The Neurosurgery Residency
Department of Neurosurgery
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Neurosurgery Homepage | Faculty | Research | The Neurosurgery Match

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The neurosurgical residency training program of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center offers an experience appropriate for both the academic and the general practice of neurological surgery. All patients are located in one modern medical center, and both private and service patients form a unified service. A complete spectrum of neurosurgical diseases can be studied and generous operating experience is offered. In fact, Wake Forest offers among the largest number of cases per resident of any Neurosurgery program in the country. The program is approved by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. In the past one house officer has matched each year into a surgical internship program. Beginning in 2004, the American Board of Neurological Surgery has authorized the Neurosurgery Program to match up to two residents each year. It is desirable but not essential that the PGY-1 level be in the General Surgery program here. If another surgical program is chosen it must be mutually acceptable to the applicant and the program director. Currently, one senior resident completes training each year, having spent a minimum of 36 months in clinical neurosurgery, six months in neurology, six months in neuroradiology, and six months in neuropathology. A special effort is made to have a structured neurosurgery program, including teaching rounds twice a week, staff conferences, and a journal club. Each house officer completes a laboratory course in microneurosurgery. Rounds are conducted three times a week with the entire staff. Each Tuesday a neurosurgical outpatient clinic is held in which all resident physicians participate. A close relationship is maintained between the Department of Neurosurgery and the Departments or Sections of Neuropathology, Pediatrics, Neurology, Neuroradiology, and Oncology. Combined conferences are held (grouped particularly on Tuesdays) on neurology, neuropathology, neuroradiology, and clinical neurology/neurosurgery. Prospective resident applicants are interviewed by the entire faculty and resident staff. Emphasis is placed upon the interview process, and prospective candidates are carefully evaluated and selected. The present resident staff is an outstanding group of young doctors. Multiple different points of view regarding techniques and treatment from the seven neurosurgeons on the faculty make the learning experience fruitful and varied for the neurosurgical resident. The opportunity to work with a committed faculty and well-qualified, cohesive resident staff creates a challenging and rewarding experience for the neurosurgical resident. Three neurosurgical nurse clinicians are employed to assist the residents and staff with ward duties. In addition, there are five physician assistant's and certified nurse practitioners who specialize in outpatient care and support activities within the operating room to enhance the resident experience. Clinical Training Extraordinary experience with spine surgery is provided, with fellowship-level opportunity to learn instrumentation and fusion techniques. Operations for tumor icluding skull-base tumors, arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms, seizures, and hydrocephalus are numerous and provide a wide range of experience. In addition, procedures for the alleviation of pain of carpal tunnel syndrome and tic douloureux, and the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and essential tremor are performed regularly. The treatment of trauma patients provides a wide range of experience in the areas of closed head injury and control of increased intracranial pressure. This combination ensures that graduates of the Wake Forest Neurosurgery Residency Program receive the most well rounded clinical training possible. Image guided Neurosurgery is state-of-the-art. The Medical Center has a an extremely active Gamma Knife Program. It is one of the few programs in the country to have both a Gamma Knife and a linear accerlator based (LINAC-Scalpel) radiosurgery program. Wake Forest has the only Gamma Knife in North Carolina and is the closest academic Gamma Knife Center to approximately 20 million people. Three BrainLab image guided neurosurgery work stations, two Radionics StereoPlan workstations, and both Elekta's Leksell and Radionics' CRW stereotactic systems are used routinely in the operating rooms. The resident rotating on neuroradiology is instructed by seven full-time neuroradiologists and has a broad exposure to all neuroradiological procedures, including interventional neuroradiology. The latest CT, MRI (1.5 and 3 Tesla), PET, and CT-PET, ultrasound, and other imaging scanners are available. Seven MRI scanner's include one dedicated soley to research scans. Two neuropathologists supervise individual performance and conference preparation. The productive relationship with 15 full-time neurology faculty includes exchange of both information and patients. Research Opportunities for clinical research in the subspecialties of Neurosurgery are abundant. Wake Forest Neurosurgery is a leading institution in national trials in a number of areas including, cerebrovascular neurosurgery, spinal instrumentation, and neuro-oncology. It is one of nine members of the National Cancer Institute's NABTT (New Approaches to Brain Tumor Therapy) Consortium which conducts phase I and phase II trials of promising new agents for brain tumors. Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of only forty-two NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center's in the United States. The Brain Tumor Center of Excellence is one of the three CEOs in the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Elective time spent in the neurosurgical laboratory is strongly encouraged, as is a career in academic neurosurgery. Two full time basic scientists are based in the Department of Neurosurgery: Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D., the Scientific Director of the Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center's Brain Tumor Center of Excellence and Tim Pons, Ph.D., a renowned investigator of neural plasticity in primate sensory systems. Collaboration with accomplished colleagues in Wake Forest University School of Medicine's excellent basic science departments are also encouraged and result in additional academic productivity. Residents have a number of projects to complete during their training, and they are expected to publish and to make presentations at national and regional meetings. The Department maintains a resident library and has a full-time records librarian and editor. Application Process For application materials and more information about Wake Forest's Neurosurgery residency. Please, contact the chairman's office: Charles L. Branch, Jr., M.D. Chairman Department of Neurosurgery Wake Forest University School of Medicine Medical Center Boulevard Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1029 phone: (336) 716-4083 facsimile: (336) 716-3065 Resident positions are allocated through the Neurological Surgery Residency Matching Program. The frames version of the Wake Forest University Neurosurgery Residency Page has many more useful links.