neurocritical care fellowship interview experiences

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Hi everyone. Applying to neurocritical care this year as well. Has anyone interviewed at Yale? Thanks
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Not yet last I heard was still reviewing applications.. Waiting to hear from UCSF, Yale and Hopkins
 
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I did at Houston, Baylor folks offered me interview but couldn't do it due to schedule conflicts
 
Re-invite from Baylor with my date preferences given prior my schedule conflict
 
What's cooking guy zzz..64 days until the MATCH DAY !!
 
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Overview: 2 yr fellowship with one year of research built in and one year of clinical training. The goal of this program is to create true academic Neurointensivists. Director of the unit is an MD/PhD trained in both anesthesiology and neurology. Some faculty are anesthesiology trained, some neurology trained. All, if not nearly all trained at Hopkins also for fellowship.
There are two units. 24 bed at Hopkins Hosp main campus and 8 beds + 6 IMCU beds at Bayview.
Two weeks on service followed by two weeks off. While on service call is q3 at JHH and home call at Hopkins Bayview.
"Off weeks" are not truly off...must do research and produce.

Pros: Research year to launch academic career. Hopkins has the resources to support clinical, translational and/or basic science interests. Seemed to offer the right procedural training, which may be due to the heavy anesthesia influence in the department.

Cons: Baltimore. Not the greatest city but also not the worst. Close to DC (50 mins). Cost of living is lower than most east coast cities and close also to Philly and New York by train. No trauma at hopkins, fellows rotate through the unit at Shock Trauma. There are only 4 weeks total elective time in Interventional Pulm/MICU/Shock Trauma etc. Lots of post op patients and low acuity level.

Overall Impression: Solid training program for the academic neurointensivist. Good track record and well respected in the field.
 
Thomas Jefferson: what a great place. very friendly attendings and fellows. they have a good time there. about 40 ICU beds. Very hands on; you will be a great intensivist coming out of that program. Protected time every week for research. They are required to do up to 25 bronchs and intubations each by the time they graduate. The ICU sees a lot of everything except trauma. PD is great and knows how to create a good fellowship. Call about once/week, and one weekend per month. No overnight call. Fellows don't write notes. There are 8 attendings there. Overall, a very happy and friendly place.
 
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Whats up peeps !!! Seems like the Interview Season is finally over now ......
 
Now that the interview season is drawing to a close what do you guys think about the programs overall? Do the big name programs live up to their reputation or where they surprises on the trail?
 
Not a big name just yet but I didn't think I would like Maryland as much as I would after the interview. I liked the 3 new faculty from Hopkins a lot and of course Dr Bajatia was very nice and honest
 
Match day coming up around the corner! Good luck everyone! Hopefully we'll get some more opinions on programs after.
 
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I know! I keep looking at my list every other day and having second thoughts :). Good luck.
 
Would you guys know what time the match results will be available come June 24th?
 
MATCH DAY : June 24, 2014 6:00AM(Pacific Standard Time) / 9:00AM(Eastern Standard Time)
 
Remember to certify your rank list by Noon (PST); 3 pm (EST) tomorrow June 17, 2014. Good luck everyone!
 
interventional, if you don't mind me asking, are you applying for combined NCC and intervention or just NCC for this match?
 
wassup guys.. now that everyone has submitted their lists. Lets see what your top 5 programs of choice were..
 
Here is my list
Columbia
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Penn
Baylor
 
How about a review of your top 3-5? That would certainly help future applicants
 
Let's have people share their top choices and then we can get a detailed review of each program from each applicant of their top choices
 
1 more day to go guys.. Wish everyone all the best ,,,
 
Congrats everyone. Hopefully everyone matched where they wanted.
 
Yup. Any surprises with the unmatched programs? Looks like no one wanted to live in cleveland..both Case and CCF didn't fill.
 
