Our fellowship program is classically offered as a two-year experience.* The first year provides fellows with a strong foundation in clinical exposure, while the second year provides more opportunities for sub-specialty clinics, procedural clinics, and DBS intraoperative experiences. Fellows will also individualize their second-year schedule to align with specific career interests. More information is provided below for each year of fellowship training.
First Year
The first year of fellowship is clinically intensive, which includes at least six half-days of clinic each week. Fellows will spend time in general movement disorders clinic, in addition to botulinum toxin injection clinics. All fellows will attend weekly didactics, which consist of lectures, journal club sessions, and video conferences. In addition, fellows will have the opportunity to teach medical students and residents, which can occur throughout the two years of fellowship. During the first year, fellows will also begin to develop research interests through clinical experiences and meetings with faculty mentors. By the end of this first year, the fellow will have an exceptional clinical foundation of describing, diagnosing, and treating movement disorders.
Second Year
The second year of fellowship allows for the fellow to gain more experience in the subspecialty clinics (including Huntington’s disease, ataxia, DBS programming, pediatric movement disorders, and botulinum toxin injection clinics) and with DBS intraoperative assessments and placements. The second year is also less clinically intensive, so that the fellow’s schedule can be individualized to accommodate research interests and career goals.
Some examples of possible second year programs include:
- Focus on DBS
- Focus on dystonia
- Clinical research focus, with training in biostats, good clinical practice, and study procedures
- Neurogenetics, with training in population and family based genetic studies, including genetic testing
- Laboratory-based research in the UAB Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics (CNET)
*A one-year clinical fellowship and/or a laboratory research training fellowships are infrequently offered. Please contact us for more information regarding these fellowship opportunities.