The UTMB-Austin Program began in the summer of 2007. Although still in its infancy, the program has been in development for 4 years. It began with the dream of forming a training program of excellence for neurology residents that would prepare them for private practice, research, or further education through fellowship training. Not being constrained by the usual institutional requirements, we have been able to specifically design education in a unique format. Approximately 80% of the resident training involves one to one education with rotating faculty. Each faculty is highly educated within their respective fields of interest. The resident’s clinical rotations will always be led by a clinician and not a bench researcher with minimal clinical acumen. During the first year rotations, residents will find themselves serving the indigent population and underserved in Travis County. By the second year, the residents will perform consults in the premier private tertiary hospital in Austin. Throughout their training, residents will have continuity clinics in a beautiful new facility adjacent to the Capitol building in downtown Austin. From the very first week residents will find themselves scheduling patients into their private clinic.
The hospitals and facilities in Austin are first rate. Brackenridge and Seton Hospitals were the first in the state of Texas to achieve JCAHO stroke center designation. These hospitals serve as the hub in a hub and spoke system for stroke referral. Presently, we offer acute therapies through a unique “drip and ship” program to 12 outlying hospitals. This includes 24 hour interventional call, a dedicated stroke team, 64 slice CT scanners with CT perfusion and CTA, as well as involvement in 5 NIH funded stroke studies. We have also begun a pilot program utilizing telemedicine to offer services to outlying hospitals. As a resident, you will carry a stroke pager and be part of the stroke team. This is quite different from institutions in which only faculty, research assistants, and stroke fellows respond. We have a state of the art epilepsy monitoring unit, a neuro-cognitive center, and faculty trained in neuro-critical care. We are developing a movement center with DBS, we have a spasticity program, and a sleep center. We are part of a neuroscience center of excellence, the “Austin Brain and Spine,” which was named only one of 38 such centers in the world. We participate with the University of Texas in a neuroscience forum that brings cutting edge researchers with clinicians to brainstorm around real-world problems we experience in our work.
We are excited to offer positions to qualified graduates for residency training in the beautiful confines of Austin, Texas. Presently, we are a small group of faculty and residents with one common goal: to develop excellent neurologists who will lead this fascinating discipline into the future.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the