Overview

The Department of Neurosurgery at The University of North Carolina has a longstanding tradition of excellence in clinical care and resident education. The UNC Neurosurgery Residency Training Program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). We currently have a six-year program and take two residents per year. We offer a clinically-based program designed to give the resident a broad exposure to all aspects of clinical neurosurgery including:

• Intra- and extracranial neurovascular disease
• Neurosurgical oncology and radiosurgery
• Complex spinal instrumentation for trauma and other spinal disorders
• Neurotrauma
• Stereotactic and functional neurosurgery
• Pediatric neurosurgery
• Endovascular treatment of vascular anomalies
• Epilepsy surgery
• Endoscopic and minimally-invasive neurosurgery
• Neurocritical care

Currently, the UNC Neurosurgery Residency Program is six years in length, including one year of internship. Two residents are accepted each year and appointments begin June 24. Residents must take the American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) written examination annually, until a passing score is achieved prior to completion of the training program. To remain compliant with the new directives from the ABNS and the Neurosurgery Residency Review Committee we are now transitioning from a six- to a seven-year training period and are restructuring our residency program to be compliant with all of the new requirements. Applicants who match into our program in March 2013 will have a seven-year training curriculum.

Basic Rotations

• PG Year 1: 6 months General Surgery, 3 months Neurology, 3 months Neurosurgery
• PG Year 2: Clinical Neurosurgery
• PG Year 3: Clinical Neurosurgery, 3 months Neurocritical Care
• PG Year 4: Clinical Neurosurgery, 3 months Neuroradiology/Neuropath, 3 months Interventional Neuroradiology
• PG Year 5: Co-Chief Clinical Neurosurgery
• PG Year 6: Chief Resident Clinical Neurosurgery

Conference and Teaching Schedule

• Weekly Neurosurgery Grand Rounds
• Neuropathology Conferences
• Journal Club
• Spinal Biomechanics
• Skull Base Conferences
• Cadaver Dissection
• Neuro-Oncology Conferences
• Epilepsy Surgery Conferences

Clinical Experience

UNC offers training in adult and pediatric neurosurgery. The 16-bed Adult Neurosciences ICU has a Neurocritical Care service staffed by neurointensivists and nurse practitioners who provide 24/7 care and management. Our routine patient care units are located in the Neurosciences hospital, in close-proximity to the Stroke Center and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. The pediatric neurosurgery service works out of the dedicated Children’s Hospital, which houses a 20-bed Pediatric ICU with its own Pediatric Critical Care team. This service has dedicated pediatric operating rooms and surgical staff.

All neurosurgery clinics are either held in the Children’s Hospital or the UNC Spine Center. The Spine Center, located about two miles from the main hospital, is a large multidisciplinary practice encompassing surgical and nonsurgical management of spinal disorders, where we are able to work closely with Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Anesthesia/Pain Management, Physical Therapy and Radiology. Due to its new design and easy patient access, all adult Neurosurgery clinics are now located in the Spine Center. When beneficial to care or research, we have access to the resources of the UNC Cancer Hospital, Lineberger Cancer Center, General Clinical Research Center, and Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute.

Dedicated Didactic and Study Time

We are pleased to offer our residents an opportunity to participate in a rotation that we’ve termed “Neurosurgery University.”  Professor Robert Wilkins, one of the giants of Neurosurgery and founding editor of Neurosurgery, joined our faculty this year as our Director of Academics and Education.  Second- and third-year residents have a dedicated block of four-to-six weeks that they spend in study with Dr. Wilkins.  He provides a guided self-study through the major components of Neurosurgery working with the resident each day to cover a major topic.

Residents are given assignments for reading in preparation of teaching presentations which are then reviewed in a one-on-one fashion with Dr. Wilkins.  The resources generated from this are then available for all residents for their own self-study and board preparation.

During this protected study time, the residents are shielded from weekday call in order to facilitate their attention to reading and studying.

Research

Participation in the discovery of new knowledge in the field of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience is one of the core values of our department.  The department exists within the University of North Carolina which is a remarkably rich environment for research and the home to over $400 million in NIH funding annually.  Residents are strongly encouraged to develop either clinical translational or basic science research interests and to explore these in partnership with the world-class scientists working in the School of Medicine in the UNC School of Public Health (one of the highest-ranked in the country) and with scientists throughout the university.  During your interview, we would be happy to discuss with you the rich areas of research available in biomedical research, imaging, neuro-oncology, and in the neurosciences.

Call/Vacation Scheduling

The UNC neurosurgery training program maintains strict compliance to ACGME duty hour restrictions. Junior residents take progressively less in-house call during their training until they begin taking chief call. Residents are given 15 business days of vacation per year.

Contact Information