Neurology Conferences in Philadelphia and DC

That's me! Under the AAN meeting sign at the Philadelphia Convention Center

American Academy of Neurology - May 2019

After returning to Chicago from Philly during Easter weekend (mid-April) for the American Medical Education Conference (AMEC), I traveled back to the city a couple of weeks later in early May for the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) meeting. I'm grateful to have received the AAN Medical Student Scholarship to the Annual Meeting Award, which took care of all transportation, accommodation, and food costs.

This experience was absolutely invaluable. I'll be honest, I fell a little behind on studying for Pediatrics, and I still had several assignments to turn in the same week of the exam, but everything turned out totally fine. I wouldn't trade any of my conference experiences from this spring for anything. I attended three during my Pediatrics rotation, including one to Orlando to present my research, one to Philly for AMEC (where I networked, received important information about applying to residency, and essentially landed an away rotation for the fall), and the final one once more in Philly for AAN, where I again networked heavily with neurology residency program directors (PDs) across the country.

One question that I asked nearly every program was about diversity and inclusion efforts. Most PDs have been extremely intentional about their efforts to recruit more diverse cohorts of residents, and by the end of the night I could tell which ones were genuine in their initiative to recruit more ethnic minorities in neurology, and which ones really just regarded it as a checkmark in the box. This issue is of important to me. Several programs really stood out to me and have moved to the top of my interest list.

I have not yet even applied to neurology residency, and much of my thought process may very well be wishful (I am applying to what I feel are quite a few reaches), so I will post another blog entry after match day in March 2020 with more details about the residency application process and my own journey.

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Combining Clinical & Research Careers in Neuroscience - June 2019

The symposium was held here in the Neuroscience Research
Center on the NIH campus. Photo taken from here

I am currently finishing up with my final clerkship rotation of the year - Family Medicine (which has been ah-maze-ing, both in terms of the clinical experience and chiller schedule). It's pretty sweet to have weekends off in the spring, even though summer is around the corner and we haven't yet had a full week of summer-like weather here in Chicago. It's so annoying.

This past weekend in mid-June, I attended the Combining Clinical & Research Careers in Neuroscience Symposium (CCRC) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (right outside of DC). The ideal candidate for the symposium is a medical student (MD or MD/PhD) who is interested in a combined research and clinical career in the neurosciences (i.e. future clinician-scientists).

This 2-day course is sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Association of University Professors of Neurology (AUPN), American Neurological Association (ANA), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and Child Neurology Society (CNS). I am beyond grateful that everything was covered during this trip as well. They covered costs for travel (regardless of where you're coming from), lodging (Hyatt Regency Bethesda), and food (three meals on each day, including a steak dinner!). Amazing.

"The Convergence of Clinical Research and  Clinical Practice"
Photo from here

This was another invaluable opportunity. I would have never known about it if I weren't subscribed to the AAN Medical Student forum/newsletter. This symposium includes networking breakfasts, lunches and dinners, social events, small group mentoring, and many sessions relevant to the career of a physician-scientist-in-training. A group of academic neurologists discussed strategies for combining research (basic/clinical) and clinical careers. We also learned about grant mechanisms that exist for continued research training, career development, and loan repayment! (Yep, you read that right. I bet I caught your attention now, right??)

If you are at all interested in Neurology, Neurosurgery, Peds Neuro, and/or Psychiatry, as well as potentially doing research in your career (AND having your loans paid off), please apply to attend this symposium to learn more! You will not regret it. I would have never known about all of the possible NIH research funding mechanisms were it not for CCRC. I attended this symposium to learn more about the research experiences of academic neurologists and how I myself could possibly combine the two in my own career.

My research interests are a bit eclectic (the effects of adverse childhood events (ACEs) and trauma on the brain, addiction neurology, and epilepsy). I have no idea how I would go about narrowing this down or even combining them, but that's one thing I'll try to work on over time. Getting engaged in research sometime during my career will be invaluable, and I would like to look more into fostering the next steps to make this happen.

Thanks for reading! :)