A Letter from the Chief Residents
Dear Prospective Candidates,
As chief residents, we would like to sincerely welcome you to the Department of Neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Thank you for visiting this website and showing an interest in our program. We would like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about ourselves and to introduce you to our program from a resident's perspective.
Bill is originally from Oconto, WI (30 miles north of Green Bay). He attended the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for undergrad and the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine for medical school. Upon graduation he will be doing a 1 year Neurophysiology fellowship at MCW. He then plans to practice general neurology in a community hospital setting. In his free time Bill enjoys spending time with girlfriend Emily, friends, family, and last but not least their 3 dogs. He also enjoys reading, running, and watching the greatest sports team in the history of sports (the Green Bay Packers).
Ika is originally from Indonesia. She attended Sun Yat Sen University of Medical Science. Upon graduation she will be doing an Epilepsy Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic. She enjoys reading, dancing and traveling.
Every year hundreds of prospective candidates go through the neurology match. While some have already chosen their career goals the vast majority use their experience during residency to help them decide what fellowship training or practice environment to pursue. This is where a well rounded program like ours can provide a lot for an industrious future resident.
We have an exceptionally strong representation of most of the neurological subspecialties with several faculty members who are esteemed and well recognized specialists in their field. The subspecialties represented in our program include Stroke, Neurointensive Care, Interventional Neurology (Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology), Neuro-Oncology, Neuro-Ophthalmology, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Neuromuscular, Sleep, Epilepsy, Headache, Spine Care and Movement Disorders. We have a dedicated ALS clinic, Neurosarcoid clinic, MDA clinic, a Comprehensive Epilepsy program, and a comprehensive Parkinson's and Movement Disorders program, including DBS Surgery. We work closely with our Neuropsychology Department and our colleagues in the Neurosurgery Department. Among our assets are, a busy Epilepsy Monitoring Unit with six beds, a twelve bed Neuro ICU which is primarily managed by Neurointensivists, Neuroangiography suites that are exclusive to our Neurology based interventionalists, Neurophysiology lab with the Autonomic laboratory, our VA general and specialty neurology clinics as well as our Froedtert consult services. We also have a strong pediatric neurology team at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin which serves as the tertiary referral for most of Wisconsin and northern Illinois and during our pediatric neurology rotation we are exposed to nationally renowned epileptologists and Pediatric neurologists.
One of the unique features of our program is the fact that we are one of only a few programs in the country that offer combined Medicine-Neurology positions and traditionally our med-neuro graduates have been highly successful and have gone on to do fellowships in interventional neurology, neuro-oncology and neuro intensive care to name a few. Another unique feature is our weekly Neurology Resident Continuity Clinic that starts during the PGY 1 year and allows exposure to outpatient neurology starting in internship itself as well as our VA continuity clinic in our PGY 4 year that gives us an opportunity to serve our veterans. The resident continuity clinic at Froedtert focuses on a different subspecialty each week so that our patients have access to experts in different subspecialties, but still have continuity of care with the same resident.
Our program directors Jennifer Connelly, MD, and Katie Spangler, MD, did their residency training here at MCW before pursuing fellowships in Neuro-oncology and Movement Disorders, respectively.
We cannot forget to mention the wonderful group of 2012 graduating residents who are from different countries and several different parts of the nation and yet work together seamlessly as a cohesive unit. Time and again current and former residents have mentioned resident camaraderie as one of the main reasons for choosing our program. The graduating class this year has shown diverse interests with Kaiz going into combined Neuro Interventional and Stroke fellowship at our program, Khaled going into Critical Care Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Pritish will be pursuing a Neurophysiology fellowship at Vanderbilt University, Sachin will be pursuing a private practice position in Minnesota, and Asima is pursuing a Neurophysiology fellowship. Over the last few years our prior graduates have done everything from going into private practice, staying to do fellowships in our program and continuing in academic neurology as well as moving to do fellowships in other prestigious and competitive programs such as Washington University, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo and Columbia to name a few.
Last but not the least, Milwaukee is a wonderful city, known for its ethnic communities, amazing waterfront, innumerable summer activities and for its sports teams. You are never too far from a Bucks (basketball), Brewers (baseball) or Packers (football) fan or from tailgating at Miller Park! We have many wonderful festivals along the lakefront of Lake Michigan, among the most famous being the Summerfest which is the largest outdoor music festival in the world and has seen the likes of Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Keith Urban, Kenney Chesney, Metallica and Sting. Milwaukee has the resources of a big city and yet the warmth of a small town. You can easily live in a vibrant downtown neighborhood or in a cozy suburban community or even the countryside and still be within a short commute to work.
We hope by learning about us and our residency program you will consider us as your training location. We look forward to meeting you at your interview. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either of us.
Sincerely,
Ika Noviawaty and William Bake