Rush University Medical Center is one of the nation's leading academic medical centers, with 600 residents and fellows each year in 22 clinical departments.

Rush neurosurgery has assembled a team of specialists in all areas of neurosurgery to maximize surgical expertise and residency training opportunities. We have made a commitment to always having state-of-the-art technology and to further develop that technology. We are dedicated to research that will fast-track the transfer of intellectual and technological advances from the laboratory to the bedside.

In short, we have created a program that offers neurosurgical residents an unparalleled opportunity to train with expert specialists in an educational setting that provides rich learning opportunities, maximum OR experience, time and support for research activities, and the opportunity to develop as an individual as well as a neurosurgeon.

Rush's central location brings a patient population representative of the city, surrounding suburbs and multiple surrounding states to our door steps.

Ours is a five-year program: post-graduate years (PGY) 2-6. Clinical experience in virtually all areas of neurosurgery are obtained primarily through rotations at Rush. Trauma neurosurgical exposure is obtained at Lutheran General Hospital during a dedicated six-month rotation.

We feel that the evolution of neurological surgery must prompt a shift in emphasis in training. As general surgery experience becomes less important and diagnostic neurology less germane, imaging interpretation and physiologic fusion have become more integral to the development of clinical skills. The changes in the sociology of medicine have forced neurological surgeons to become more aware and responsive to costs and outcomes. Expertise in outpatient procedures, an emphasis on diagnosis and treatment planning, and a need to understand and facilitate outpatient communication further shift the paradigm.

In response, even more education, knowledge, and judgment must be gained in a compacted time frame. Therefore, we have advanced our residency training program away from the classical service structure to a more truly academic one. By utilizing Physician Assistant’s and Nurse Practitioner’s to perform routine tasks and service functions, our residents have more time for academic pursuits, clinic participation and the operating room. Consequently, our residents spend more time in the OR and in academic pursuits.

Our clinical program is designed to introduce the resident to ever greater levels of independence in surgical thought and action. In the junior years, basic principles of management, including intensive neuromedical care and surgical applications are emphasized. As experience is gained and a knowledge base established, increasing independence is earned.

As an intermediate level clinical resident, responsibility for developing and implementing the treatment plan is realized. Exposure to more intensive super-specialization is offered to help residents appreciate and assimilate the nuances of tighter focus and the advantages of higher technology.

At the chief level, the cumulative experience of the previous years is expressed in a mature paradigm of neurosurgical independence within a faculty support system. At this point, the trainee should be adequately prepared to function at the highest level of general neurosurgical care. Options for specialization through additional fellowship training can be exercised.

The Rush Neurosciences Institute brings together neurologists, neurosurgeons, basic scientists and other medical professionals to conduct research and improve the care of individuals with neurological disease. The Institute annually attracts more than $15 million in external funding to support more than 75 research projects.

Standing left to right: Lorenzo Munoz, MD, Tibor Boco, MD (PGY2), Sepehr Sani, MD (PGY5), Bradley Bagan, MD (PGY3), Nimesh Patel, MD (PGY3), Michael Musacchio, Jr, MD (PGY4), Larry Shannon, MD (PGY2), Jeffrey Lobel, MD (PGY6), Demetrius Lopes, MD. Sitting left to right: Kelvin A. Von Roenn, MD (Program Director), Richard W. Byrne, MD (Acting Chairman), Juan Jimenez, MD (Graduating Resident), Robert Dempsey, MD (Visiting Professor), Leonard Cerullo, MD, and Harel Deutsch, MD.