Epilepsy Fellowship Curriculum

Our curriculum includes broad and detailed experience in the clinical management of common and complex epilepsies across outpatient and inpatient settings, as well as rigorous EEG training experience. Excellent training in the medical and surgical management of epilepsy is provided, along with robust exposure to critical care EEG and management of seizures and status epilepticus in the ICU.

Fellows gain exposure to a wide range of epilepsy surgery techniques, including:

  • Laser ablation
  • Neurostimulation
  • Traditional resective epilepsy surgery

Fellows take advantage of some of the most advanced technologies available for diagnosing and treating epilepsy. Our Magnetoencephalography Lab is one of fewer than 30 in the country. We were early adopters of laser ablation epilepsy surgery and have performed it since 2012.

Other resources include:

  • Stereo-EEG phase II intracranial epilepsy surgery evaluations
  • Epilepsy Information Service, a nationwide epilepsy hotline

Clinical Rotations

Fellows also participate in an active long-term video EEG monitoring service outside the EMU, and will gain exposure to the management of epilepsy in the busy outpatient clinics of the Wake Forest Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. Electives will be offered in non-medication therapies for intractable epilepsy (ketogenic diet, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS), Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) and epilepsy surgery), neuroimaging, psychiatry and neuropsychology.

Virtual Tour

Depending on your rotation, you may train at facilities across our system. Explore below a few of the spaces where fellows of this program spend a lot of their time. Navigate the drop-down to switch rooms and use your mouse (or finger for touch screens) to rotate around the room.

Epilepsy Monitoring UnitSnap Content

Conferences and Didactics

Didactic activities include:

  • Epilepsy/Clinical Neurophysiology-EEG Lecture Series
  • Epilepsy Surgery Conferences
  • Fellow Journal Club
  • Interactive Fellow’s Conference (key topic areas: pediatric EEG, critical care EEG, epilepsy surgery and other advanced learning topics)
  • Neurology Grand Rounds
  • Pediatric Case Conference
  • Various remote learning webinars and conferences

Research Opportunities

Fellow opportunities include participation in epilepsy drug trials and research studies led by the faculty. Study highlights include:

  • The efficacy of physical activity in epilepsy
  • Outcomes associated with antiepileptic drug use in pregnancy
  • Psychiatric comorbidity and care models for anxiety and depression in epilepsy
  • Laser ablation surgical treatment of epilepsy
  • The Academic Learning Health SystemScholars Program, an NIH-funded training program (TL1 mechanism) offered through the Wake Forest Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Division of Public Health Sciences. Find more details. 

Fellows can collaborate with an excellent neuroscience group for research in:

  • Magenetoencephalography
  • Cognitive function and single unit hippocampal recordings

We’re also part of the Neurology Practice Based Research Network, a multicenter quality improvement/research collaborative for electronic medical record-based research.