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  • Now accepting applications for two positions in 2024-2025. All other positions are filled.

Overview

The UNC Epilepsy fellowship training program is an ACGME-accredited program that is organized to provide the intellectual environment, formal instruction, peer interaction, and supervised clinical experience necessary for fellows to master the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to the practice of epilepsy. The program prepares fellows to progress into a subspecialty practice, research or teaching career in epilepsy.

Central to these goals is the fellow’s attainment of the six core competencies in the areas of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice.

Program Description

During the epilepsy fellowship, the fellow will:

  • Serve as an epileptologist under close faculty supervision for inpatient and outpatient care in epilepsy including EMU services (adult and pediatric), outpatient epilepsy specialty clinic, fellow’s longitudinal clinic, and inpatient subspecialty consultation;
  • Interpret EEGs including long-term monitoring and routine/ambulatory EEGs and EPs;
  • Participate in all pre-surgical and surgical evaluation for medically intractable epilepsy such as Phase I evaluation, epilepsy surgery conference presentation, WADA, intracranial EEG monitoring (known as Phase II), ECOG, and functional mapping;
  • Participate in other clinical neurophysiology such as IOM and sleep study during electives;
  • Teach neurology/neurosurgery residents and medical students rotating through their epilepsy/EEG rotation;
  • Complete at least one scholarly project and submit at least one abstract to the national meeting. Fellows will have various opportunities to participate in research projects and are encouraged to publish a first-author manuscript.

At the end of the fellowship, fellows will be competent to evaluate and manage patients in the full spectrum of seizure disorders and utilize all diagnostic testing with competency in EEG and EPs. In addition, fellows will be able to take the epilepsy ABPN board. Learn more about the Epilepsy Division.

Organization of Fellowship Training

Fellowship Eligibility

The epilepsy fellows must meet all of the following requirements.

  • Be a graduate of an accredited medical school in the United States or Canada, or of an international medical school listed by the World Health Organization.
  • Hold an unrestricted license to practice medicine in at least one state, commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States or province of Canada. If licenses are held in more than one jurisdiction, all licenses held by the physician must meet this requirement.
  • Have satisfactorily completed specialized training requirements in psychiatry, neurology or child neurology in programs that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This training must adhere to all Board requirements.
  • Have successfully passed all STEP 1-3 examinations prior to the fellowship.
  • Three months of EEG/epilepsy rotation is not required but strongly recommended.

Duration of Training

The UNC epilepsy fellowship is a one-year (12-month) program per ABPN Epilepsy Board Certification requirement. Any additional time off beyond the allotted 15 work-day paid time off (PTO) should be approved by the program director and will have make-up time in order to fulfill the Board requirement. Starting date of the fellowship is July 1st of each year.

Available Fellowship Positions

  • Now accepting applications for two positions in 2024-2025. All other positions are filled.

Fellow Salary Level

PGY 5 or PGY 6 level, based on core program education requirements.

The foundation of fellow training is the clinical rotations which are overseen by the Neurology Department faculty. The fellow works closely with the faculty in both the outpatient and inpatient setting. This gives the fellow an opportunity to observe directly how to provide compassionate, appropriate, and effective patient care, discuss and demonstrate knowledge about related and relevant health care sciences, learn appropriate communication skills, develop professionalism, and develop an awareness of their relationship with the health care system. The faculty will incorporate these issues into case discussions that serve as the basis for clinical education.

The fellow will develop, with appropriate instruction and feedback, experience in the following procedures:

  • EEG interpretation
  • Phase I monitoring (presurgical evaluation)
  • Phase II invasive video-EEG
  • Intraoperative electrocorticography
  • Intraoperative and extra-operative cortical electrical stimulation studies for functional mapping
  • Intracarotid amobarbital testing (WADA)
  • Placement of sphenoidal electrodes
  • Programming of vagal nerve stimulators (VNS) and responsive neurostimulator (RNS)
  • Use of ictal/interictal SPECT, interictal PET and MRI techniques in epilepsy surgery, EPs, and polysomnograms (PSGs) and/or IOM.
  • Didactic Lectures: Typically 1st and 3rd Tuesdays at 1-2pm, CNP conference room.
  • Didactic Reading: Prior to lectures, fellows are expected to complete the reading assignment with the flipped classroom model.
  • Book Chapter Reading and Topic Discussions: Typically 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 1-2pm, POB conference room. Fellows are expected to lead this session.
  • Weekly Multidisciplinary Epilepsy Case Conference (MECC): Mondays at 7:30-8:30am, CNP conference room.
  • Bi-weekly Resident EEG Lectures: Tuesdays at 12-1pm, CNP conference room.
  • Epilepsy Journal Club: 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 12-1pm, POB or 6 Neuroscience conference room.
  • Epilepsy Research Meeting: 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 12-1pm, POB or 6 Neuroscience conference room.
  • Neuropathology for Epilepsy Surgical Cases: Typically held for 2-3 times per year on Tuesdays. Further detailed schedule is TBA. The fellow should attend all of these conferences.

Fellows must complete scholarly activities and at least one project during the course of their training. Teaching of residents, medical students, and allied health personnel will be a required part of each fellow’s education in neurology. The fellow will participate in the resident didactic lecture series.

