Message from the Program Director

We choose five outstanding residents per year and make each an integral part of our care team.

As you learn best practices from neurological and multidisciplinary experts, you will care for diverse patients with an array of neurological conditions and diseases, including movement disorders, memory disorders, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

We will build your neurological expertise from year one, which culminates with an innovative “boot camp” orientation experience. During each week of this four-week module, you will gain exposure to a different aspect of neurological care: general neurology, stroke care, your initial night shifts in a hospital with a senior neurology resident, and high yield didactic sessions on neurological emergencies.

You also will train for the future, learning how to access and assimilate information to grow continuously as a physician. And you will contribute to the knowledge base in our constantly evolving field.

Our residency is one of a few in the nation that offer a structured, mentored research experience. You will have time and support to explore an issue that intrigues you, guided by a nationally or internationally recognized physician-scientist whose work matches your interests. Your research skills will advance your career as well as your ability to care for patients.

You also will develop your own ideas for improving health care through a quality improvement initiative.

Our top-notch faculty-physicians take great pride in helping our trainees grow into outstanding clinicians and scientists.

After all, your success is ours, too.

Our faculty has been recognized for excellence in teaching, as have several of our trainees, who teach less experienced residents and medical students.

Yet, just as we expect you to consider how you can improve care for your patients, we strive to improve how we train and develop neurological specialists.

That’s one reason I joined other medical school faculty members to complete the Jacobs Educator Excellence Program, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Physicians in London. My colleagues and I learned and tested evidence-based teaching models and shared ways to engage our students in effective medical education experiences.

Our community training sites prepare you to care for a wide variety of patients in virtually any care setting.

You will train in a certified comprehensive stroke center, an urban general medical center, a world-class comprehensive cancer center, a regional hospital serving veterans, a nationally recognized children’s hospital and a successful private outpatient practice.

Among our school’s world-class educational facilities are the Behling Human Simulation Center and Brain Museum.

You also will train in cutting-edge regional centers and clinics focused on epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, memory disorders and multiple sclerosis.

In the process, you will determine what type of practice or subspecialty you want to pursue as well as the kind of environment that is the best fit for you.

Our robust educational curriculum guided by diverse faculty from multiple subspecialties prepares you well for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology exam.

We also have a dedicated curriculum on medical education so that residents are better equipped to teach other trainees and students.

Our residents have gone on to excel as practicing neurologists, expert subspecialists, researchers and teachers.

From the start, our residents contribute to patient care in a geographic area with a high demand for neurological expertise.

The leading cause of death among Erie County residents (including Buffalonians) is from heart disease — a major risk factor for stroke.

The area also has one of the highest prevalence rates of multiple sclerosis in the country.

Because Buffalo has a population of people from all over the world, you will have the opportunity to care for a diverse set of patients from across the socioeconomic spectrum.

Our faculty have lived and practiced across the United States and in many corners of the world, and have trained at prestigious medical institutions, including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Cleveland Clinic.

We have chosen to teach, practice medicine, conduct research and make our homes in a unique urban area with a small-town charm.

An economic renaissance is underway in our historic city, and you can be part of it. The Jacob School's building anchors an emerging, world-class medical campus near the heart of downtown Buffalo.

I believe our program offers the scope of experience, scientific background and teaching and learning environment that will set you on a path to a rewarding career in one of the most fascinating specialties in medicine.

Explore this website to learn more about our adult neurology residency, and let me know how I can help you start planning your future as an accomplished neurologist.

Best regards,

Melissa L. Rayhill, MD
Program Director