Our new Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry (BNNP) Fellowship Program, in collaboration with the Department of Neurology, approaches brain-behavior relationships in a transformational way.
Neurologists and psychiatrists need to be well-versed in the growing knowledge of brain-behavior relationships to diagnose patients in the borderland between neurology and psychiatry. This patient population is growing and requires physicians with subspecialty training to care for these complex disorders. These disorders include the neuropsychiatric complications of traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, brain tumors/paraneoplastic syndromes, movement disorders, demyelinating and inflammatory brain diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders as well as the neuropsychiatric side effects of psychiatric, neurologic, and medical/oncologic treatments. Graduates of this fellowship training program, already offered at most of the top academic hospital programs in the US, manage the array of BNNP disorders upon completion of a 1-year clinical fellowship or 2-year clinical-research fellowship and qualify for board certification in BNNP by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS).
Investing in a BNNP fellowship training program at UW will pay off by improving clinical care for our patients, improving the educational experience for trainees, and creating new opportunities to advance knowledge in clinical neurosciences. The creation of this fellowship training program will bring together faculty members whose current practice overlaps with the core of the BNNP patient population. The curriculum will include didactics and case conferences that will serve as a venue to discuss, co-manage, and share perspectives and resources to improve the health of these patients. The BNNP curriculum developed as part of this project could also apply to medical students, residents, advanced care practitioners, and fellow training. Exposure to a quality educational experience would be expected to increase the number of clinicians considering a career in this sub-specialty. Fellows will also be required to make a scientific contribution to the field. The fellowship will provide opportunities for collaborative scientific work and improve our understanding and treatment of these disorders.
Fellows will work at the Memory and Brain Wellness Center at Harborview Medical Center and over time, we hope to develop a cohort of experts who work well together to deliver exceptional patient care.