Research and other scholarly activities by fellows supervised by the faculty are required for graduation. The fellow is required to present at least one abstract in the national meeting and strongly encouraged to publish at least one manuscript during the fellowship. The topics can be chosen by fellows in their interest such as quality improvement, EMU safety, epilepsy surgery, diagnostic and therapeutic treatment projects, other clinical projects, transitional research project, and/or basic science research. The fellow is strongly encouraged to identify research mentors by the second month of training. Fellows are required to attend a national meeting during training, funded by travel/book fund and/or travel scholarship, during training.

Adult Epilepsy:

  • Angela Wabulya, MB ChB, Epilepsy Fellowship Program Director, Associate Professor
  • Albert Hinn, MD, Director of CNP and IOM, Professor
  • Bradley Vaughn, MD, Chief of Epilepsy and Sleep, Professor
  • Suzette LaRoche, MD, Professor
  • Clio Rubinos, MD, Assistant Professor
  • Atif Tahir Sheikh, MD, Assistant Professor

Pediatric Epilepsy:

  • Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, MD, Assistant Director – Epilepsy Fellowship Program, Assistant Professor
  • Chon Lee, MD, Associate Professor
  • Michael Tennison, MD, Professor
  • Qian-Zhou (JoJo) Yang, MD, Assistant Professor, Director – Pediatric Epilepsy Monitoring Unit
  • Senyene Hunter, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor

Adjunctive Faculty:

  • Eldad Hadar, MD, Neurosurgery, Surgical Director of Epilepsy Surgery, Vice Chair, Associate Professor
  • Matthew Harris PhD, Neuropsychology, Assistant Professor
  • Mitchel Alan Muhleman Radiology-Molecular Imaging
  • Rebecca Nash MD, Psychiatry,Assistant Professor
  • Valerie Jewells, MD, Neuroradiology, Associate Professor

Epilepsy Fellowship, ACGME Accredited

2023-2024

Deepthi Nalluri, MD

  •  Residency: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  •  Medical School: Wright State University

Seung Su Lee, MD

  • Residency: Augusta University Medical Center
  • Medical School: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University

2022 – 2023

Kyra Schmidt, MD

  • Residency: Medical College of Georgia at August University
  • Medical School: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

Vyas Viswanathan, MD

  • Residency: University of Florida, Gainesville
  • Medical School: University of Illinois at Chicago

2021 – 2022

       Marium Jamil, MBBS

  • Residency: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
  • Medical School: Dow Medical College
  • Undergraduate: BAMM- PECHS Women’s College

       Hazem Albandar, MD

  • Residency: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine
  • Undergraduate: Temple University

2020 – 2021

       Tejinder Singh, MD

  • Medical School: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Subharti Medical College
  • Neurology Residency: University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida

2019 – 2020

       David Nacionales

  • Undergraduate School: California State University
  • Medical School: Western University of Health Sciences
  • Neurology Residency: Desert Regional Medical Center

2018 – 2019

       Thomas Foutz

  • Undergraduate School: Johns Hopkins University
  • Medical School: Case Western  Reserve University
  • Neurology Residency: University of Washington

2017 – 2019

       Matthew McConnell

  • Undergraduate School: Duke University
  • Medical School: Wake Forest University
  • Neurology Residency: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

2016 – 2017

None


2015 – 2016

Robin Davis, MD

  • Private practice, academic
    Oschner Health Care, New Orleans, LA
  • Neurology Residency: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Tiffany Fisher, M.D., PhD

  • Academic practice, Assistant Professor – Neurology and epilepsy
    Penn State University, Hershey, PA
  • Neurology Residency: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

2014 – 2015

Fumin Tong, MD, PhD

  • Private Practice, Neurology Group of Bergen County, NJ
  • Neurology Residency: Albany Medical Center, SUNY Albany

Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship Alumni

2012 – 2013

Zachary Potter, MD

  • Private Practice, Kernodle Clinic, Greensboro, NC
  • Neurology Residency: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, MD

  • Academic Practice, Assistant Professor, Child Neurology and Epilepsy
    University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, NC
  • Neurology Residency: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

2009 – 2010

Chon Lee, MD

  • Academic Practice, Assistant Professor
    Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center,
    Winston-Salem, NC
  • Neurology Residency: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

2008 – 2009

Stuart Busby, MD

  • Private Practice, Ochsner Baptist, New Orleans, LA
  • Neurology Residency: Emory University

2007 – 2008

Alan Schulman, MD

  • Private Practice, Neurological Associates, Richmond, VA
  • Neurology Residency: University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, VA

How to apply

Interested applicants can submit applications via the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for the upcoming match with the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).

The following items must be submitted to ERAS in order to schedule an interview:

  • Common application form via ERAS
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Letters of reference (a minimum of three) – One LOR must be from the program director of the residency program in which the applicant most recently served and two letters from members of the medical staff of the hospital affiliated with the sponsoring institution of that residency program.
  • Official medical school transcripts
  • USMLE transcripts or COMLEX transcripts
  • Personal statement
  • Photograph (optional, but preferred to track applicants after interviews)
  • ECFMG certificate and visa (if applicable)

Applications are accepted beginning 24 months prior to the start date of the fellowship. Interviews will take place between late fall and early spring until the positions are filled. Thank you for your interest in our program.

 

Program Coordinator

Ashley Myles
Email

UNC Department of Neurology
170 Manning Drive, CB#7025
Chapel Hill, NC 27599