Fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and/or Epilepsy Neurosurgery

Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto
Toronto Western Hospital

Supervisors

Andres Lozano, Mojgan Hodaie, Suneil Kalia, Taufik Valiante

Term of Appointment

1 or 2 years 

Positions Available

Funded posts for 1 or 2 fellows per year.  Additional fellows with external funding can be accepted.

Description

The Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and Epilepsy Programs at the Toronto Western Hospital and University of Toronto are dedicated to the treatment of patients with epilepsy, pain, movement and psychiatric disorders.  These are areas of immense potential for understanding brain function and for the alleviation of disability in patients with these conditions.  We offer a 1 or 2 year fellowship, which is awarded on a competitive basis according to academic credentials and the perceived potential for future excellence.  The fellowship includes both a clinical and research component which can be individually tailored to suit the fellow’s interests.  Our center has trained a large number of fellows who have gone on to become leaders in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery.

The fellow will have the opportunity to participate in the following projects:

  • Development of novel strategies to diagnose, treat and prevent these conditions.
  • Testing of new therapies to increase levels of the missing transmitters or improve or repair malfunctioning brain circuits.
  • Microelectrode recording of single cells in the brain of patients suffering from functional disorders and epilepsy.
  • Development of deep brain electrical stimulation to treat Parkinson's disease and pain and to test the application of this technique to other disorders.
  • Development of intracerebral delivery of drugs.
  • Participation in multidisciplinary research programs including neurophysiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists and basic scientists.
  • Opportunity to participate in a basic science laboratory study of the molecular biology and cellular pathophysiology of movement disorders, pain and epilepsy.
  • Cognition and computational neuroscience.
  • Gamma knife radiosurgery for functional procedures.

This is an active fellowship program whose objective is to train physicians to develop expertise and become leaders in epilepsy and stereotactic and functional neurosurgery.  The fellow will participate fully in the evaluation of patients in the outpatient clinic and will learn all aspects of surgical treatments.  This experience will be complemented by a weekly series of teaching rounds and by numerous interactions with visiting scientists.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of the fellowship, the Fellow should be able to:

  • Understand anatomic and physiologic substrates of movement disorders, pain and epilepsy and psychiatric disorders.
  • Select patients for surgery.
  • Evaluate the benefits and risks of surgical procedures on the basal ganglia/thalamus/cortex.
  • Assess the role of microelectrode recording in movement disorder and pain surgery.
  • Recognize the different patterns of neural activity in the basal ganglia/thalamus/cortex.
  • Obtain physiologic localization of brain targets.
  • Determine the advantages and disadvantages of lesions versus deep brain stimulation surgery.
  • Know the equipment and personnel required and to mount a successful movement disorder surgical, pain, psychiatric surgery and epilepsy program.
  • Participate in journal club and in clinical and research rounds.
  • Formulate a research project.
  • Write and publish research and or clinical manuscripts.
  • Present scientific work at meetings.

Clinical Duties

  • Assist in the pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative care of the supervisor's patients.
  • Assist in the evaluation of inpatients, outpatients, or emergency department consults referred to the supervisors or other consultants.
  • Assist in the clinic, ward and didactic teaching responsibilities of the Division of Neurosurgery at Toronto Western Hospital.
  • Take general neurosurgery call approximately 2-3 days per month.
  • Participate in the teaching of residents, medical students, nurses and allied health personnel.

The above responsibilities will complement and reinforce the teaching of Neurosurgery residents at the University of Toronto.

Contact Information

Andres Lozano, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FRS 
Toronto Western Hospital 
Chairman, Division of Neurosurgery
399 Bathurst Street, West Wing 4-431 
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8 
lozano@uhnresearch.ca

Application Procedure

Please submit the following by email to the Fellowship Contact:

CV
Letters of reference (3)
Proposed start date
Proposed duration of fellowship
Details of any self-funding for the fellowship
Specific title and hospital of the fellowship for which you are applying