I am a movement disorder fellow half way through subspecialty training. I
started out as a military neurology resident, became board certified, and then
spent four years as a general neurologist attending. I did a combination of
clinic/inpatient, teaching and research. I was a neurology program director for
a year prior to finishing my military commitment and starting my fellowship.
My current work schedule is very interesting. Two mornings a week I spend
several hours evaluating patients with movement disorders in a rehabilitation
hospital. Three full days a week I see patients in an outpatient clinic academic
tertiary care center. One day a week I see patients in a outpatient clinic
outside of the city. I also have a research day. In between those activities I
see movement disorder patients on the wards, provide lectures to medical
students and residents, and cover calls from the patients.
I think that finding a position where you can combine the clinical
experience, teaching, and some research is ideal, at least for me. I am a full
time neurologist and the mother of two children under five years of age. It is
challenging trying to be a superwoman. It is essential to have good reliable
child care and a supportive family. You can have it all . . . in moderation.
¯Anna D. Hohler, MD
Movement Disorders
- I am a movement disorders specialist with a research interest and board
certification in sleep medicine. I work in an academic institution
participating in clinical care, clinical research and education.
- I see movement disorders patients three days a week and spend the other
two either doing educational projects or clinical research. I enjoy my work
and the travel it entails. I travel to participate in meetings and to
present in educational programs. I particularly enjoy trying to make the
science and the clinical flow into each other and to communicate this to
others at all levels of training from patients through my fellow
subspecialists
- I have had the opportunity to participate in a variety of programs and
projects. I never have one week that is exactly like another. I have met
many interesting people and have traveled to many areas of the world.
Although I did not realize it when I first decided to go into my
subspecialty, this is an aspect of my career that I find particularly
enjoyable. My patient population is varied but interesting. Even with a
disorder such as Parkinson's disease, there are no two patients that are
exactly the same. I feel that the focus of my subspecialty area allows me to
provide the highest level of care to this particular group of patients.
¯Cynthia L. Comella, MD, FAAN
- I am a neurologist, specializing in multiple sclerosis, working in an
academic University setting. Specifically I am an associate professor of
neurology at SUNY University at Buffalo and the director of The Baird
Multiple Sclerosis Center for treatment and research as well as the director
of the new Pediatric MS Center of Excellence at The Jacobs Neurological
Institute, Buffalo, NY. I have chosen multiple sclerosis as my niche because
of my continuing interest in immunology and the related disorders affecting
the nervous system.
- I spend most of my time seeing primarily MS patients and supervising
fellows, residents and nurse practitioners in our MS clinic for three full
days a week. The rest of my time is usually spent in our research program,
working on the ongoing or new developing projects, as well as seeing study
patients (patients enrolled in different therapeutic trials). Weekly working
research meetings are necessary to provide continuous flow in the research
projects. We also have a basic science laboratory, and communication with
the lab staff must be maintained in a daily basis. Presentations for
fellows, residents, and other physicians are also a part of our busy
schedule.
- Taking care of patients with a chronic disease such as MS represents a
challenge because as their neurologist you often become their primary
physician being involved in almost all of their medical needs. Nevertheless,
this offers a great opportunity to engage in a very close and lifelong
journey with our patients. You become an integral part of their life and
you'll share successes as well as their down times. You will have a very big
responsibility because the patients are usually giving you their complete
trust and you have to deliver to meet their expectations.
- Over the last two decades many of the neurological diseases considered
once "diagnostic entities" with only symptomatic therapies became treatable
diseases. Similarly MS is now a treatable disease giving us as neurologists
great satisfaction to be able to positively interfere within the natural
disease process. However, we still do not have the cure, and a continuous
search for more efficient interventions is necessary. Improving the
research, especially by bringing "the lab to the bed" and vice versa, we
will be able to get closer to the cure for these chronic diseases and new
energetic physicians are necessary.
¯Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD
- I first became interested in infectious diseases while spending summers
during medical school in Panama and Mexico working on tropical infections.
This expanded when I joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
for two years in the PHS. After my neurology residency, I took a fellowship
in neuroinfectious diseases at Johns Hopkins to learn how to study CNS
viruses in animals.
- For 30 years I split my time working as a general neurologist in clinics
and wards with focus on CNS infections and conducting basic research in my
virology laboratory studying viral infections of the inner ear in hamsters,
Reye's syndrome in mice, and congenital CNS infections in humans. I now am
collaborating with another infectious disease internist to study both the
clinical and basic virology of West Nile virus in New Mexico.
- First, new CNS infections come along regularly and need neurologists to
understand them. Second, we need to know lots about the old CNS infections.
Third and important, is that there are few neurologists studying
neuroinfectious diseases. Internists and PhD scientists know the infectious
agent but not the CNS. We are really needed. Fourth, the field can take you
to very interesting countries to study the CNS infection in the field.
¯Larry E. Davis, MD, FAAN
I work both in the pharma industry and in a specialty practice where I can do
research in MS. It is a terrific combination crafted over a number of years . .
. it allows me time to do grant work from home, travel, and work on significant
health issues effecting our environment. I meet with physicians interested in
investigator-initiated research with Pfizer throughout the geography for which I
am responsible. Half-day per week, I also see patients. I travel two to three
days per week and can work from the home the other days. I have a great deal of
autonomy in this job that is fabulous. I would offer up to any medical student
or resident the idea that the world has many opportunities not necessarily the
norm or what might be expected while in training¯keep all of your options
open and also keep an open mind! I certainly had no idea that such a job was
even possible!
¯Margaret L. Frazer, MD
