University of Florida College of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

The University of Florida Child Neurology Residency is based at UF Health Shands Children's Hospital, the only quaternary-care academic pediatric center in North Florida, situating training within a highly complex, subspecialty-rich clinical environment spanning epilepsy, neonatal neurology, neuromuscular disease, spasticity/cerebral palsy, and neurocritical care. The division maintains dedicated research infrastructure - including CDC-funded MD STARnet surveillance work, collaborations with Neurosurgery, Biomedical Engineering, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute - and frames its mission explicitly around training "clinician-scientists," indicating research is woven into the program's identity rather than optional. Graduate outcomes show near-uniform subspecialty fellowship pursuit (epilepsy, neonatal neurology, movement disorders, critical care) at academic centers, with many alumni entering academic or assistant professor roles. The program values residents oriented toward subspecialization and scholarly inquiry within a large, quaternary academic pediatrics department (120+ faculty, 60+ residents/fellows) rather than general community pediatric neurology practice.