Child Neurology Residency Training Program

The child neurology portion of training is 3 years in length with 12 months spent in adult neurology training. Our program follows a schedule of 13 blocks rotating every 4 weeks. Pediatric inpatient, outpatient, and elective training occurs at CHLA. Adult neurology training is primarily accomplished through rotations at LAC+USC Medical Center and Keck Medical Center of USC; select rotation arrangement can be made with other prestigious institutions in the local area. Residents are provided 20 days of paid time off per year, with the ability to carry over to the following academic year if needed. CNY-2 and CNY-3 residents are provided additional time to attend annual meetings such as the Child Neurology Society meeting, with exception also made to support those CNY-1 residents presenting at a conference.

Annual Block Schedule

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Selective opportunities are available both within the neurology department, and with extra-departmental subspecialties.

• Neuro-ophthalmology
• Neuromuscular
• Neuroradiology
• Neurogenetics
• Neurocritical Care
• Epilepsy (EMU monitoring, epilepsy surgery)
• Acute inpatient rehabilitation
• Pathology
• Neurosurgery
• Neuro-psychology
• Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
• Pain management
• Palliative care
• Sleep medicine
• Neuro-immunology
• Senior teaching elective
• Electives at outside institutions are supported on a case-by-case basis

• Residents are given the opportunity to teach and assume administrative responsibilities
• Present lectures at the neuroscience conference
• Teach third- and fourth-year USC medical students, general pediatric residents, and child psychiatry fellows
• Administrative duties include preparation of the monthly on-call list by the senior child neurologist on service

Inpatient Service

Our inpatient team is composed of CHLA residents, child psychiatry fellows, adult neurology residents, medical students and nurse practitioners. The team is divided into a general neurology service and a neurocritical care service, each staffed by a separate attending physician. Residents spend time on each service during their inpatient blocks.

Outpatient Clinic

Residents rotate in the CHLA outpatient clinics to experience a variety of unique subspecialty clinic exposures, including epilepsy, movement disorders, neurocutaneous disorders and neuromuscular disorders. Residents also rotate through various multidisciplinary clinics including the brachial plexus clinic, epilepsy surgery clinic, ketogenic diet clinic, genetic epilepsy clinic and muscular dystrophy clinic. During elective blocks, residents can spend dedicated time in any of the subspecialty clinics.

Child neurology residents have their own continuity clinic one half day per week. Residents see hospital follow-up patients and new consults with a variety of general neurology concerns. They follow these patients longitudinally throughout the duration of their neurology training.

There are educational lectures scheduled throughout the week that cover various topics within child neurology. While rotating at LAC+USC Medical Center for adult neurology, residents attend didactic lectures offered through USC’s Adult Neurology Residency Program.

Example Week at CHLA

Lecture Descriptions

Scholarly Project

Child neurology residents will complete a scholarly project during their training. The goal of the project is to foster critical learning in medicine and neurology. Projects can be accomplished in various domains such as research, quality improvement, education and/or patient advocacy. Child neurology residents will work with a faculty mentor throughout the duration of their project. Each project will be completed prior to graduation in the PGY5/6 year.

Mellad Khoshnood

PGY-5
Academic Chief
 

Dana O'Rourke

PGY-5
Administrative Chief
 

Harshul Zaveri

PGY-5
Wellness Chief
 

Nikkee Amin

PGY-4
 

James Huynh

PGY-4
 

Saba Jafarpour

PGY-4
 

Brian Choi

PGY-3
 

Eric Ronne

PGY-3
 

Natasha Sosa

PGY-3

Shafali Spurling Jeste, MD
Chief, Division of Neurology
Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

Latanya Agurs, MD
Epilepsy

Nusrat Ahsan, MD
General Neurology and Neuroimmunology

Jay Desai, MD
General Neurology

Payal Gu, MD
General Neurology and Sleep Medicine

Eugenia Ho, MD, MPH
Fetal-Neonatal and Neurocritical Care Neurology

Deborah Holder, MD
Epilepsy

Quyen Luc, MD
Movement Disorder Neurology

Wendy Mitchell, MD
General Neurology

Deepti Nagesh, MD
Vascular and Neurocritical Care Neurology

Andrew Ng, MD
General Neurology

Leigh Ramos-Platt, MD
Neuromuscular Neurology

Tena Rosser, MD
Neurocutaneous and General Neurology

Kiarash Sadrieh, MD
General Neurology

Jonathan Santoro, MD
Neuroimmunology and Down Syndrome Neurology

Noelle Tiongson, MD
Neuromuscular Neurology

Michelle Van Hirtum-Das, MD
Epilepsy

Vijay Vishwanath, MD, PhD
General, Neurocutaneous, and Movement Disorders Neurology

Our past trainees have gone onto prestigious fellowships, academic general neurology, academic neuroscience, and private practice.

Recent graduates’ fellowship placements have included:

• Clinical Neurophysiology
  • University of Southern California
  • Children’s Hospital of Orange County
  • Miami Children’s Hospital
• Pediatric Epilepsy
  • Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
  • University of Southern California
  • Miami Children’s Hospital
• Neuromuscular Medicine
  • University of California Los Angeles
• Multiple Sclerosis / Neuroimmunology
  • University of California San Francisco
  • University of Southern California
• Movement Disorders
  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles / USC
• Headache Fellowship
  • University of Southern California
  • Stanford University

ACGME Accredited: Yes
*NRMP code: 1031185C0
Fellows per year: 3
Duration: 3 years
Postgraduate training required: 2 years General Pediatrics
U.S. Citizenship Required: no

Salary Minimums:
Post Graduate Year 3: $69,208
Post Graduate Year 4: $71,550
Post Graduate Year 5: $74,900
Post Graduate Year 6: $74,900

Benefits Include: Health and dental insurance, 14 days paid vacation + 6 protected sick days and generous educational/CME stipend, monthly meal stipend, and 401(k) matching up to 3%

* Applicants should apply to the Categorical Pediatric Neurology program via ERAS for consideration of the 5-year training program. Separate application to General Pediatrics is NOT required. An interview with the CHLA General Pediatrics program will be automatically granted to those selected for an interview with Child Neurology.