Fall, Winter, and Spring Sessions. Four- or Eight-Week Session and as Arranged

Course Coordinator:
Mary Kay Floeter, MD, PhD

Course Description
Clinical investigators in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Intramural Research Program conduct research on the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of neurologic disorders. Patients are seen both in the outpatient and inpatient setting.

Students can choose a rotation within a research branch with a subspecialty focus. The research branches employ a wide variety of techniques including pharmacology, immunology, neurophysiology, molecular biology and genetics, neuroimaging [positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanning, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy], electroencephalography (EEG), evoked potentials, and electromyography.

Major clinical interests of the research branches are:

• Neurocardiology Sections: patient-oriented investigations into disorders of brain-regulation of cardiovascular system and central catecholamine systems.
• Neuroimmunology Branch: study of immunologic mechanisms, clinical correlates, and treatment of multiple sclerosis and neurovirologic disorders.
• Neurogenetics Unit: isolation and regulation of normal and mutant genes associated with human inherited disorders.
• Epilepsy Research Branch: medical and surgical management of epilepsy including studies of experimental antiepileptic drugs.
• Human Motor Control Section: neurophysiologic studies of normal movement and movement disorders using techniques such as PET scans, functional MRI, EEG analysis and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Selection of Applicants
This elective is designed primarily for students who have completed a basic neurology clerkship. It will not replace such a clerkship in the medical school curriculum. The elective affords an opportunity to gain an understanding of the techniques of clinical research, as well as experience in the evaluation and treatment of patients with neurologic disease. Students choosing this elective should identify an area of interest among those listed above. Clinical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is highly specialized so that students should not expect to see a wide range of neurologic diseases.

Staff

• Frank Anderson, MD
• Bibi Bielkova, MD
• Leonardo Cohen, MD
• David Goldstein, MD
• Kenneth Fischbeck MD
• Mary Kay Floeter, MD, PhD
• Mark Hallett, MD
• Henry McFarland, MD
• Susumu Sato, MD
• William Theodore, MD
• Eric Wassermann, MD