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Your training will encompass clinical, didactic and research components
as described below. The MS Fellowship is designed to train individuals
for an academic career in neurology. Approximately half of the time
is spent in the evaluation of multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating
disease patients. The remainder of the time is spent in research
or other scholarly academic endeavors.
Clinical Training
You will be responsible for evaluating patients in the outpatient
clinic and Mayo Clinic's hospitals – Saint Marys Hospital and Rochester
Methodist Hospital . This provides a wealth of opportunity to learn
the full spectrum of disability from this disease. A wide range
of inflammatory diseases that mimic MS also are seen, including:
- Sarcoidosis
- Vasculitis
- Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
- Paraneoplastic syndromes
- Devic's disease (neuromyelitis optica)
- Connective tissue diseases
A high proportion of patients referred for MS or a related CNS
demyelinating disease are evaluated by the Section of Multiple Sclerosis,
providing you optimal training on all aspects of patient's evaluation
and care.
In addition, Mayo Clinic MS specialists are available to other
specialists (e.g., neurologists, internists, physical medicine and
rehabilitation specialists, rheumatologists, psychiatrists) who
request their assistance in evaluating and planning treatment.
Over the first three months of the fellowship, you will undergo
a period of acclimation, during which your role as a physician in
the care of MS patients is reviewed by mentors.
Over the course of the fellowship, you will be trained in the comprehensive
evaluation of patients with multiple sclerosis. This includes
experience in the management of relapses and progressive disease
and the appropriate choice of medicine for each disease stage.
Research Training
Mayo Clinic is a premier site for the conduct of clinical
trials involving the use of Interferons, Copaxone, Novantrone, combination
therapies, rescue treatments and novel therapeutic agents.
After the initial three months, you will spend 50 percent of your
time seeing patients in the MS clinic and 50 percent on a research
project. The project will be performed in conjunction with one of
the faculty members who have funded research programs. Areas of
training include:
- Cellular immunology
- Cell signaling
- Neurovirology
- Mechanisms of demyelination
- Mechanisms of remyelination
- Experimental neuropathology
- Genetic epidemiology
- Epidemiology of MS in the Olmsted County population
- MRI image analysis and processing
You are expected to participate in weekly neuroimmunology seminars
to review your research progress and to interact with other research
groups in immunology and neuroscience.
Didactic Training
Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal
clubs, didactic courses and one-on-one instruction are an integral
part of Mayo Clinic's Multiple Sclerosis Fellowship Program.
Course Work
Formal didactic courses are available during the fellowship. Understanding
statistical principles as applied to biomedical investigation is
an important component of the fellowship. Mayo Clinic offers a number
of courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, and design and conduct
of clinical trials.
Conferences
Throughout your fellowship you will participate, and periodically
present, at weekly conferences:
Mondays - weekly departmental teaching conferences
(Grand Rounds)
At Grand Rounds, research presentations are given by Mayo Clinic
faculty, visiting faculty or neurology residents. Clinical pathological
conferences are held several times a year.
Wednesdays - clinical case conferences
Clinical case conferences are held at Saint Marys Hospital and
alternate between the adult inpatient neurology, the child and
adolescent neurology, neurosurgery and neuro-ophthalmology divisions.
Fridays - subspecialty conferences
These conferences focus on the pathophysiology, diagnosis and
management of neurological disorders. Subspecialty conferences
are presented on a rotating basis by all subspecialty divisions
of the Neurology Department.
In addition to the regularly scheduled departmental conferences,
you will attend resident conferences on Tuesdays. Residents and
fellows also participate in an evidence-based medicine journal club.
Visiting professors have small group discussions with neurology
residents and fellows. Topics covered include child and adult neurology
vignettes and neuroethics.
Additional Training
There is an opportunity to extend the one-year clinical
fellowship for a second year of either clinical or basic research.
Mayo Clinic also funds a two-year Clinician-Investigator Program
that provides financial resources (e.g., salary, supplies) for unique
individuals who are interested in pursuing a basic science or academic
career.
Interested applicants should contact the program director for more
information.
Also see: Clinician-Investigator
Program at Mayo Clinic.
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