Yale Neurons

Yale Neuro Residents Advancing the Knowledge of Our Collective Brain – Feat. Jens Witsch, PGY3!

Congratulations (AGAIN!) to Jens for being super productive in the last few months. The first is a teaching video in the Neurology, Vestibulo-ocular reflex defect in cerebellar stroke.

The second is a manuscript published in Stroke looking at new diagnosis of afib/aflutter in stroke patients and trying to parse out whether this represents a preexisting risk factor that led to stroke, an arrhythmia triggered by post-stroke autonomic dysfunction, or an incidental finding. Check it out to learn what they found: Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Recent Ischemic Stroke Versus Matched Controls.

Congrats on this impressive accomplishment, Jens!

Yale Neuro Residents Advancing the Knowledge of Our Collective Brain – Feat. Chris Traner, PGY3!

Our Neurons are so creative, inquisitive, and productive, demonstrated most recently by our very own Chris Traner. Chris wrote an awesome manuscript with Dr. Ben Tolchin, one of our epileptologists, entitled Medical ethics education for Neurology residents: where do we go from here?. The article was accepted for publication in Seminars in Neurology and will be slated for publication in February 2019, so stay tuned! Excellent work and congratulations, Chris!

Inaugural Women in Neurology (WIN) Meeting!

The department has been incredibly supportive, professionally and financially, of the creation of our very own Women In Neurology (WIN) group at Yale, spearheaded by two of our amazing PGY4’s, Rachel Calix and Bryce Buchowicz. WIN is open to all- residents, APPs, fellows, and attendings- and is intended to provide a forum for networking, mentorship, and discussion of issues pertinent to women in the field of Neurology. The inaugural meeting was held in late August and was a huge success! Thank you so much to Rachel and Bryce for getting this off the ground as well as to program leadership for the incredible support. We look forward to quarterly meetings going forward!

Yale Neurons on the Editorial Board of the Green Journal!

We bow down before the editorial prowess of our very own Dr. Jens Witsch (PGY3), as he was just selected from over 40 applicants to be one of only 5 residents to join the editorial board of Neurology Resident and Fellow Section. This is incredibly impressive and prestigious , and we are so proud of you, Jens! 

Neurons Representing Yale Abroad

Yale Neurology program has a strong tradition of supporting residents who wish to study and practice Neurology abroad during their training. We have had a number of residents spend time learning and working in other counties across the globe including France Uganda, and Prague, to name a few. This year promises to be just as exciting, with residents planning rotations this year in Uganda, Paris, and Thailand. Stay tuned for details (and photos!) from their various trips!

Welcome, 2018-2019 academic year! Welcome, new Neurons!

Each year, our program director, Jeremy Moeller, and his family, host the a welcome cookout for all of the Neurology residents and new prelims as a way to get to know the new faces (and have them get to know the us, nutty crew they chose to associate with for the next few years of their training) in a laid back setting.  It’s a great way to kick off the year on a fun, social note, and this year’s was one for the books! Residents from all residency classes, including neurology prelims completing their intern year, program leadership and their families bonded over grilled goodies and fun facts from people’s lives. Apparently, the incoming class is even more impressive than we previously thought, with numerous pianists (classical and jazz), a ukelele player, a professional rower, a gymnast-turned parkour expert, a cartoonist, a painter, and multiple hikers and climbers, to name a few interesting tidbits. It was an excellent afternoon, and we are excited for the upcoming year with our new colleagues!

Graduation 2018!

Graduating PGY4’s

(From left to right: Elie Sternberg, Rachel Beekman, Monica Diaz, Margie McCullough-Hicks, Stacy Chu and Paul Fu. Not Pictured: Arash Danesh)

A huge congratulations to all of the amazing PGY4 residents who graduated this June 7. It was an incredible night with great food, lovely conversation, much-deserved awards, lovely and thoughtful gifts from PGY2 class to the graduating seniors, and many laughs as the faculty roasted each of the graduating residents (and got a taste of their own medicine, courtesy of the outgoing PGY4’s). Thank you to all of you for all you have taught us and all you have given to the program. We are sad to see you go, but excited to see how you will change the landscape of Neurology in your respective fields going forward. Good luck in your jobs and fellowships next year!!

Congratulations, Dr. Arash Danesh, on an award well won!

A HUGE congratulations to Dr. Arash Danesh, PGY4, on being awarded the 2018-2019 Clinical Research Fellowship Award from the American Headache Society! Arash will be graduating from our residency program this June and will stay on for a headache fellowship. This fellowship comes with a $50,000 award for use towards headache research Arash will be conducting this year with Dr. Gottschalk at Yale and presenting at the 61st annual American Headache Society Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia. We are so proud of you, Arash!

Yale (Current and Future) Neurons Representing at AAN 2018 in Sunny LA!

Dr. Rachel Beekman, PGY4 worked on a project designed to characterize spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the very elderly and evaluate how risk factors for in-hospital mortality vary by age group. This work was in collaboration with and presented in a platform presentation by Dr. Stacy Chu, PGY4.  Abstract here: Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage in the Elderly Population.

Dr. Stacy Chu, PGY4, presented several projects including the talk above with Dr. Rachel Beekman, a poster looking at potential associations between  history of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and mortality in patients treated with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV-tPA) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) (abstract:Safety Outcomes of Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke in Patients with History of Intracranial Hemorrhage), and a case report of a patient who developed PML despite no diagnosis of HIV or history of immunosuppression (abstract: PML in the absence of HIV or immunosuppressive therapy.)

Dr. Paul Fu, PGY4, presented a poster examining rate of burnout in Yale Neurology Dept, finding they are similar to national averages, and reporting on steps Yale has taken to address burnout in Neurology. See his abstract here: Burnout and Vitality for Yale Neurology.

Dr. Monica Diaz, PGY4, presented a fascinating case report of a patient who presented with meningoradiculitis who ended up having Lyme Disease. Here is her abstract: Lyme Disease Presenting with Meningoradiculitis: A Case of Variant Bannwarth Syndrome.

Dr. Justine Cormier, PGY3, presented a case report on a patient with metastatic pituitary carcinoma with leptomeningeal spread to spinal cord, an extremely rare clinical presentation. See her abstract here: Spinal Leptomeningeal Dissemination as a Fatal Complication of Malignant Prolactinoma. 

Dr. Priyanka Chilakamarri, PGY2, presented a case report entitled Hypoglossal Cranial Nerve Palsy: Unusual Microvascular Complication (click on the title to link to the abstract).

Dr. Adeel Zubair, PGY2, was not able to be present at the conference, sadly, but had a colleague present his interesting work on a case series of patients with Primary Lateral Sclerosis in whom intrathecal baclofen pumps were both safely and effectively used. See his abstract here: Utility of Intrathecal Baclofen Pump in Primary Lateral Sclerosis.

And we were so pumped to have two future Yale Neurons, Sarah Mancone and Gabriella Garcia in attendance! Gabriella was awarded the 2018 AAN Medical Student Diversity Scholarship. Great work!

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all for all of your hard work and productivity!!

Dr. Peter Kim Awarded by YNHH for Being an Awesome Team Player

Congratulations to our very own Dr. Peter Kim (PGY4) for being awarded the

YNHH Resident and Nurse Collaboration Award!

Peter was nominated by nursing staff and selected for his outstanding professionalism, attentiveness and collaborative spirit while work with nursing staff to care for a number of complex patients and their families during a very busy time on service. Great job, Peter!