Any good websites and resources to stay up to date with the key papers/advances in the field or even some old publications of significant impact? My program doesn't do a good job in journal club so wonder how what residents from other programs do or recommend. I know the easiest way is to browse the JNS, Red journal...etc every month or so but it's cumbersome and sometimes there are no high impact publications

Do your programs have research and publication requirements? What are they and what is the consequence of not achieving them?

Hey everyone,

Just wondering how competitive someone with a 255-260 step score coming from a low tier MD school would potentially be? Rising m3 so no rotations yet, but in the research department I currently have 1 first basic science paper, 3 2nd, and 3 middle author. Only 2 poster presentations, and no other experiences besides extremely minor volunteer work. 

Thanks all. Guess I'm just wondering how a slightly above average step score combines with coming from a lower tier, but recognizable name, MD school.

Thoughts? 

There are unaccredited fellowship positions, and there are also speciality fellowships such as spine or other fields. Thoughts on advantages and disadvantages of each as a path back to residency after leaving a program?

For someone who just wants to do good surgery and take care of people with a variety of neurosurgical problems, what would be the case for a career in academics?

What are the general opinions of this program. Under the radar or has some recognition? Seems like they've managed to recruit good faculty with mascitelli (lawton fellow...both open/endo), papanastassiou (harvard epilepsy/functional), and Floyd the Chair/PD is MDA trained for onc/skullbase. UCI seems to send their residents here for a rotation too.

What are the highest yield stitches/techniques to learn for an incoming sub-I?

Hello 

Now i know this is a far reached question, but knowingly i am aware that brain transplants are not a possibility at this very moment, although head transplant is.

Now i am not aware of how much research is currently going into brain transplant ( research aspect) but i have stumbled upon wondering about life and death the other day, and that the only possible way of living more than expected would be to give a brain it self a new body, now i know that the actual research into rejoining the nerves within the spinal cord is virtually impossible as the tissue it self ( as per research ) will only re join in ideal circumstances. But given that research going well would it be possible one day?

Also would the almost new kid on the block be a game changer ( stem cells ). now i heard that they have grown bladders, livers, limbs etc out of stem cells to be donate to the ones that need them. But would it be possibility to grow a full human body out of them for either a brain itself to be inserted to or the head to be attached onto it ( given the brain is healthy ie. no schizophrenia or alike ). if not so if a body was to be grown out of stem cells, to make sure of a acceptance of the brain or the head would there not be a interest in having a long term subject, ie a person that can donate DNA/blood  in their mid age to develop a full human body that will slowly grow over time to be ready for when it is required. What i mean by that is virtually a replica of a healthy human being created in a lab out of stem cells to have a brain inserted into it once the donor of the blood/DNA is coming to his/hers last days. virtually meaning that they have nothing to loose and have agreed to the research. ( now the thinking is that since the person is passing away anyway that research creates the opportunity for them to possibly double their life expectancy)

Now whether is ethical or not is another question but it would mean that people get a second chance at life it self, or even possibly be a game changer for people that are guaranteed to die prematurely because of an accident or cancer ( as long as it is not brain ).

Now of course if such a thing was a possibility it would have to have regulations and applicability to make sure the world does not become over populated.  but if there was a number of population that agreed not to have children in exchange for them to virtually have their life expectancy doubled, the knowledge and solutions that those people could hold would virtually be endless due to the time that has been made of avail to them.

Now i know all this is a far reach and almost dystopian like but i would be open to hear other peoples discussions ( particularly within the field and people alike that hold interests within such advancements)

Incoming PGY-1 that always thought being let go from residency was something rare and would require consistent major mistakes to occur. From the most recent posts it seems as though being forced to resign may be more common that I thought. Maybe I'm wrong and its just a few people making repeated posts on the forum but I would like to know what does it take to actually be let go from residency.