Description of Training
This fellowship is specially designed for excellent candidates interested in Movement Disorders. Unique to this experience will be training identification and treatment of all movement disorders (parkinsonism, tremor, dystonia, tic, myoclonus, peripheral, etc), training in clinical trials, stereotaxic surgery, and neurophysiology for movement disorders surgery (programming and intra-operative placement). The fellowship is 1-2 years and offers a comprehensive experience including superior teaching from faculty with expertise in movement disorders, clinical trials, stereotaxic surgery, imaging for movement disorders surgery, and detailed microelectrode mapping techniques. The fellow will receive superior teaching and will have access to one of the largest organized clinical and video databases of movement disorders. The goal of the fellowship is to turn out truly outstanding movement disorders experts.
The University of Florida Movement Disorders Center boasts a team of over 20 clinical and research faculty members. Fellows will have exposure and teaching from any and all faculty. There are individual experts in movement disorders neurology, movement disorders neurosurgery, neuropsychology, psychiatry, voice analysis, speech and swallowing, as well as gait and kinematics.
Through a truly interdisciplinary approach, fellows will learn the clinical and research tools necessary for a successful career. The center team meets once a week to discuss the best movement disorder cases in a video teaching format. The Brain Institute has four laboratories dedicated to movement disorders (Stem cell, Viral Vector, Cognitive, and Quantitative Analysis Laboratory). Fellows will have the option of shaping their experience toward clinical, trials, surgical, basic science or any combination. The emphasis is on training outstanding movement disorders neurologists. Those candidates interested in academic careers will be mentored and taught to write NIH style grants and given opportunities to become successful in publishing papers in peer reviewed journals. The faculty of this program are interested in clinical teaching, as well as research. The center receives funding from the NIH, Michael J Fox Foundation, NPF, and many other grant sources. The center also holds memberships with the Parkinson’s Study Group, Huntington’s Study Group, Dystonia Study Group, and DBS Study Group.
Application for fellowship training
The University of Florida Movement Disorders Fellowship is part of the Movement Disorders Fellowship (MODIF) Match Network. MODIF is a consortium of fellowship programs who have agreed to have a computerized match conducted by SFMatch, and is similar to the residency matching program.Registration of candidates for the Movement Disorders match and the Centralized Application Service (CAS). Candidates register with SFMatch at www.sfmatch.org and pay a $100 registration fee. During the CAS application process, you need to submit your CV and a Personal Statement to SFMatch when you have completed them. Also, you will need to inform SFMatch the names of the three people who will write letters of recommendation for you; these letters are to be uploaded by the letter-writers directly to SFMatch. More information regarding this process can be found here.
After completing the Application Form, you will see a table with the names and features of all the fellowship programs that are participating in the MODIF Fellowship Match Network. The programs are listed alphabetically by State. Currently there are 48 programs. You may select the programs you would like to apply to. However, only after the entire application package has been received by SFMatch (include the letters of recommendation) will the package be sent to your selected programs. It behooves you to finalize the application package as soon as possible so that the programs will learn of your interest and can arrange interviews with you. Per MODIF, applicants can register with SFMatch as early as March 1 each year.
The deadline for submitting the ranking list is generally the first Thursday in September at 12 noon (PDT), for all candidates. Please see the San Francisco Match website for exact dates. The sites submit their rank-order list with the same deadline. Notification of where you are matched are generally posted on the SFMatch website on the following week; again please check the website for exact dates. Only you will have access to your individual posting to learn your result. We recommend you register early, not only to see the programs and especially if any new programs join the match, but also to avoid any glitch in the registration process and to comprehend what you need to do to submit your rank-list prior to the deadline.
If you would like to obtain more information on our Movement Disorders program, please contact April Raba (Movement Disorders Fellowship Coordinator) at april.king@neurology.ufl.edu.