Carle Foundation Hospital offers an integrated approach to teaching the physicians of tomorrow. Residents benefit from innovative healthcare delivery through a multidisciplinary team of specialists. Training at Carle Foundation Hospital gives participants a high level of personalized attention and clinical experience.
Welcome to the neurology residency program at Carle Foundation Hospital. We offer a four-year categorical program with a guaranteed preliminary first year in internal medicine. Carle Foundation Hospital is a nationally recognized, community-based, academic-affiliated institution, consistently ranked among the best hospitals in the United States. The hospital is the primary educational site for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, a leading institution in innovative medical education. We are home to a Comprehensive Stroke Center, a Level 3 Epilepsy Center and a Level I Trauma Center.
Our residency program aims to train well-rounded clinical neurologists who are able to provide the best clinical neurological care that is both evidence based and compassionate. Our residents evaluate and manage a wide variety of inpatient and outpatient neurological diseases, supervised by an outstanding group of faculty members keenly involved in rigorous teaching and attentive mentorship. By the end of training, our residents should have mastered the “bread and butter” of inpatient and outpatient neurology, and should have had solid exposure to a broad mix of subspecialty neurology, including rarer neurological conditions.
Throughout training, we place strong emphasis on careful history taking and physical examination, on neuroradiology skills, and on shared informed decision making with the patient. As residents advance in their training, they're expected to assume progressively increasing responsibility, including running the neurology service more independently and an active role in the supervision and teaching of junior neurology residents, medical students and other trainees.
We appreciate your interest in our program and look forward to your application.
Fadi Mikhail, MD
Neurology Residency Program Director
PGY-1
The first year of training in internal medicine is guaranteed at our institution as part of the categorical residency program. In the PGY-1 year of training, the resident is incorporated in the IM residency program. Residents rotate on inpatient and outpatient internal medicine, cardiology, the ICU, the ER, psychiatry, palliative care, and have six to eight weeks of elective time. Residents also have a weekly half day of continuity clinic in IM. Residents are encouraged to attend neurology didactics when possible. Our neurology leadership monitor PGY-1 residents’ progress and meet with them regularly.
PGY-2
During the PGY-2 year, about two thirds of training time is spent on inpatient neurology. Residents will see a wide variety of cases and examine hundreds of patients. PGY-2 residents are paired with a senior resident at all times. This is the foundational year of training in neurology, when residents learn to hone their neurological history taking, examination, and clinical neuroradiology skills, and develop confidence and expertise in running stroke codes. PGY-2 residents also rotate with the neuro ICU, pediatric neurology, epilepsy, sleep medicine, neurosurgery/neuroradiology and have one month of elective.
The weekly half day of continuity clinic starts early in PGY-2 and continues throughout the three years of neurology training. The continuity clinic is supervised by our dedicated teaching faculty who carefully listen and discuss cases with residents in depth. Continuity clinic is an excellent educational opportunity for residents to develop graduated independence in the outpatient setting. Residents provide care for a variety of patients from all subspecialties including complex and challenging cases.
PGY-3
PGY-3 residents assume a more supervisory role by leading the inpatient service over a period of three months. They spend three months in outpatient neurology in a variety of general neurology and subspecialty clinics (memory disorders, epilepsy, stroke, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, neuro-ophthalmology, sleep, etc.). They also have EEG and EMG rotations during which they are expected to develop some expertise in the technical aspects of these procedures. On the epilepsy/EEG rotation, they help run the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) and see complex inpatient epilepsy consults, as well as participate in the epilepsy subspecialty clinic. PGY-3 residents spend one month on pediatric neurology, two weeks on neuroradiology, two weeks on a quality improvement rotation, and have two months of elective time. During the PGY-3 year, residents solidify knowledge and skills from the previous year of neurology training.
PGY-4
PGY-4 residents lead the inpatient service and develop their leadership and administrative skills. The proper training and education of junior residents and medical students is a central focus of their role. They collaborate with the attending neurologist in running the neurology service, fielding most calls and triaging patients. PGY-4 residents rotate on pediatric neurology, sleep medicine, neuro-genetics, addiction medicine, neuroradiology, and have three months of electives. PGY-4 residents are encouraged to use their final year to gain additional experience in specialties they would like to focus on.
Our residents have a dedicated weekly half day of didactic lectures, protected from clinical duties and disruptive calls. Didactics include traditional-format lectures given by our teaching faculty, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology lectures, case presentations and topic reviews by residents, journal club, board review questions, and clinical reasoning and localization sessions.
Our residents regularly present case and topic reviews, journal club, morbidity and mortality conferences, and teach medical students in the clinical setting and through lectures. They receive proper training to read and critically appraise medical literature and scientific publications. They are encouraged to participate in research, including quality improvement, clinical research and basic science.
Laura Knox
Administration
Program Coordinator
Graduate Medical Education
Sari Aronson, MD
Core Faculty
Neurology
Robert Yapundich, MD
Faculty
Neurology
Adam Moreno, DO
Resident
PGY-4
Specialty interest: Interventional Pain
Matthew Lewis, DO
Resident
PGY-3
Specialty interests: Neurophysiology, Epilepsy, General Neurology
Shahrzad Fakhraee, MD
Resident
PGY-2
Specialty interests: Neurophysiology, EMG, Epilepsy
Hajar Alammar, MBBS
Resident
PGY-1
We appreciate your interest in the Carle Foundation Hospital Neurology Residency Program. Our program participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) and only accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)
Application SubmissionInterviews
Please note that this information may be subject to change.
If you have any questions regarding our program or the application process, please contact us at Laura.Knox@carle.com or call (217) 383-4846.