Residency News and Events | Department of Neurology

The Adult Neurology Boot Camp

The Adult Neurology Boot Camp is designed to introduce important principles of neurological care to newly minted PGY2 neurology residents and to help them transition into junior neurology resident status.

The boot camp lasts two summer months (July and August) and is completed with lectures, interactive clinical case sessions and hands-on labs. Each week is dedicated to a different aspect of neurological care: general neurology, stroke care, neurological intensive care and the challenges of initial night shifts in a hospital. The boot camp covers such topics as neurological exams in adult and pediatric populations, neurological emergencies, MOCK acute stroke exercises, LP simulator lab experience, common neurological consults and neuroimaging.

The camp culminates with a Jeopardy day and a pizza party to celebrate the hard work and the steep learning curve of our junior residents.

Neurology PGY2 residents performing a lumbar puncture in the Sim Lab.

Boot Camp

Mock Stroke Sim — During a mock code stroke session, residents practice key concepts of acute code stroke management with our patient actors.

Boot Camp

Visiting Professors at UNC Department of Neurology

Residents meeting — Dr. Jose Gutierrez takes a selfie with our residents.

The UNC Department of Neurology is committed to excellence in resident training and education. To support this mission, UNC Neurology visiting professors are invited throughout the year to speak at Neurology Grand Rounds, and to spend time with residents and faculty in informal settings during dinner and the resident noon conference.

The academic year 2019–2020 was unusual due to the pandemic, but we still enjoyed Dr. Jose Gutierrez from Columbia Medical Center who presented grand rounds on “The role of brain arterial dilation in Alzheimer’s disease.” Later over dinner, he led a candid, fun, thought-provoking and inspirational discussion with the residents, followed by a noon conference on career development and importance of critical thinking the next day.

COVID-19 and the Residency Program

We are grateful to our colleagues in the Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine Departments for working tirelessly at the frontlines of COVID 19 response at UNC.

The Adult Neurology Residency implemented a platoon system for inpatient services with a limited number of neurology residents working on neurology consult service and neurology inpatient ward service within one week of the pandemic. We continued to provide face-to-face evaluations for acute neurological issues and non-urgent neurological consultations throughout the UNC Hospitals system and the UNC Emergency Room.

Neurology outpatient clinics quickly adopted telemedicine, and residents actively participated in telehealth clinics as well as continuing their own longitudinal clinics in virtual space.

All resident didactic programs continued without a pause by utilizing virtual platforms.

Graduation Celebration 2021

We are so proud of our graduating residents and their ambitious plans for the future. We are also grateful for our dedicated faculty who guided them along the way.

Residency Graduation 2021

Graduation Awards 2021

Graduating Adult Neurology Residents 2021

Resident Scholarship

Xiaoyang Li, MD, presenter — Xiaoyang Li, MD

Xiaoyang Li, MD (Adult Neurology PGY2) presented a poster “ The imbalance between regulatory and memory B cells accompanied by an increased number of circulating T-follicular helper cells in MOG–antibody-associated demyelination” at the 2019 ECTRIMS Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.

Xiaoyang Li, MD (Adult Neurology PGY2) and Amalia Peterson, MD (Adult Neurology PGY4) presented a poster “Acquired hepatocerebral degeneration as a cause of dyskinesia in a patient with liver cirrhosis: a case report” at the North Carolina Neurological Society 2020 meeting in Raleigh, NC in February 2020.

Amalia Peterson, MD, presenter — Amalia Peterson, MD

Amalia Peterson, MD (Adult Neurology PGY4) presented a poster “The silent role of cerebellum in cognition: cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome due to chronic lithium toxicity presenting as behavioral variant frontotemporal degeneration” at the North Carolina Neurological Society 2020 meeting in Raleigh, NC in February 2020.

Carolyn Tsai, MD (Adult Neurology PGY2) presented during the “Resident Update: Neurology Year-in-Review” plenary session at the North Carolina Neurological Society 2020 meeting in Raleigh, NC in February 2020.

Neurology team members at the North Carolina Neurological Society meeting 2020

North Carolina Neurological Society 2020 meeting presenters and attendees

Victor Lin, MD (Adult Neurology PGY4) presented a poster “Perception of hand off practices in inpatient neurology: opportunities for improvement in the neuroscience intensive care unit” at the Neurocritical Care Society meeting 2019, Vancouver, Canada.

Victor Lin, MD presenter — Victor Lin, MD

Honors

Laura de Lima Xavier, MD - Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Award

PGY-2 Adult Neurology resident Laura de Lima Xavier, MD received a Kaiser Permanente Excellence in Teaching Award at the 2021 UNC School of Medicine’s Whitehead Lecture and Awards ceremony on August 4. UNC medical students vote on the award to honor residents and interns who contribute in an exemplary way to the education of medical students. Award winners display an enthusiasm for teaching, include students in patient care decisions, and promote the involvement of students on the medical team. Read more >

Monthly Happy Hours

After the M&M Conference each month, our residents and faculty are invited to a “happy hour” at Tobacco Road. These events are ongoing throughout the year and we look forward to seeing our residents and faculty outside of the hospital. Note: These events are on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Celebrating the Holidays Together

Sharing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Dr. Browner’s home is cozy, fun and feels like big extended family. Decorated doors and yummy food next to the “fire” create holiday spirit.