Epilepsy Fellowship

Launched in the 2021 academic year, our ACGME-accredited Epilepsy Fellowship offers a one-year training program based at a level IV NAEC Epilepsy Center with a large and diverse referral base. Fellows gain invaluable hands-on experience with a broad range of complex epilepsy cases and benefit from direct exposure to cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. The program includes the opportunity to take the EpiFITE in-service exam and provides robust preparation for ABPN Epilepsy board certification. Our fellowship strives to cultivate clinical and academic excellence, preparing graduates for leadership roles in the field of epilepsy care. We are deeply committed to our missions of compassionate, patient-centered care to those with epilepsy across Florida and beyond, of advancing epilepsy research, and of providing top-tier sub-specialty medical education.

Our program stands out for its high volume and exceptional teaching cases, offering fellows a vibrant learning experience. The flexible curriculum aligns with each fellow’s individual interests and career goals, ensuring a personalized and meaningful training journey. All our faculty are deeply invested in fellow education. In the first half of the year, we provide a comprehensive set of didactic sessions covering the breadth of adult and pediatric epilepsy. Such formal teaching is reinforced continuously through the year on service rounds and case conferences. In addition, fellows benefit from a designated educational fund that supports their professional growth by covering expenses such as conference registration, flights, hotels, and educational materials. Fellows are also fully integrated into the broader departmental community through joint fellowship transition-to-practice curricula, professional development opportunities, and social events, that foster collegiality and professional growth.

We are a level IV NAEC Epilepsy Center who offer the full suite of advanced investigative and treatment modalities for epilepsy. There are 8 hard-wired adult EMU beds on the neurology floor of our new Neuromedicine Hospital that evaluate over 200 patients a year. In the first few months, fellows learn the fundamentals of video-EEG monitoring, analysis of seizure semiology and acute antiseizure medication titration. They progress quickly to acquire advanced skills  such  intracranial EEG (stereo-electroencephalography; SEEG) planning and interpretation, intraoperative electrocorticography and extraoperative stimulation mapping. Through their engagement at our weekly case conferences, fellows gain experience of epilepsy-oriented neuroimaging (3T MRI, fMRI, DWI-tractography, PET), advanced clinical neurophysiology (EEG source localization and MEG) and the neuropsychology of epilepsy (including Wada testing). Further training in these advanced areas through elective periods or clinical research is always available to interested fellows.

Our Long Term and Critical Care EEG Monitoring Service comprises 16 modern XLTEK portable EEG machines equipped with state-of-the-art Persyst® software permitting quantitative interpretation of trends for precise analysis of seizure burden and ischemia monitoring. The LTM service is busy, with over 3000 24-hour studies performed annually; uniquely, the service can be requested 24/7 with EEG technicians always in-house. Supervision of the service is the responsibility of the EEG attending physician of the week, along with resident and fellow trainees. The LTM service is fast-paced and intense, reflecting the clinical acuity of the patients being monitored. Communication with referring medical teams is high priority, and there are daily virtual EEG rounds to convey updates.

Fellows have half day clinics each week throughout the one-year training where they follow their own patients under faculty supervision. Fellows evaluate both new presentations as well as returning patients, and over the year obtain experience of the large majority of epilepsies seen in primary, secondary and tertiary settings. Fellows also have the opportunity to observe more specialized outpatient practice, for instance our adult ketogenic diet clinic, and the neuromodulation clinic. Additional specialized services, such as epilepsy complicated by neurobehavioral syndromes, and clinic for women of childbearing age are being planned. 

During their one year, fellows get at least one month of elective time to customize their experience based on longer-term career interests. Electives chosen by prior fellows have included neuroradiology and MEG. The UF Epilepsy Fellowship program also offers – uniquely in the nation and entirely free of cost – the option for fellows to travel anywhere in the world to spend one month’s elective time in an epilepsy-related field. Such individualized rotations are enthusiastically encouraged, but do need a willing supervising faculty mentor in the remote location and a written statement of goals and objectives to be submitted in advance.