So after this interview process what were everyone's top programs? This is not necessarily where you matched but what you thought were the "best" programs overall. I think this will help future candidates as well. For me I thought:
1) ucsf
2) Columbia
3) Hopkins
 
Congratulations to everyone! I'd love to see some up-to-date reviews on programs, now that the match is complete.
 
Hopkins I thought was a well-rounded program, probably the most on the trail. Cleveland clinic was clinically stellar but lacking on the research side.

Also second TUGM in further program reviews.
 
My top choices were Columbia, Cincinnati and Penn. Matched at Baylor (totally satisfied with the fact that they have academic openings in the near future and with the fact how quickly academics is getting saturated.. This is awesome)
 
My personalized reviews (PROCESS it at your own risk) - interview impression for 2015-2017 fellowship training

Columbia University/Cornell, NY
The best in the country, per XYZ, Dr Mayer left, but trend will carry on thru classen and Agarwal.Closed unit, amazing research database, fellows very smart and have jobs already, closed unit, lots of didactics, do their own intubations and procedures, lots of multimodality with new ones coming up along with camino, Licox, hemedex, depth electrodes, however these all are done by neurosurgery, strong vascular work too (more clipping at Columbia and more coiling at Cornell), planning to get 2 more faculty along with classen and Agarwal. Great neurosurgery support. More trauma and other research at Cornell than Columbia. Trach and bronchs done at Columbia, Cornell home calls 6 days on a weekly basis per month, 3 months of total ICU time is spent at Cornell, Columbia inhouse call with resident and pa overnight as helper q6-8 days, during day usually 2 fellows with np and 2-3 residents and med students and fellows also carry stroke pager when on stroke rotation

Uni of Cincinnati, Ohio
Great twist of ICU learning from 60% Er staff and 30% neuro staff, 10% trauma surgery staff - only drawback of training (best parts of fellowship: combined EEG or research track fellowship, bonomo is an amazing director - super awesome, fellows very happy, dr opwe very interested in research, he is working with C. Hemphill to get neurocritical research into the net, he is also the local PI of net center which is the hub for all stroke research in the country, Broderick is another big shot for stroke research as he is the NET PI for stroke studies in the country. Pooja khatri from there. Fellows do in house calls which is split with NP (first to be trained in neurocritical care and she does all the procedures herself, including bolts/bronchs and lines), very strong neurosurgery and trauma program, heavy duty ICU experience and procedure skills as 5/7 current faculty are from EM Background which gives excellent learning opportunity from a critical care standpoint, strong didactic schedule, bonomo is again the king for beside ultrasounds/vascular training experience, EEG folks are good, if EEG track chosen then can be grandfathered by 2017 as it needs only 12 months of EEG experience in a non acgme accreditated institution, for research track good areas of stroke research available. Dr XYZ from rush had good things to say as he got trained there as a combined NS/EEG fellowship. Neurosurgeons are a pain (XYZ is a very big name), will need to earn respect there. NP/NM and nurses seem experienced 5-15 years of experience. They do all procedures, and u can get trained in evd/bolts 10-20 total needed to get credentialed. Their only weakness is lots of trauma surgeons rotate in unit and only 30% of staff is neuro trained and new or not well known folks. Current fellows from Columbia took jobs as staff, starting 2014.

Cleveland Clinic

Very good program in terms of sickness of Patients and Neurocritical care training - 24/7 attending in house, 3 big named people - manno/provincio/fonterra/gomez is a rising star, heavy rotation, complicated patients, big center for post liver transplants, ottolaunch transfer service, do all procedures, Neurotrauma seen at metro rotation (this is weakness), fellows tired, big name place, keep log of procedures for credentialing later for procedure privileges, don't do bolts/evd but can be trained, lots of didactics, help with KL2 local research grant based on your interest. lack research however, in comparison to other programs.

