CAST Neurocritical Care Fellowship
Welcome to LSUHSC-NO Neurocritical Care!
LSUHSC-NO Department of Neurosurgery is proud to host a Committee of Advanced Subspecialist Training-accredited fellowship in NCC. At LSUHSC-NO, NCC is dedicated to comprehensive and compassionate care for the sickest patients with diseases of the nervous system. Our neurointensivists have backgrounds in Neurology and Neurosurgery as well as subspecialties in Stroke, Neuroendovascular Surgery, and Neurotrauma. We lead an NCC team composed of advanced practice providers, Neurology and Neurosurgery residents, and critical care nurses to provide 24/7/365 care to our patients.
We work in concert with LCMC Neuroscience to manage a brand new 12-bed Neurocritical Care Unit at WJMC in addition to a consult service at UMCNO. WJMC is our Comprehensive Stroke Center with a large Vascular Neurosurgery practice that manages up to 120 aneurysms yearly. UMCNO is the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center that serves over 2000 trauma patients yearly, including more than 100 cases of severe TBI, 250 cases of mild TBI, and 60 cases of spinal cord injury. Together, LSUHSC-NO and LCMC offer the only CAST-accredited fellowship in NCC for New Orleans and are proud to continue the Spirit of Charity!
As a fellow you will learn neurosurgical, neurological, and medical aspects of NCC at both sites. You will learn to lead in the NCU as well as rotate in the MICU and TICU. Among other advanced neuroimaging, you will interpret angiography, TCD, and EEG. You will become skilled in advanced life support, vascular access, airway and ventilator management, ventricular and lumbar CSF diversion, and critical care ultrasonography. You will learn strategies for targeted temperature management. You will implement multimodal management of acute brain injury with ICP and PbO2 as well as SjvO2, TCD, and qEEG to optimize cerebral blood flow and metabolism. Lastly, you will develop clinical research founded on a prospective database populated by SQL reports from Epic EHR.
The fellowship has two tracks: a 1-year-rotation for Neurosurgery PGY5 or greater fellows or a 2-year-rotation for non-Neurosurgery fellows. In both cases the training goals will be the same. We host 1 fellow yearly and have the flexibility to adapt our fellowship to your goals and background. The fellowship will prepare you to apply for Recognition of Focused Practice in NCC from the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
Application for a fellowship from July 2023-June 2024 is open! Each application is evaluated as soon as received. Please learn more about our fellowship from our program description and sample schedule. To be eligible for the CAST Neurocritical Care Fellowship, you must currently be enrolled and/or completed an ACGME accredited program.
To apply send the following information to Brooke Baltz at bbaltz@lsuhsc.edu:
- Cover letter
- Current Curriculum Vitae
- USMLE transcripts/score report
- Three letters of recommendation
Sincerely,
Alan Velander, MD
Neurocritical Care Fellowship Director
LCMC Health Neuroscience Institute
Assistant Professor
Departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology
LSUHSC
504-568-6120
avelan@lsuhsc.edu