The Neurosciences Critical Care Fellowship Program at The Johns Hopkins University is the oldest in the country. With a rich history of shaping the careers of more than 100 neurointensivists who lead the field of neurocritical care across the nation and around the world, it stands as a beacon of excellence in the field.

As the fellowship program director, I am proud to be a part of a division that upholds the tripartite mission of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: excellence in patient care, education and research. Our program, with 13 faculty members who have expertise across a wide range of domains in neurocritical care, offers a unique environment where fellows can thrive in clinical, educational and research pursuits. 

We provide excellent clinical training with exposure to a wide variety of acute neurologic pathology. Fellows are given the opportunity to take center stage, leading daily rounds, teaching trainees and performing advanced critical care procedures. We provide fellows with exposure to advanced invasive and noninvasive multimodality neuromonitoring and hemodynamic monitoring techniques.

The backbone of our educational offerings is our longitudinal didactic series that includes basic and advanced lecture didactics in the practice of neurocritical care, weekly divisional research seminars featuring esteemed national and international guest speakers, bringing our fellows to the forefronts of our upcoming field, and our longitudinal, biweekly simulation-based learning in critical care procedures, shared decision-making and mechanical ventilation. We also provide robust onboarding for our new fellows through a structured two-month-long summer critical care bootcamp composed of lecture didactics, simulation and hands-on training sessions in general critical care, basics of neurocritical care, critical care procedures, mechanical ventilation management and point-of-care ultrasound.

The Johns Hopkins Neurosciences Critical Care Fellowship Program is renowned for its rigor in all realms of research. Several faculty members write national and international guidelines and have expertise in running NIH-funded clinical trials, providing a plethora of opportunities for mentorship. Exemplary research opportunities are available for fellows to develop and complete their own independent research projects during fellowship. Examples include collaboration with the esteemed Division of Brain Injury Outcomes (BiOS), under the leadership of professor Daniel Hanley, which provides unparalleled opportunities for exposure to acute neurologic clinical trials and long-term-outcomes research, and the Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for Neurocritical Care, spearheaded by our division director, Dr. Jose Suarez, where fellows can also gain access to a vast database of continuous high-frequency signals data, fostering innovation in clinical, translational and precision medicine research projects. 

Additional research programs led by our esteemed faculty in the Neurosciences Critical Care Division that fellows can leverage for their own independent projects include: family-centered and humanizing medicine; prognostication and the science of shared decision-making (Muehlschlegel Lab); novel optical approaches for noninvasive and invasive neuromonitoring; advanced MRI research; cerebral autoregulation monitoring in subarachnoid and intracranial hemorrhage; and neuromonitoring and acute neurological injury in patients supported by ECMO (HERALD Group), among others. These are just some examples among the numerous opportunities that our division provides for our fellows interested in building a strong academic career.

Beyond the academic realm, our program, with faculty and fellows with unique and broad interests, is a community that fosters enduring national and international relationships that have the potential to shape a fulfilling and impactful career in neurocritical care.

We extend a warm welcome to you as you embark on your journey with the Johns Hopkins Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program, and we look forward to being part of your growth and development as a distinguished neurointensivist. Together, let’s explore the frontiers of neurocritical care and contribute to the advancement of this dynamic field.

Sincerely,

Vishank A. Shah
Fellowship Director
Johns Hopkins Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program