Welcome From The ChairYour residency experience in Neurosurgery will be filled with inspiring opportunities and challenges over your years of training. Neurosurgery will test your intellectual and technical skills, your dedication to high achievement, your physical stamina and your character and humanity like no other field of Medicine. As you cross the threshold into Neurosurgery residency, you will encounter the zenith of medical specialties, a field that is dynamic, on the threshold of major advances in the treatment of Neurological diseases. It is the responsibility and privilege of our clinical and scientific faculty to provide you with the opportunity to become an outstanding neurosurgeon; to enrich your technical skills, clinical judgement and ethical sensibilities as you care for patients with life threatening nervous system illnesses; and to challenge your intellect at the scientific frontiers of Neuroscience Medicine. In the five years that I have had stewardship of the Department, we have entered an era of explosive growth. The expansion of our clinical and research programs attests to the vitality of the Department at our institution. We are in an exciting growth phase, adding outstanding individuals to our clinical and scientific faculty. In partnership with other departments, we are defining institutional initiatives designed to place our Department and medical center in the elite ranks in Neuroscience Medicine nationally. In 2005, we were the only program and hospital in upstate New York to receive a U.S. News and World Report "Top Hospitals" ranking for Neurosurgery/Neurology, attesting to the advances we have made in a very short period of time. No listing of Departmental accomplishments, however, eclipses the importance we place upon resident training. It is our calling to educate talented young people to become neurosurgeons, and it is this calling that has animated our growth. Residents are the lifeblood of Neurosurgery, and the future leaders of the burgeoning field of Neuroscience Medicine. The intimate tutorial experience of training young residents inspires and invigorates our entire clinical and scientific faculty. We believe the unique educational environment that we have created will provide the best possible training for our residents while also providing neurosurgical care of the highest quality for the entire Rochester region. I know this is a very exciting time for you as your carefully consider where you will spend the next and most exciting phase of your professional training. We would be delighted to help you explore your interest in Neurosurgery training at the University of Rochester. Please feel free to contact our Residency Administrator, Melanie Zandvoort, with any questions you might have. Sincerely, |