Best MS Fellowship

[Ijustwannabeadoctor]

I’m starting to get ready to apply for MS/neuroimmuno fellowship. What are some of the better programs? Some programs I’m specifically interested in are Duke, USF, Vanderbilt, Colorado, UTSW, MUSC and Miami. Also how much does it really matter to go to a better program and how big is the gap in training?

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[Hank_Hill_MD]

Depends on what your goals are. If you want a research career, you'll want a research powerhouse program (Mayo, CC, etc). Otherwise, I'm not sure it matters that much, within reason. I screened where I applied based on regional preferences (as you have), patient volume/size of the department, and word of mouth from neuroimmunology attendings from my program/fellows that I met at conferences.

My 2 cents: Like most other training in medicine, the largest referral centers with the biggest neuroimmunology departments will get you the most opportunities. That means more reps to master the bread and butter MS cases while also getting enough inpatient consults or referrals from the community to get you comfortable with managing more rare conditions. A larger department also means more networking opportunities for jobs later on, especially if you want to stay academic.

To answer your question, I can't think of any other programs in the southeast that I would strongly recommend adding to your list. If you're considering the mountain west region, maybe think about adding Utah for opportunities with their autoimmune neurology clinics. Otherwise, it's a fine list. There's not really a 'best' fellowship or official ranking, so the best you can do is research their web sites, ask your mentors in neuroimmunology for recommendations on individual programs, and try to judge the vibes during interview days to see where you'd thrive.

 

[JJDejerine]

Agree with above that it is dependent on career goals. Many more programs will allow adequate training to be a competent clinician (especially if goal is seeing almost all MS in private practice setting) than those that can foster a clinical or basic science career or provide enough exposure to be good at less common diseases in the "autoimmune neurology" realm.

Some programs to consider:
If you are interested in basic research, UCSF, MGB, Hopkins, Yale, Stanford, WashU, UPenn
If you are interested in clinical research, CCF, Mayo, Colorado, UTSW, Mt. Sinai, in addition to the above
Among the many other programs with strong reputations include OHSU, Utah (notably for autoimmune program), NYU, Duke, Columbia
There are several other good places out there and remember a lot depends on goals and situation

 

[Aldertonghen]

Agree with above that it is dependent on career goals. Many more programs will allow adequate training to be a competent clinician (especially if goal is seeing almost all MS in private practice setting) than those that can foster a clinical or basic science career or provide enough exposure to be good at less common diseases in the "autoimmune neurology" realm.

Some programs to consider:
If you are interested in basic research, UCSF, MGB, Hopkins, Yale, Stanford, WashU, UPenn
If you are interested in clinical research, CCF, Mayo, Colorado, UTSW, Mt. Sinai, in addition to the above
Among the many other programs with strong reputations include OHSU, Utah (notably for autoimmune program), NYU, Duke, Columbia
There are several other good places out there and remember a lot depends on goals and situation

Is Mayo not as good for basic research?

 

[daolso]

Is Mayo not as good for basic research?

Probably not as good as the others on the list a priori if a basic research career is your main focus. I say this as a current resident doing basic science research here haha (not in autoimmune).

I have only good things to say about Mayo Neurology as a whole and there are some great PIs but just numerically speaking there are significantly fewer basic science research faculty than you would find at a large university and there is less of a focus on chasing R01s.

The standard caveats apply: research is very lab, individual, and situation-dependent. In my opinion it is more important to find mentors and a well funded group that can support the projects you are interested in than the overall perception of the institution as one that is strong or weak.

 

[JJDejerine]

Probably not as good as the others on the list a priori if a basic research career is your main focus. I say this as a current resident doing basic science research here haha (not in autoimmune).

I have only good things to say about Mayo Neurology as a whole and there are some great PIs but just numerically speaking there are significantly fewer basic science research faculty than you would find at a large university and there is less of a focus on chasing R01s.

The standard caveats apply: research is very lab, individual, and situation-dependent. In my opinion it is more important to find mentors and a well funded group that can support the projects you are interested in than the overall perception of the institution as one that is strong or weak.

Yes, totally agree, success is lab research is more about individual labs and mentorship as opposed to the institution, as long as there are adequate core resources, etc. Certainly there are great basic science researchers at Mayo, it is simply not as much of a focus as those I put on the other list. If you are interested in clinical research (I would include the Neuroimmunology Lab which is at the absolute forefront of autoantibody work in this) then Mayo is even stronger.