The Pediatric Epilepsy fellowship training program is a two-year program which provides intensive training in pediatric electroencephalography, evaluation of potential candidates for epilepsy surgery, and the clinical treatment of refractory pediatric epilepsy. An option for a one-year track may be available, depending on the application cycle.
The clinical training includes direct patient care in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in children with a focus on pharmacological, surgical and diet therapy management. The UCLA Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program is a well-established tertiary referral center for children with intractable epilepsy, with many patients referred from the across the United States and abroad. The neurophysiology training is thorough and well rounded, including video-EEG telemetry monitoring, routine EEG studies, and intraoperative electrocorticography. We have a very active and growing intensive care unit EEG monitoring program involving both the Pediatric ICU and Neonatal ICU. Although the majority of time is spent on pediatric cases, there is also exposure to adult EEG studies. Exposure to invasive monitoring with depth and subdural electrodes, EEG mapping, automated EEG analysis, intraoperative monitoring, neuromodulatory therapies (VNS, RNS, DBS), polysomnography, MEG, advanced neuroimaging and evoked potentials is also available.
Fellows are expected to participate in one or more clinical or basic research programs being carried out within the division, elsewhere in the Pediatric or Neurology departments or within the Brain Injury Research Center. Fellows are also expected to submit at least one publication. Dedicated research time is built into both the first and second year of the training program.
Fellows who complete our two-year program will be eligible to take the board certification exams in Clinical Neurophysiology from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) and Epilepsy Monitoring from the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology (ABCN), as well as the ABPN Epilepsy board certification. ?Fellows who complete our one-year program will be eligible for the ABPN Epilepsy board certification.
Applicants must have completed a residency in child or adult neurology and be eligible for a license to practice medicine in the state of California. Because the fellowship is designed for special training in advanced epilepsy and EEG, it is preferred that the applicant already be familiar with routine EEG interpretation.
To apply for a position, please send a CV, a personal statement describing your professional interests and plans, and three reference letters. One letter should be from your residency program director and at least one of the other two letters should be from a clinical neurophysiologist or epileptologist. All documents are best submitted by email to Lekha M. Rao, MD at lrao@mednet.ucla.edu . Selected applicants will be invited to visit to see the program and meet with the faculty for interviews.
