Specialists in neuromuscular diseases possess specialized knowledge and skills in understanding, evaluating, and managing patients with disorders of the anterior horn cell, peripheral nerve, neuromuscular junction and muscles. This requires advanced knowledge of the pathology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of these disorders at a level more advanced than that acquired by a general neurologist. The need for such a specialized neurologist entails training neurology residents in the subspecialty of clinical neurophysiology at the level of a fellow in neurology. This training requires a fellowship program to be present and run by clinical neurophysiology specialists at a university hospital. This fellowship program when implemented at AUB-FM will be the first accredited program in this specialty in Lebanon and the Middle East. It will allow the Faculty of Medicine and Department of Neurology to receive and train fellows and graduate neurologist from the country and the region. It will further strengthen the role of AUB as a leader and educator in the region and enhance exchange of specialists between the different universities in the area.
Goals and Objectives of the Fellowship Program
Residents in neurology acquire clinical skills in diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders in their different presentations. Further understanding of diseases of the peripheral nervous system, its pathology, pathophysiology and diagnosis requires specialty training in clinical neurophysiology of the central and peripheral nervous system. The overall education goals of this training program are to help fellows develop an understanding of the role of clinical neurophysiology in the comprehensive care of inpatients, outpatients, and patients in acute care settings. Fellows are provided with extensive clinical experience in the performance of clinical neurophysiologic examination and trained in the clinical evaluation and management of patients with epilepsy and patients with neuromuscular diseases. Fellows are intended to achieve proficiency in performing and interpreting clinical neurophysiologic tests, and understanding the relevance of tests in the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic diseases. They are expected to learn the skill of reporting results to other professionals and to patients in understandable language and with sensitivity for the meaning of these results. The training program provides opportunities to develop knowledge, clinical skills, and professional attitudes that result in the best possible patient care. We expect our fellows to be motivated self-learners who actively participate in their own educational plan under the supervision of our faculty. Fellows will develop growing competence in clinical service, consultation, taching, and research.
This fellowship will train neurologist to advance their scientific understanding of these disorders, to improve patient care, to train further neurologists in the subspecialty itself, and to educate the public and healthcare personnel on these diseases and their management.
The Fellowship Program in Clinical Neurophysiology will entail training graduate residents in neurology in interviewing and examining patients with symptoms and signs of diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. They will be taught how to choose the appropriate study to perform to be able to accurately and effectively diagnose the diseases of these patients, They will be trained in performing, interpreting, understanding and reporting electroencephalographies (EEG), nerve conduction studies (ENG), electromyographies (EMG) and evoked potential studies (EP).
Fellows will be taught how to perform each and every one of the above studies independently. They will be trained on how to interpret the results in the context of the patient's symptoms and signs, and how to report the findings to the referring physician. They will be educated on comparing their work to international standards. They will be trained to perform the studies on schedule at the laboratory as well as in an emergency setting in the emergency room, operating room, or on the ward. Fellows attain competencies in clinical neurophysiology, patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice. Graduates of the program are expected to be able to direct a neuromuscular program and an EEG, EP and EMG laboratory. Fellows will, by the end of their training, be trained on how to contribute data and knowledge to the international literature.
Applicant eligibility
Fellows who apply to the Fellowship Program in Clinical Neurophysiology should have completed successfully at least one year of internship in internal medicine followed by three years residency training in general neurology. Applicants from local, regional and international neurology programs will be evaluated by the Program Director, Head of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory and Chairperson of the Department of Neurology for eligibility to the program.
Training Faculty
Fellows who enroll in the Fellowship Program in Clinical Neurophysiology will be taught, trained, supervised and evaluated by the senior neurophysiology technician, by the clinical neurophysiology attending physicians who are certified in the subspecialty of clinical neurophysiology, and by the director of the clinical neurophysiology laboratory.
Presently the staff at the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory who will be responsible for such an activity are:
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Raja Sawaya, MD;
Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory
- Johnny Salameh MD
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Bassem Yamout, MD
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Achraf Makki, MD
For more information, kindly visit the
Graduate Medical Education (GME) website.