U Penn, Philly
Very solid overall training in terms of Neurocritical care training, Great TBI training, ability to moonlight at Presbyterian > Penn, Kofke/Levine/Kumar the key. Hiring 2 more attendings by next year (their own), total 4 fellows for 2015, opening up new Presbyterian NCC unit of 16 beds, Current unit in house at Penn is 24 bed, 2 teams – attending driven and pre-tending driven (senior fellow), good neurosurgery relationship, takes q weekly calls with neurosurgery junior in house. Teamwork is key for them. Fellows are happy, aggressive Neuro IR and NSGY, 3-4 NPs, Do all their procedures except Intubations and Peg/Trachs/EVDs. Can learn EVDs and Intubations through NSGY residents and elective rotations respectively. They do all their bronchs, swans and lines. Great Trauma relationship and thus can learn to put chest tubes and Trachs with them. Drawback is you work like residents on call - admission, orders etc

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Very strong academic program from a clinical research standpoint, best in the country and at an international level lots of things being done currently, Dr Suarez is very famous nationally and internationally - research producing machine, Rao is PD - very well trained and enthusiastic himself in research, 4 other Staff. Fellows are good, down to earth. 3 places to work, Ben Taub for Neurotrauma, St Lukes is main and Woodlands is a more community type setting which is 35 miles north of houston. Less procedures i.e. airway, but they have a month of bronch rotation. Do not do pegs/trachs or EVDs. All employed under neurology. Closed for neurology, Semi-cloesd for NSGY (as at most places). Good Neurosurgical support. They have 10-12 grants. Suarez pushes a lot and strong didactic schedule as well. NASA research grants with Dr Bershad. Good didactics weekly, strong resident support in ICU, only home calls. 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off schedule - Hopkins model. Amazing Research coordinator, have their own database of 4000+ patients ready for research. Have also access to UHI registry with thousands of patients..Immense research potential and possibility of academic positions on graduating. THEEE PlACE TO GET YOUR NAME IN RESEARCH PAPERS/PUBLICATIONS.....

Uni of Southern California, LA
LA – Location, Dr Gene Sung is 1st gen (well known /past NCC president), Drs ben (PD) and Rhenda (awesome young, energetic, very open staff) are two new folks from UCLA fellowship, total 5 NSICU Staff, good number of procedures especially cadaver lab for EVD and other procedures every week per NSGY, Good relation with NSGY, No NP, Only home call for now, probably q4 calls in house after 1 year when more residents available. Not much research, but stroke attending and PD is well published and has good opportunities for stroke related research. Closed unit, Keck is busier with 18 beds, county has 24 beds but mostly trauma 70%, Level 1 Trauma center. Keck is a referral/transfer center. Good Didactics over all. Vascular fellows rotate in NSICU. Current fellows already found jobs (1 going to private and other going to academics)

Uni of Texas, Houston
Good training program, new, 2 -3 fellows graduated so far. big loss of XYZ leaving, has 5 staff (hiring one anesthesia person, including the new guy) - tiffany chang - nicest person, alex choi - super, fun person, really like him as a PD (has a grant, good research set-up including lab stuff), Nancy edwards - from UCSF trained, george williams (he is strong in terms of getting trained in procedures and understanding anesthesia critical care aspects, loved his lecture during the interview). 32 bed icu, lots of neuro trauma with an early morning sit-down daily rounds with trauma neurosurgeon, Lots of SAH, complicated cases, collect csf, serum and tissue path samples in everyone, new research database but getting better at it, good research future potential once they get licox for multimodality monitoring, good support from neurosurgery, all employed under neurosurgery, dont do evd but can learn, choi and chang do bronchs and trachs. edwards does focused ultrasounds, big stroke center due to gerotta (1000/year - stroke mobile unit in place now- up and running), didactics - 3-4 lectures per week , lines and intubations done by their own, call schedule - once a week on a monthly schedule but changing to hopkins model with twice a week for just 2 weeks then research/time off, daily work - 6 AM to 6 PM when on service, two teams as orange and white (vascular/non-vascular), consult renal for dialysis - don’t do their own CRRTs, good clinical research projects and infrastructure to even do lab research, can go outside for way-away rotations i.e eeg at yale or ucla or columbia for multi modality monitoring. Can moonlight as well.

