Thanks.

Just started med school at a small program in the midwest, with no residency program, but a reasonably busy NS department in the hospital network. From what I understand, they are primarily un-academic (very little in the way of research going on), but do have some device/instrumentation development going on. I’ve contacted a NS prior graduate of my school, and am working through the red tape to begin shadowing him long term.

I did some research last summer regarding medulloblastoma/PNETs with a local PI who is not connected to NS in any way. The project was very young when I was on it, so it was a lot of very basic background work, assay verification, etc. I’m thinking that if the project doesn’t mature over this year, I may not return to it next summer. We do have a reasonably strong academic research department associated with the graduate school, but nothing directly linked to the NS departments at our hospitals (that I’m aware of yet). I’m unsure how neuroscience research is weighed against NS specific research when you’re out on the trail.

My question is, what can I do in a small, community-based, non-academic environment to make up for what I’ll lose in research opportunities, etc. I assume I could do some case studies with the groups, perhaps some retrospective data analysis, etc. I feel my experience could be potentially limited just due to geography, but I also think that if I’m smart in my approach I can get around all of that.

Thanks for any advice.

This may seem like a silly question, but how important are undergraduate requirements (for medical school) with respect to your everyday practice in neurosurgery? Is it necessary that you remember everything you learned in undergrad plus medical school in order be considered a competent neurosurgeon? I only ask because I’m not sure if I can remember every single thing I’ve learned in undergrad and in medical school. I mean...how often are you guys thinking about something like DNA transcription when you’re exposing the brain/spinal cord?

Thanks!

I’m a Canadian MS3 wanting to go into Neurosurgery and I’m looking at working in the US when finished. I’m trying to figure out if I should go through the arduous process of applying as a non-US graduate to the States or if I should stay in Canada and migrate south afterwards. I understand that, at this point anyway, Canadian-trained Neurosurgeons are not board eligible. My question is what the implications of this will be? Does not being board eligible/certified have an impact on jobs? Malpractice insurance and premiums? Salary? Any insight would be greatly appreciated as I am having difficulty finding the answer to this question elsewhere, and with game time coming up fast…

Thanks!