George B. Richerson, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Neurology
The Roy J. Carver Chair in Neuroscience
I would like to welcome you to the University of Iowa Department of Neurology website. I invite you to explore this site to learn about the history and future of our department, the clinical care we provide, our research to better understand and treat neurological disease, and the educational opportunities for residents and students.
The University of Iowa Department of Neurology celebrated its centennial in 2019, and is listed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) as the 3rd oldest neurology department in the nation. Home of many firsts, Adolph Sahs was one of the four co-founders of the AAN and Harold Adams was one of two vascular neurologists who developed the NIH Stroke Scale. The Department consists of a total of 100 faculty members. This includes 42 full-time faculty members, 40 of whom are clinicians. There are also 24 faculty members with primary appointments in other departments, and 33 faculty members with emeritus or adjunct appointments. These clinicians, scholars and educators are fully committed to providing unrivaled clinical care and training, and to applying advances in basic and translational neuroscience to finding ways to improve the care of patients with neurological disease.
The Department is recognized nationally for its clinical excellence, physician training and research accomplishments. Department of Neurology faculty also serve as principal investigators of research grants totaling $10.7M in direct costs, including both StrokeNet and NeuroNEXT grants from the NINDS.
The Department operates separate inpatient general neurology, stroke, and neurointerventional surgery services and provides consultations for patients admitted to other departments' inpatient services. We also have state-of-the-art inpatient monitoring units for epilepsy and sleep disorders within the department. The Neurology Outpatient Clinic operates daily, seeing approximately 21,000 outpatients each year. Additional outpatient clinics are held at the Veterans Administration Hospital, located across the street from UI Hospitals and Clinics. There are also active programs in clinical neurophysiology (EMGs/NCVs/EEGs/EPs), intraoperative and continuous bedside EEG monitoring. We also have an active program in neurointerventional surgery with two neurologists trained in neuro-critical care, stroke and endovascular neurology, whose practice is integrated with that of two neurosurgeons and two radiologists trained in NIS. Fellowships are offered in Clinical Neurophysiology, Vascular Neurology, Neurointerventional Surgery, Sleep, Neuromuscular Disease, General Neurology, Movements Disorders and Neuro-Immunology, as well as in clinical, basic and translational research.
The basic and translational neurosciences and their relationship to clinical neurology are highly valued in the department. The administrative offices of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience are housed in our department, and many of our faculty are members of this PhD program. We have a highly successful Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program (CNS-TP) for former MSTP students and MD students with an interest in neuroscience, as a way to transition smoothly into independent careers as physician-scientists. This program is funded by an NIH R25 grant and provides 7-8 months of dedicated research time during the 4 year neurology residency, and funding for up to 2 years in a clinical or basic neuroscience research fellowship at UI or any other institution with an NIH R25 after completion of residency. All residents can choose a research fellowship from a rich variety of clinical or basic research opportunities available to them during and/or after their residency training.
Iowa Neurology has a proud tradition of state-of-the-art and high-quality clinical care, of leading edge research, and of training the next generation of academic leaders and impeccably trained clinical practitioners. It is a tradition that I invite you to learn more about on this website, whether you are a patient, trainee or colleague.
Thank you for your interest in our department, and please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.