Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery Fellowship

Overview

The University of Colorado Fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery is designed to train board-eligible neurosurgeons to establish independently a successful program in this subspecialty, either in academic or nonacademic settings. The emphasis is on stereotactic surgery for movement disorders and neuropsychiatric conditions and surgery for epilepsy.

The fellow will achieve competence in the following specific areas:

• Use of MRI for image-based target localization for surgery of the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus internus, ventral capsule/ventral striatum, pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), as well as epilepsy-generating targets such as the hippocampus.
• Use of microelectrode recording techniques for physiological localization in the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus internus, ventral capsule/ventral striatum, and PPN.
• Intraoperative testing of DBS electrodes prior to internalization of the electrodes
• Placement of DBS hardware and management of hardware-related complications
• Indications for surgery, and preoperative neurologic evaluation, in patients with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, tremor, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), intractable headache disorders (migraine or cluster headache), and epilepsy.
• Programming of DBS devices
• Pathophysiology of the basal ganglia in movement disorders, and theoretical basis for lesioning and chronic electrical stimulation in movement disorders and epilepsy.
• Become familiar with the major publications in the field of movement disorders, OCD, and epilepsy surgery
• The fellow will understand basic elements of clinical trials design. Additional learning objectives in pain, and radiosurgery may be added as desired.
• Become acquainted with novel technologies in the field.

Our goal is to ensure that each fellow has the necessary skills and resources to launch a successful career in academic neurosurgery, with a focus on Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery. To ensure attainment of this goal, mentorship will be provided to assist the fellow in the following research-related activities:

• Identification and refinement of meaningful and answerable research questions, and review of relevant literature
• Identification of appropriate collaborators
• Study design, including statistical analysis
• IRB approval process for human subjects research
• Data collection and analysis
• Abstract preparation and submission
• Research and clinical presentations at national and international forums
• Manuscript preparation, submission, and publication

Additionally, fellows will have full access to research resources within the Department of Neurosurgery, including the Departmental Editor, Clinical Trials Coordinator, Grants and Contracts Coordinator, Database Developer, and Biostatistician, as needed. Fellows will be provided with a computer workstation in the Department, for research and manuscript preparation and submission, as well as access to the Neuromodulation Subject Research Database.​