Child Neurology Training and Curriculum

The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Child Neurology Residency Program is a 5-year categorical program. Residents complete 2 years of general pediatrics training and 3 years of child neurology training, which includes 1 year of adult neurology training. At the end of your 5 years of training, you are eligible to take specialty certification examinations for both the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, with special qualifications in Child Neurology. We offer a dedicated Research Track embedded within the 3 years of child neurology training as well.

Pediatric and adolescent age group inpatient, outpatient and elective training occurs at CHLA. Adult neurology training is primarily accomplished through rotations at LAC+USC Medical Center, Keck Hospital of USC and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. Select rotation arrangements 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. Child Neurology Year (CNY) 2 and CNY-3 residents are provided additional time to attend annual meetings such as the Child Neurology Society annual meeting, with exception made to support those CNY-1 residents presenting at a conference.

Residency Curriculum

Child neurology training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles includes robust inpatient and outpatient clinical experiences meeting all ACGME core training requirements. Our training opportunities are both within the Neurological Institute and within other subspecialties; electives at outside institutions are supported on a case-by-case basis.

Each of our academic years are comprised of thirteen 4-week blocks.

Click here to view chart of clinical track

Research track

Beyond a traditional clinically focused residency track, we offer a research track that affords dedicated, call-free, research time during the CNY-2 year. This research track is designed to create clinician-scientists. Residents in this track are expected to produce 1- 2 first author publications before graduation and apply for research and foundational grants, such as the Child Neurology Foundation’s PERF grants and the NIH career development (K) awards.

Research track application and selection:

• Limited to 1 position per class
• Application for the track occurs at the start of the PGY-2 year
• Those residents in the George Donnell Society for Pediatric Scientists during their pediatric years are pre-selected for this track

Click here to view chart of research track

Inpatient service

Our inpatient team is composed of CHLA neurology 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. CHLA residents spend time on each service during their inpatient blocks. The general neurology service acts as both a primary service and consult service. The neurocritical care service is a consult service only.

Resident call is at-home with post-call days off; for a typical 28-day rotation residents average 4-5 weeknights of call and 2 weekend calls. Our call pool is comprised of those on the inpatient service plus those on outpatient neurology rotations. We have a jeopardy system in place for any unexpected absences of a resident from the CHLA inpatient service, pulling from those in the call pool first and then those residents on elective. These jeopardy shifts are tracked by the chief resident and program director and must be repaid.

LAC+USC Medical Center inpatient service

The inpatient teams at LAC+USC Medical Center consist of a general service and a stroke service. This rotation is generally divided into 1 week on the general service, 1 week on the stroke service, 1 week of night float and 1 week as the ED consult resident.

The general service team includes:

• 1 neurology senior (PGY-3 or 4)
• 3 neurology juniors (PGY-2 or child neurology resident)
• Interns from psychiatry and ophthalmology

The stroke service team includes:

• 1 neurology senior (PGY-3 or 4)
• 1 neurology junior (PGY-2 or child neurology resident)
• 1 psychiatry and ophthalmology intern

Keck Hospital inpatient service

Our residents rotate as part of the neurology floor/consult team at Keck Hospital. This team consists of 2 neurology residents (ranging from PGY-2 to PGY-3) staffed by neurohospitalists. There are no overnight call expectations on this rotation.

Outpatient clinic

Residents rotate in the CHLA, LAC+USC Medical Center, Keck Hospital and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Hospital outpatient neurology clinics to experience a variety of unique subspecialty clinic exposures, including:

• Epilepsy (including concurrent ketogenic diet patients)
• Movement disorders
• Neurocutaneous disorders
• Neurodevelopmental disabilities
• Neuroimmunology
• Neuromuscular disorders
• Tic Disorders

Residents can also rotate through various multidisciplinary clinics, including:

• Autoimmune Epilepsy Clinic
• Brachial plexus clinic
• Genetic Epilepsy Clinic
• Genetic Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Clinic
• Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Clinic
• Rett Syndrome Clinic

Child neurology residents also have their own longitudinal continuity clinic, which occurs one half day per week. Residents see hospital follow-up patients, new-onset seizure patients and new consults with a variety of general neurology concerns.

Electives

During elective blocks, residents can spend dedicated time in any of the subspecialty clinics. Elective rotation options within the Neurological Institute include the outpatient clinic experiences above, as well as:

• Clinical Neurophysiology (including electroencephalography, electromyography, polysomnography and evoked potentials)
• Epilepsy (including the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit)
• Neurogenetics
• Neurocritical care
• Neurosurgery (including craniosynostosis and spina bifida clinics)
• Neuropsychology
• Senior teaching elective

Rotation opportunities at other departments within CHLA include:

• Acute inpatient rehabilitation
• Developmental and behavioral pediatrics
• Neuropathology
• Neuro-oncology
• Neuro-ophthalmology
• Pain management
• Palliative care
• Sleep medicine

Didactics

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

Mandatory lecture descriptions

• GME Core Lecture Series (weekly): Lecture series with various topics in compliance with ACGME requirements
• Child Neurology Grand Rounds (weekly): Presentations provided by guest speakers, senior residents, child psychiatry and neuroradiology
• Child and Adult Neurology Lecture Series (weekly): Various neurology topics are presented by CHLA and USC faculty throughout the academic year
• Journal Club (monthly): Resident-lead journal club session moderated by an attending, reviewing current literature and research
• Case Conference: Morning report style presentation of an interesting case by residents or attendings
• Board Review (Monthly): Resident-led sessions reviewing BoardVitals™ questions

Rotation-specific/encouraged lectures

• Neuro-Oncology Conference (weekly): Multidisciplinary meeting between neuro-oncology, neurosurgery, neuropathology, neuroradiology and neurology to discuss active brain tumor patients
• Epilepsy Fellows Lecture Series (weekly): Pediatric and adult epilepsy topics are presented by CHLA and USC epilepsy faculty throughout the academic year
• Brain Cutting (weekly): Review of gross brain specimens with pathology fellows and faculty
• EEG Review (weekly): Review of inpatient EEGs from the week with our epilepsy team

Scholarly Project

Child neurology residents are required to complete a scholarly project during their neurology training. The goal of the scholarly project is to foster critical learning in medicine and neurology. The project must be completed or in final stages prior to graduation from the residency.

Projects can be accomplished in various domains such as research, quality improvement, education or patient advocacy. Child neurology residents will work with a faculty mentor throughout the duration of their project. Meet our child neurology residency team.

How to Apply

Learn more about the application process on the child neurology residency application page.