WELCOME TO UF'S NEUROLOGY RESIDENCY TRAINING PROGRAM!

The mission of our residency is to train compassionate and well-rounded neurologists who exhibit strengths in clinical care, professionalism, research, and the education of future generations. Teaching is the department's highest priority, and we take pride in collaborating with our residents to provide a highly educational, flexible, and fun training program.

Dr. Okun Sign Play Video

about our program

Early opportunities for neurology training

We are a four-year categorical program, with eight positions per year. During the PGY1 year, residents complete eight months of internal medicine (as required by the ABPN), but spend the remaining four months of the year on Neurology rotations, including an introduction to our inpatient services, outpatient clinics, future continuity clinic patients, epilepsy/EEG interpretation, and a wide choice of electives. Interns are paired with both resident and faculty mentors on arrival and are encouraged to get a head start on research projects. This early integration into the UF neurology community allows residents the opportunity to maximize their education, feel at home in our department, and make well-informed decisions about subspecialty career plans.

Morning Report Party

Well-rounded clinical education

UF Neurology residents care for a broad population of patients at our two affiliated teaching hospitals: Shands/UF Health and the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, as well as the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases. This comprehensive exposure to many different neurological disorders ensures that residents are well prepared for independent practice after graduation. Understanding the backgrounds of our patients has measurable benefits for patient care, and our residency training includes a longitudinal curriculum to learn the impact of socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural factors on health and illness, as well as the effects of healthcare disparities. The department has developed a robust Community Outreach and Representation Excellence (CORE) Council, which enthusiastically welcomes resident participation to partner with the local community on access to inclusive clinical care, education, mentorship, and community outreach. Residents also have the opportunity to give back to our neighbors by providing neurological care on the UF Mobile Outreach Clinic (https://outreach.med.ufl.edu/).

Residents

Individualized experience

Residents have a great deal of flexibility in their elective choices, beginning with the PGY1 year. There are also many supplemental conferences and activities across a wide variety of interests, such as advanced simulation training for those interested in neurocritical care or participation in deep brain stimulation cases in the operating room. Residents have the opportunity to individualize their training by participating in tracks that provide a supplementary experience to the core residency clinical education, including the research academician track and the medical education track. One of the highlights of our residency is the standing weekly meeting between residents and program leadership to discuss resident programmatic feedback. All programs have opportunities for improvement, and working with the residents to craft their ideal program is one of greatest sources of satisfaction we have as medical educators.

MST Weekend

about the team

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Christina Wilson, MD, PhD

Dr Wilson is a clinician-educator who has enthusiastically served as the UF Neurology Residency Program Director since 2015. After earning a doctoral degree studying presenilin proteins in neurodegenerative diseases, her career focus shifted and she pursued medical school, neurology residency, and vascular neurology fellowship training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her clinical focus is on inpatient stroke neurology, but a majority of her time is spent in the educational realm. She also serves as the program director of the stroke fellowship and the departmental Associate Chair of Education, and is active in the local and national graduate medical education community. She has been granted the Residency-Fellowship Program Director Recognition and AB Baker Teacher Recognition Awards from the AAN.  

Dr. Wilson

associate program director

Neil Weisbrod, MD

Neal Weisbrod is a clinician educator with a focus on inpatient neurology and palliative care. He trained at the University of Rochester, New York for undergraduate education, medical school, and neurology residency. His clinical focuses are neurohospitalist and palliative care consult practice. In the realm of education he enjoys teaching neurological localization and diagnostic decision making in addition to equipping trainees with the skills to navigate challenging conversations about serious illness and effectively manage symptoms at all stages of illness.

Neal Weisbrod

Associate Program Director

Mayra Montalvo Perero, MD

Dr. Montalvo Perero, MD, is a board-certified neurologist, neurophysiologist and neuroimmunologist at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health, serving as an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Neurology.
She received her medical degree in 2010 at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and completed her neurology residency in 2019 at Brown University. Following her residency, she completed her clinical neurophysiology fellowship in 2020 at Brown University and her autoimmune neurology fellowship in 2021 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
She sees patients for a variety of neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica, transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune encephalitis, autoimmune epilepsy and autoimmune ataxias.

Dr. Montalvo

Program Coordinator

Jennifer Shipley

The heart of any residency program is its coordinator, and we are truly lucky to have Jennifer Shipley, winner of the 2020 Debra Dooley Program Coordinator Excellence Award from the ACGME and the 2023 Residency Program Coordinator Recognition Award from the American Academy of Neurology. To quote one of our prior graduates, “Charmingly straightforward and ever-hardworking, Jennifer’s go-to phrase is “we can make that happen.”

Jennifer Shipley

For more information

Contact Us

Jennifer Shipley, Residency Program Coordinator Address: Department of Neurology Box 100236, UFHSC Gainesville, Florida 32610-0236. ………….. Email: Jennifer.Shipley@neurology.ufl.edu ………. Phone: 352-273-5550

Program Highlights

Research/Scientific Method

Research and Scientific Method are the cornerstones of academic neurology. Every UF Neurology resident is encouraged to engage in research as part of their educational experience, and residents may spend up to several months of elective time working on research.

AAN

Teaching by Residents

In order to teach, residents must first have knowledge that is accurate and usefully organized. Teaching responsibilities are integrated into our residency program.All residents participate in the introductory Resident As Teacher (RasT) Program sponsored by the University of Florida.

LP Training

Strong Mentoring

Residents are paired with multiple mentors throughout residency to provide guidance in career and research planning. From the beginning of residency, intern are paired with a faculty career mentor in their area of interest as well as a senior resident to help with orientation to life as a neurology resident. Each resident also has a dedicated research mentor.

Graduation

Variety of Conferences

Residents participate in daily topical didactics presented by faculty, as well as interactive case-based learning during daily Morning Report. There are many other departmental and subspecialty conferences that residents are welcome to attend as time and interest permit.

Botoz

Resident Wellness

Residents participate in a longitudinal wellness curriculum focused on addressing both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of burnout, including the opportunity for burnout self-assessment and a monthly lecture series (addressing topics such as mindfulness, nutrition, organization, gratitude, forgiveness, exercise, and work-life balance) that aims to provide a toolkit for individual resilience and personal wellness.

kickball

Testimonials

We asked our residents: what do you like most about the UF Neurology program? “I chose the University of Florida because I felt very comfortable during my interview while meeting such distinguished faculty. The collegiate atmosphere of Gainesville is unlike any other. Growing up in Florida and knowing the impact the Shands hospital system has on my community made it an easy choice.” – Ziyad Aboudan, PGY3
 

Friendsgiving 2022

Life in Gainesville

Gainesville is a true “University City”. It has been consistently ranked as one of Florida’s most livable cities, mainly because of its beautiful landscape and urban “forest.” The climate allows year-round outdoor activities. Easy access to the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic coast, and many lakes and fresh water springs in the area makes Gainesville a perfect home for water sports enthusiasts.

pool

State-of-the-art facilities

Neuromedicine Hospital

The UF Health Neuromedicine tower, which opened in 2017, is designed for the perfect interdisciplinary patient experience and brings together our inpatients (including 48 dedicated neurointensive care beds and 48 neuromedicine beds), outpatients, and state-of-the-art neuromedicine ancillary testing. It also houses the neurology resident didactics and Morning Report, resident sleep rooms, a well-stocked housestaff lounge, and spacious inpatient team workrooms.

Neuro Hosptial

Norman Fixel Institute

The Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, which brings together clinicians and researchers for diverse neurological diseases in a groundbreaking outpatient interdisciplinary workspace, opened in 2019.

Fixel Institute