Uni of Maryland Medical Center
Awesome overall ICU Training and courses (Badjatia - smart, all other staff is good but new/ most are Hopkins graduates, all rounded solid ICU training program, not much research yet, big on shock/Neuro trauma, don't do evd/bolts, closed unit, do their own dialysis and orders etc, fellows do not do notes or orders, allowed to moonlight in the hospital, good didactics, great airway and other courses in the beginning of training - Boot camps), first fellow graduating this year

Rush University
(father of Neurocritical here, but he spends only few weeks in the ICU, they do professor rounds with him, Director Dr Garg was nice and reasonable, sayona john - MGH trained, all young faculty from varied backgrounds, currently 6 soon 8, do all procedures except bronchs and trachs, can learn evd/bolts, fellows - ok in terms of their training, rounds done mainly by residents, less stimulating environment to get hands dirty, not much research, good didactics however as garg wants fellows to present ICU topics every week from a list, only level 2 trauma center, rotate at cook for trauma, XYZ wants to focus more on bedside EEG), have new faculty this year from south, XYZ from here going to North-east

Cedar Sinai, LA
Asma Moheet _ PD is very down to earth, great leader. and Dr XYZ for sure leaving, other staff is Dr Wui. Good overall training, in house calls weekly basis, no trachs or pegs. Can learn EVD/Bolts though. Have a clinical research scholar combined 2 year fellowships. Fellows not happy with attending transition going on. Good Research. No multimodality monitoring. Good Neurosurgery support. Closed unit model. Not good Neuroradio or IR folks. Have to interpret scans on your own

Thomas Jefferson
Less research, only home call, 6 attendings so far, no big names, research database setup recently, 40 bed 3 ICUs, didactics ok, getting a guy from Yale/Columbia for EEG/ICU experience, most faculty are Neurocritical care boarded, Matthew Vibbert (trained with Tiffany Chang at LSU in med/neuro combined residency) is a nice guy/down to earth, female NCC attending appeared to be very nice/smart. Not much procedures being done currently. Fairly new program. All fellows happy as they liked the home call aspect. Philly is a great location
 
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Anyone have anymore input on Chicago programs? My significant other is a little Chi-town crazy...
 
Forgot to mention about UNI OF CHICAGO and LOYOLA. Dint interview at northwestern
 
Would anyone care to share what kind of things I should strive to have on my CV for matching NCC. Seems to be getting more and more competitive every year? Any sort of advice would help, especially since all of you match super early.
 
Contacts, LOR, Research, Papers/Presentations, NS directed rotations -- In order of preference high to low...
 
I figured this might be a good place to post some questions about life in NCC. What are some common practice models at some of these places? What's the schedule like (for fellows and/or attendings)? And is there a difference in the way practicing NCC works in academia vs private practice? Do you feel like 2 years of CC experience is enough to be proficient at managing some of the IM/surgical CC components involved in holistic training? As always, thanks.
 
And do a significant portion of hospitals give you, the neurology-trained intensivist, privileges to perform Licox placements and ventriculostomies?
 
I just wanted to say, please keep this thread coming! I'll be applying soon and I'm trying to think early and hard about what different programs are like, what I'll need to be a top candidate, and what to look out for. It's all very appreciated!
 
How's it going folks. Hope all those who matched this year are busy with their neuro ICU fellowships.just wanted to say hi and wish everyone to all those taking their neuro boards next month...
 
Any NCC programs allow you to do EVDs and Bolt Monitors (I mean actually place them)?
 
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Hey all, it's that interview season time again. I have not started my trail yet, but I know many already have.
Can people post their experiences so far? Thanks!
 
Any info about the SF programs. UCSF vs CPMC vs Stanford? Interview experiences? Thoughts on programs?
 
Any info/thoughts on Peds Neuro ICU fellowship? Thanks in advance!
 
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