disorders. Many participated in virtual reality sessions and other learning activities at the exposition.

Drs. Irmady and Lau participating in a virtual reality module about multiple sclerosis

Drs. Irmady and Lau participate in a virtual reality module about multiple sclerosis

Drs. Chan and Sanamandra learning about Parkinson's psychosis via virtual reality

Drs. Chan and Sanamandra learn about Parkinson’s psychosis via virtual reality

Residents networked with faculty at the Yale Neurology reception on Tuesday April 19^th and dined at Belgian restaurant Chambar the following evening. Outside of the convention, attendees explored the beautiful city of Vancouver via biking to Stanley Park and Granville Island, braving the 70-meters-high Capilano Suspension Bridge and riding the Seabus to North Vancouver.

Yale neurology reception: Dr. Greer with current and former trainees

Yale neurology reception: Vice-chair Dr. Greer with current and former trainees

Attendees look forward to the AAN conference in 2017 to take place in Boston.

ABC News Medical Unit: Resident Experience

April 12, 2016V. Lau Leave a Comment

Third-year resident Dr. Vincent Lau returns to Yale after a month working at the medical unit of ABC news in New York City in March. His role there consisted of translating newsworthy medical research to formats digestible to the public. He also explored social media outlets as a means to educate audiences. He plans to use his new multimedia skills to further his work in medical education.

Dr. Lau (rightmost) on set

Yale neurology residents enjoy a month free of direct patient care to explore career-related interests, taking place in both years of senior residency. Other residents have engaged in clinical work overseas in Paris, France and Prague, Czech Republic. Some use the protected time to accelerate their research.