Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

Wake Forest is a four-year categorical neurology program (with an integrated internal medicine PGY-1) built around a comprehensive academic medical center with named centers of excellence in stroke, epilepsy, ALS, movement disorders, MEG, and neurocritical care, giving residents unusually broad subspecialty and procedural exposure without heavy fellow competition for cases. The program emphasizes graduated autonomy from PGY-2 onward, resident-run inpatient and consult services, and a resident-driven (rather than fellow-driven) model that produces well-rounded general neurologists exposed to both common and rare/complex referral-based pathology. Research is present and supported (travel stipends, manuscript encouragement, StrokeNet fellowship, faculty research programs) but is not positioned as mandatory or central to identity; instead the program frames itself around flexibility, allowing graduates to pursue academic medicine, community practice, or any of nine in-house subspecialty fellowships. The program culture, as reflected by faculty and resident testimony, foregrounds mentorship, camaraderie, and individualized career support over a singular research or fellowship mandate.