Vascular Neurology (Stroke) Fellowship

The Vascular Neurology (Stroke) Fellowship offers postgraduate training in advanced neurology with specific focus on stroke and cerebrovascular disease. Fellows will train under the guidance of board-certified clinical neurologists with subspecialty training in vascular neurology. Fellows have the opportunity to do clinical stroke research and community outreach.

Comprehensive exposure to all aspects of cerebrovascular disease, including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, vascular dementia, prevention and acute stroke treatment, stroke genetics and stroke-related imaging, through outpatient and inpatient clinical rotations is the focus of the fellowship. Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center serves as a major stroke center to a large underserved population of more than 2 million patients in central Pennsylvania and is the only tertiary referral center for patients with cerebrovascular diseases in the region. As such, the department manages a wide variety of patients with cerebrovascular disease.

The program offers active participation in clinical and translational research, teaching and community outreach. The fellow will have the opportunity to become actively involved in the area of clinical cerebrovascular research and can choose from a wide variety of ongoing clinical trials in stroke prevention, imaging and acute stroke treatment. The department has many close relationships and collaborations within the institution, with universities in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation, allowing a broad involvement in scholarly activities.

The program allows fellows to be trained in neuroultrasound, stroke-related neuroimaging and neurocritical care. All fellows will participate in multidisciplinary stroke management and cutting-edge acute stroke interventions. Fellows can become involved in community outreach programs and in epidemiology-based stroke research. Fellows will be asked to teach. Teaching responsibilities will involve medical students, residents, CME courses for practicing doctors and patient/lay audiences.

Fellows are expected to provide on-call coverage from home and to be available via pager at assigned periods of time. Such on-call time will not exceed more than six months in each 12-month period of training. All cases will be discussed with the stroke attending, who is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but will allow the fellow to become increasingly independent in the management of stroke patients.

Fellows are eligible for three weeks of paid vacation time and one week of educational meeting time to present their poster or oral presentation. Reasonable expenses for attending the educational meeting will be paid by the program. Time for elective rotations and self-directed study will be provided.