What is a Movement Disorders fellowship?
A fellowship is additional training in a sub-specialized area of medicine or neurology. Trainees who have completed medical school and a residency are eligible to obtain a medical license, board certification, and to practice medicine. At this point in their career, some doctor opt to receive more training in a more focused area.
The Movement Disorders Center (MDC) trains doctors who have completed an accredited neurology residency and have a passion for helping the movement disorders community.
Why is sub-speciality training important?
Neurology is a very broad area of training and there are many different specialties within neurology. Our fellowship trains providers who want to focus their clinical practice and research on people with Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, ataxia, essential tremor, dystonia, and other movement disorders. Through this training, fellows explore these neurological diseases in more depth. Movement disorders neurologists can keep up with the newest therapies and research in a way that it is much more difficult for a general neurologist or a primary care physician.
The demand for neurologists far exceeds the supply and the demand for movement disorders neurologists is even greater. A recent Parkinson's Foundation survey found that the number of people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease annually increased from 60,000 to 90,000 and estimates that there will be 1,200,000 people living with Parkinson's disease by 2023.
How does fellowship training support me and my community?
The fellows who train at the University of Colorado Movement Disorders Center are a vital part of the Rocky Mountain movement disorders community.
They make our clinic more accessible.
During their first year of fellowship, our fellows gain an in-depth knowledge of movement disorders while seeing patients with our faculty. Their presence in these clinics allows our faculty to safely add patients to their schedules. Patients are seen by two medical doctors and receive a thorough examination during their visits.
To prepare them for their post-graduation careers, fellows have their own clinics starting the second semester of their first year and expanding in their second year of training. Faculty are always available to the fellows during these clinics for questions, concerns, or assistance. Through these clinics, fellows see around 15% of our patient population.
They provide education to the community.
As part of their graduation requirements, our fellows are required to give educational talks to patients and care partners. We work with local organizations to connect these fellows to local support groups or symposia. Fellows work with the faculty to create these presentations and make sure they have mastered the content.
Fellows are able to provide summaries of important research and new therapies. They contribute to our monthly newsletter to serve the movement disorders community in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.
Their research impacts Colorado.
Fellows must complete a research project during their fellowship to graduate as well. Past fellows have worked on medication alerts, palliative care needs, disparities in deep brain stimulation utilization, and exercises for movement disorders. Many tools and connections have been born from these projects and are still in use at the University of Colorado Movement Disorders Center today. Many of these projects have been funded through our pilot grant program and have resulted in larger funding and publications in scholarly journals.
They help grow our community.
Many of our fellows go on to practice in other underserved areas in the United States, but many of them stay in Colorado. Many of our own faculty have graduated from our Movement Disorders Fellowship program. Others have stayed in Colorado and have a unique relationship with our faculty and our center.
Why CU?
Dr. Trevor Hawkins serves as the Movement Disorders Fellowship Director. He has been dedicated to medical education since his own training and is committed to ensuring our fellows get high-quality training.
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU Anschutz) is the largest provider of comprehensive neurological and neurosurgical care in the Rocky Mountain Region. Our program is a major tertiary referral center for Colorado and many neighboring states. We serve over 7,000 patients through clinics at the University of Colorado Hospital, UCHealth Satellite clinics, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center.
The Movement Disorders Center has 13 faculty who work with our trainees closely throughout the year. Each team member has a unique area of clinical and research expertise within movement disorders.
Our center values a multi-disciplinary approach to patient care. The team works closely with various subspecialists in the clinic and in educating trainees. These clinics include Huntington's Disease Interdisciplinary Clinic, Advanced Therapies Clinic, Neuro-palliative Care Clinics, Neuro-ophthalmology Clinics, Neuro-behavior Clinics, Neuro-genetics clinics, and underserved populations.
Opportunities to Help
To provide the best education possible to our trainees, we limit their opportunities during their first year of fellowship. This allows the fellows to spend more time with each patient they see and allows our faculty to take the time they need to teach our fellows. We solicit grant funding from diverse sources to support the costs associated with this program. These funds fluctuate from year to year and are never guaranteed.
We accept up to two new fellows to our two-year program each year. We are training up to four fellows each year. The cost to train one fellow is roughly $120,000.
If you are interested in supporting our movement disorders fellowship, please contact our CU Foundation office - 303-541-1290.