|
The Dartmouth Neurosurgical Residency Program has been an approved training program since its inception in 1947 by Dr. Henry Heyl, later the editor of the Journal of Neurosurgery. With a mission to provide the highest level of academic and clinical teaching, the program has proudly graduated neurosurgeons who have been successful across a wide range of endeavors. Sited at Dartmouth Medical School, the nation's fourth oldest, and the new campus of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the academic flagship of a progressive regional health care system, the program enjoys state-of-the-art facilities within the enviable setting of a New England university community. The six-year curriculum, following a general surgery internship, includes 48 months of clinical neurosurgery, 12 months of related neuroscience disciplines including neurology, neuroradiology, and critical care, and 12 months of laboratory experience. One resident is admitted per year. Instruction follows graduated progression through increasing levels of technical proficiency, intellectual growth, and clinical responsibility, culminating in twelve months as chief resident. By the final year of training, the resident has acquired a broad education, is capable of teaching medical students and junior residents, and is able to operate with confidence across the full range of neurosurgical disorders. |
For More Information
DHMC Related Departments |
In addition to covering the full breadth of neurosurgery, the subspecialty interests of the full-time faculty provide in-depth experiences in cerebrovascular, tumor, pediatric, pituitary, spine, critical care, epilepsy and stereotaxy. Integrated collaborations with the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, the Dartmouth Spine Center, the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Dartmouth College, and the Biomedical Engineering Program of the Thayer School of Engineering are a few examples of the highly successful multidisciplinary programs that characterize the clinical and research activities.
Laboratory interests include traumatic brain injury and plasticity, biodegradable polymer implants to promote axonal regeneration, single-unit microelectrode recording in animal models of Parkinson’s Disease and epilepsy, finite element brain modeling, cytoprotective agents in a cerebral ischemia model, computer-assisted surgery (including frameless stereotaxy and robotics), and outcomes research, in collaboration with Dartmouth’s internationally recognized Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences (C.E.C.S.). In recent years, two neurosurgery residents in their independent research year have earned a masters degree from the C.E.C.S. Program. The neurosurgical laboratory is directed by Jack Hoopes, DVM, PhD, whose own neuropathology and radiation biology background complements that of the clinical faculty.
Residents in this program are held to the highest professional standards and are respectfully treated as colleagues. A half day a week is reserved for teaching conferences, including a discussion of contemporary literature, interesting case presentation, neuroradiology and neuropathology, and combined Neurology-Neurosurgery Grand Rounds. Frequent visiting professors are a regular part of the teaching program. The individual needs of the resident are recognized and accommodated to the fullest extent possible.
DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK MEDICAL CENTER
The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) is a 429-bed Level 1 trauma center which serves New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of Massachusetts, Maine, and New York. Optimally designed for patient care and original construction completed in 1991, DHMC is now nearing the end of a major expansion project. All of the clinical Neurosurgical rotations are spent at DHMC. The majority of neurosurgical patients are cared for on the fifth floor where there is also a Neurosurgical Step Down Unit. Patients who are critically ill are cared for in a combined Medical and Surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in conjunction with a multidisciplinary team of intensivists.
