As a fellow, you will see patients in the Behavioral Neurology Clinic on a regular basis. You will see patients with a variety of symptoms in the setting of common and uncommon neurobehavioral disorders.

You will develop proficiency in the following areas:

• Administer a mental status examination and interpret the results
• Expand evaluations in areas such as attention/concentration, language, praxis, visuospatial functioning, and reasoning/problem-solving
• Discuss the indications for and interpretation of neuropsychological testing
• Relate neurobehavioral deficits to anatomical areas
• Discuss the diagnostic approach to evaluating patients with acute encephalopathy/delirium, subacute encephalopathy, chronic progressive encephalopathy/dementia, and distinct neurobehavioral syndromes (e.g., transient global amnesia, limbic encephalitis)
• Discuss epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology/pathophysiology, clinical features, radiologic features, and pathologic hallmarks of the degenerative and prion dementias.

You will also develop proficiency in evaluating and managing patients with a variety of conditions, such as:

• Degenerative disorders/dementia - mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
  • Alzheimer's disease (AD)
  • Parkinson's disease with dementia (PD+Dem)
  • Lewy body dementia/Lewy body disease/dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)
  • Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)/Pick's disease
  • Primary progressive aphasia (PPA)
  • Corticobasal degeneration (CBD)
  • Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
  • Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA)/Progressive cortical visual dysfunction syndrome (PCVDS)
  • Huntington's disease (HD)
• Vascular dementia - Dementia with cerebrovascular disease (DCVD)/vascular dementia (VaD)
  • Binswanger's disease
  • Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL)
• Prion disorders
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
  • Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS)
• Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH)
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Autoimmune/inflammatory encephalopathies
  • Encephalopathy associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis ("Hashimoto's Encephalopathy")
  • Sjorgren's-associated encephalopathy
  • Nonvasculitic autoimmune inflammatory meningoencephalopathy (NAIM)
• Cognitive impairment/behavioral changes associated with brain tumors, infacts, meningitis, encephalitis, and demyelinating disorders

Didactic training

Didactic training is an integral part of Mayo Clinic's Behavioral Neurology Fellowship Program. You will participate in:

• Neurology Grand Rounds. Neurology Grand Rounds take place each Monday.
• Behavioral Neurology Course. A multidisciplinary Behavioral Neurology Course takes place one afternoon per week from November to March every other year. All lectures are captured on video, which can be viewed at any time throughout the training program.

Research training

The Neurology staff participates in research programs, most of which are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). You will see many research patients with unique and often complex neurobehavioral disorders, as well as those who are "aging successfully."

You will be encouraged to participate in clinical trials, protocol development, grant writing, and other research-related activities. Numerous presentations at national and international conferences have been developed from this exposure.

Off-site rotations

You may elect to rotate at one of Mayo Clinic's campuses in Rochester, Minnesota, or Jacksonville, Florida, during this fellowship. At either location you can participate in clinical research studies and interact with the basic researchers in many areas including neuropathology, neurogenetics, amyloid metabolism, and neurotransmitters.

Mayo Clinic funds the authorized additional costs of travel, housing, automobile rental, and licensure fees.

Teaching opportunities

You will have the opportunity to participate in the Neurology Residency core lectures and Behavioral Neurology Conference, as well as provide instruction to medical students and residents rotating in behavioral neurology.

Evaluation

To ensure acquisition of adequate knowledge and development of appropriate technical skills, your performance is monitored carefully during the course of your behavioral neurology training at Mayo Clinic. Formal evaluation by supervising faculty members occurs quarterly. Each trainee is assigned a faculty adviser for the purpose of providing feedback. In addition, you regularly will evaluate rotations and faculty to ensure education needs are met and to provide feedback to the faculty to guide their efforts to improve the program. 

Career development

You will meet periodically with your faculty adviser and the program director to discuss individual goals. Mayo Clinic recruits many of its staff physicians from its own training programs. Thus, after completion of the Behavioral Neurology Fellowship, career opportunities may be available at one of Mayo Clinic's practice sites.