JelloBrain,
I interviewed at UM for Neurosurgery and went back for a second look and spent the day in the OR and rounding with the residency program coordinator (Dr. Heros), and I also spoke at length about the program with a couple residents. So my observations and $0.02 are based on that.
Basically, I think the program is phenomenal. You may talk to other people who may not totally agree with me, but it all depends on what you want in a program -- do you want to do a lot of research? do you want to go into academics in hope of being a chairman? do you want to get a ton of operating experience so you can go straight to private practice? I want to operate a lot at a place where you can do an infolded fellowshiop, that still has some open cerebrovascular.
Anyway, Miami has a lot to offer. It is a very large program (takes 2-3 residents a year) and has probably about 18 attendings. The spine is very good with both a good amount of minimally invasive and intramedullary tumors. They have a tremendous cranial faculty with Dr. Heors and Morcos. Dr. Heros is the program coordinator and one of the most well respected neurosurgeons around (he won the cushing award this year). Plus he teaches the residents for 1 hour Monday-Wednesday, which is something you rarely see. Although I only met him during the interview, I gather that Dr. Green is well respected chairman who still operates a lot (spine). They have a lot of research in paralysis. They just hired Dr. Bullock, who is a trauma guru and has a good amount of TBI research ongoing.
That being said, they are very busy. They get cases from the area as well as the carribean and central and south america (who usually present late with a lot worse pathology). Now, I very rarely go on this site, and if you want more information on Miami and many other things neurosurgery related, I would suggest searching the forums at uncleharvey.com
