The Pediatric Neurology residency at Johns Hopkins is designed to train physicians in academic and clinical pediatric neurology. All four residents spend their first two years of general pediatrics at Johns Hopkins. The program stresses the development of competence in several areas, including clinical neurology (with inpatient, outpatient and consultative experiences), neurosurgical problems and the scientific basis of neurology.

Program Features

Time spent in each clinical area of practice is distributed over the duration of the training program to provide ongoing exposure to clinical neurological problems. Adult neurology training is divided equally between consultative and ward services as per ACGME requirements, with very strong outpatient adult neurology clinic rotations. Elective time can be spent learning clinical subspecialties or developing a more in-depth knowledge of a clinical or research area. Away electives, including international ones, are allowed with residency director approval. A UE5 grant is available to our PGY5 residents (application necessary).

Inpatient Service

The inpatient service team is responsible for providing primary and consultative care for children with neurological and neurosurgical problems through the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Since 2021, we have had two inpatient services (floor/ED and ICU). Each team is run by a senior resident with supervision from a dedicated faculty member.

• The floor/ED team manages the inpatient child neurology service and consults for patients on the floor, in the ED, patients admitted to start the ketogenic diet and children admitted to our pediatric epilepsy monitoring unit.
• The ICU team handles consults in the neonatal, pediatric and pediatric cardiac ICUs, as well as all Brain Attacks (stroke codes) in the Children’s Center. There is also a night float system (Monday through Friday evenings) as of July 2025.

Each inpatient team is composed of:

• Pediatric neurology attending physician
• Pediatric neurology senior resident
• At least 1-2 junior residents from pediatric neurology, adult neurology, pediatrics and the Kennedy Krieger Institute (NDD fellows).
• Often there are 1-2 Johns Hopkins or visiting medical students as well.

There are approximately 600 clinical neuroscience admissions to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Neurology inpatient service per year. An additional 5 to 10 pediatric patients are followed in consultation each day. Children admitted for epilepsy surgery, ketogenic diet and epilepsy monitoring are also closely followed. Inpatient admissions are managed by the pediatric meurology team during the day. Overnight inpatient coverage is provided by the pediatrics team with phone advice provided by our senior residents (night float). There is no overnight in-house call on the pediatric neurology service.

Outpatient Service

We provide a strong outpatient experience in child neurology, as the national trend in training programs is to increase this experience to match the growing outpatient treatments. The pediatric neurology outpatient clinics at Johns Hopkins include: 

• General child neurology problems
• Specialty clinics, including:
  • Epilepsy
  • Migraine/headache
  • Movement disorders
  • Stroke/vascular neurology
  • Neuroimmunology
  • Neurogenetics
  • ICU follow-up
  • Sleep medicine
  • Neuromuscular diseases

Our residents also have ample time to rotate through the myriad of clinics at Kennedy Krieger Institute, including those with focus on autism, developmental disabilities, rehabilitation, leukodystrophies and neurogenetics, among others. In each clinic, the resident is assigned to an attending for whom a panel of patients has been scheduled. A mix of new and follow-up patients are interviewed, examined and discussed with the attending.

All pediatric neurology residents have a weekly continuity clinic staffed by a faculty member, which they attend year-round for all three years of the residency. Each resident has appropriate and escalating independence with his/her continuity patients. Since 2021, our PGY2 residents have an option to spend their continuity clinic in neurology instead of pediatrics to gain early experience.

Research and Teaching Opportunities

An important part of the program is exposure to and participation in clinical or basic neuroscience research efforts. All residents become involved in a project during their three years of training. In the third year, results of the resident's efforts are presented at a special Neurology Grand Rounds. Our residents have consistently presented outstanding projects and have frequently won the Slotkin Award (department-wide prize for best research presentation) as well as research training grants such as the UE5.

Research seminars are held on a regular basis under the auspices of the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience and Pediatrics.

Trainees can participate as teaching assistants in the School of Medicine's neuropathology and neuroscience courses.

Conferences

All residents are encouraged to attend conferences designed to keep them informed of major developments in the basic and clinical neurosciences. A wide variety of conferences, lectures, courses and seminars are available through the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience, Pediatrics and Psychiatry:

• Ward attending rounds are held daily with morning reports at least three times weekly on both the adult and pediatric neurology services.
• A new, popular education “block” occurs on Thursday afternoons since 2025 and has replaced daily noon conferences. Food is provided daily. Additional conferences on clinical and research topics, NICU and PICU management are held daily throughout the year. 
• Child Neurology Grand Rounds are held in person with a virtual option every Wednesday at 8 a.m.
• Multiple clinical conferences present opportunities for residents to discuss complex cases with a multidisciplinary team. These include the Neurology-PICU conference held on Thursdays and the Neonatal Intensive Care Neurology conference on Fridays.
• Kennedy Krieger Neurology Grand Rounds are Thursdays at noon.
• Department of Neurology Grand Rounds are held on Thursday afternoons.
• Numerous other conferences are optional for our residents including subspecialty journal clubs, pediatrics lectures and case conferences, bioethics rounds and many more!

For the first two months of the residency (July and August of each academic year), major topics of clinical interest to the first-year neurology resident are discussed, including a series on neurologic emergencies residents may encounter. During the remainder of the year, these conferences include regular discussion of movement disorders, cerebrovascular disease, seizures, neuromuscular disorders, cognitive neurology, neuropathology (clinical-pathological conference) and neuroradiology. 

Other regular weekly conferences are devoted to pediatric neurology, pediatric neuro-oncology, adult neurology, neuroradiology, neuro-ophthalmology, neurovirology, epilepsy, nerve and muscle, vascular disease and neuro-vestibular issues. 

Topics of conferences at Bayview include sleep disorders, clinical neurophysiology, neuroradiology, neurotoxicology and aging. Conferences in many other areas are held under the auspices of psychiatry, neurosurgery, pediatrics and other clinical and basic science departments.

Rotations By Year

The First Year (PGY-3)

During the first year, the resident develops clinical skills in adult and pediatric neurology. Rotations include:

• 4 months as a junior resident on the adult neurology wards at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH, including stroke, general and Neurology Critical Care Unit (NCCU)) and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (JHBMC)
• 3 months on the pediatric neurology service at JHH as the junior resident
• 1 month of adult outpatient neurology clinic
• 1 month of pediatric neurology outpatient clinic
• 2 weeks of EEG and 2 weeks of pediatric epilepsy
• 4 weeks of vacation

On adult neurology months, overnight coverage is a combination of night float and call averaging every 5th evening. Pediatric neurology months are call-free.

The Second Year (PGY-4)

The second year of the program includes subspecialty electives and rotations in pediatric and adult neurology. During this year, the resident transitions into more supervisory responsibilities. Rotations include:

• 1.5 months as one of the adult neurology senior residents (at JHH)
• 5 months as one of the 2 senior residents on pediatric neurology
• 1.5 months of adult neurology outpatient clinic
• 2 weeks of neuromuscular
• 2 weeks in the neurology intensive care nursery (NICN)
• 2 weeks at the Kennedy Krieger Institute (clinics)
• 1.5 months on elective rotations
• 4 weeks of vacation

Months with in-house call are those as the adult neurology senior as the pediatric neurology senior call is from home during evenings.

The Third Year (PGY-5)

The third-year rotations include:

• 3.5 month supervising the pediatric neurology inpatient service as the primary senior resident
• 1 month on child psychiatry
• 1 month on clinical neurophysiology
• 1 month on outpatient pediatric neurology clinics
• 1 months at the Kennedy Krieger Institute
• 2 weeks of neuropathology
• 3.5 months on elective rotations
• 4 weeks of vacation