Vascular Neurology Fellowship

 The University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Center with its 6 member strong stroke team is offering 2 state of the art ACGME approved vascular neurology fellowships starting July 2009. Fellows receive formal training in acute stroke treatment, stroke prevention, ultrasonography, cardiac imaging, intensive care stroke management, multimodality stroke imaging and observational interventional neuroradiology. We have strong structured paradigms of continuum of care starting from acute

Dr. Rajiv Padmanabhan

imaging to IV, IA treatments, acute stroke research protocols and aftercare. There is considerable emphasis on primary and secondary prevention. Fellows participate in structured trials, have the opportunity to develop/participate in clinical trials, learn animal modeling in stroke. Presentations and publications are encouraged.

The Stroke Prevention Clinic was started 6 years ago as an extension of the continuum of post stroke care and for primary stroke prevention. The focus is on identification and aggressive management of preventable risk factors which are closely monitored on a 3-6 month recurrent basis. Stroke prevention education is another important focus of the clinic. Based on our aggressive preventive approach, we have seen a drop in recurrent stroke rates below 2% which is much lower than the national reported rates. The data has led to several presentations and publications and our presentation at the 5th World Stroke Congress held in Vancouver, 2004 was awarded the best presentation of the congress.

We received the designation of a primary stroke center in 2004. During the subsequent 2 years, through a multidisciplinary approach, we developed a state of the art infrastructure and stroke team.
Some of the important steps were as follows
1. Linking the Stroke team alert to neuroradiology, interventional neuroradiology, laboratory and CT scan to ensure timely early intervention
2. An automated CT and MRI based approach /to identify patients less likely to respond to intravenous thrombolysis and therefore can receive early intervention therapy
3. Dedicated neurointensive unit/stroke step down unit managed by 3 neurointensevists.
4. Availability of a neurointerventionalist 24/7
5. Strong focus on stroke prevention and education
During the first 2 years we had the honor of receiving the silver award for best preventive care and early intervention through the Get With The Guidelines American Heart Association Program. As we continue to evolve, our focus remains on rapid response and timely management, assessed and monitored by several subcommittees. .
Interested neurology residents should contact UMMMC's Stroke Program Director, Majaz Moonis, M.D. at (508) 856-8572 or MoonisM@ummhc.org.
UMass Memorial Stroke Center , Stroke Silver Service Award , Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital