About the Program

We'd like to welcome you to the University of Cincinnati's Vascular Neurology fellowship program with this video!  

The Vascular Neurology Fellowship Program is a one- to two-year program that includes course work and extensive hands-on experience in clinical research as well as unique training in the evaluation and treatment of patients with acute stroke.

Vascular Neurology Fellows have three opportunities or tracks from which to choose.  All three are ACGME-accredited.

1. 1 year clinical track for trainees looking for a career as a Neuro-hospitalist or Neuro-interventionalist and/or interest in being a clinician-educator or clinician-administrator
2. 1 year StrokeNet-funded track with 50% time protected for research. Requirement to work towards a certificate in Clinical & Translational Research.  Ideal candidates are looking for a career in clinical research and/or practicing at an academic institution.
3. 2 year, T32-funded track with 75% time protected for research and classwork.  Requirement to work towards a certificate in Clinical & Translational Research. Option to work towards a Masters Degree.  This track is idea for candidates hoping to have a future as an independent clinician-researcher.

Our fellowship program has been training neurologists and emergency physicians for the past two decades with the goal of producing academic leaders and clinical researchers in the area of cerebrovascular disease. Individuals trained have been productive as measured by publications and subsequent grant awards.

The hallmarks of our training program are extensive hands-on experience in the hyper-acute treatment and subsequent management of acute stroke patients, substantial protected time for course work in clinical research methodology and clinical research projects, interdisciplinary collaboration and interactions and careful mentoring.

Our fellows have a very extensive experience with acute ischemic stroke and ICH in the emergency department setting, as our team receives over 5,000 calls about acute stroke patients, with over 500 acute reperfusion treatments per year. After two months of shadowing acute stroke calls with the senior members of the stroke team, fellows are allowed to evaluate and treat acute stroke patients with telephone and in-person backup by stroke attendings, as well as independently enroll into numerous hyperacute clinical trials.  

Our stroke fellows have extensive opportunities for inpatient management of stroke and general neurology while acting attending on our inpatient Neurology Wards rotations.  Fellows will see various stroke and non-stroke related pathologies including rare stroke etiology, post-thrombolytic and/or post-endovascularly treated patients, encephalitidies, and other neurological diseases while rotating at the UC Medical Center. 

Neurocritical care experience is also required within the fellowship program with a one month rotation in our 20-bed Multidisciplinary Neurointensive Care Unit.

Program fellows are expected to pursue an academic career in vascular neurology.  The stroke fellow is provided with substantial protected time to attend course work for clinical research methodology, biostatistics and epidemiology and is expected to spend much of their time in clinical research projects including acute treatment research protocols, epidemiologic studies and chart reviews as well as grant writing and manuscript production. The fellow sees patients in the outpatient setting one-two half-days per week.