Residents can declare their interest in the Research Track as early as the time of their interview for the residency program. Support for Research Track members begins even before the start of the PGY-1 year, as trainees can arrive on the UPenn campus in advance of the start of their clinical training as part of our innovative Spring Forward program. The goal is to foster academic connections early during your affiliation with Penn, which you can then nurture over the years ahead. For those residents who pursue their PGY-1 training at a Penn-affiliated hospital, we are able to arrange up to 4 weeks of laboratory elective time even during your prelim year. A further 8 weeks of laboratory elective time is available during the PGY-2 year.

The application to the Research Track also serves as the basis of applications for additional sources of research and training support. The University of Pennsylvania Neurology Residency holds a UE5 grant from the NINDS to support the development of physician scientists in basic and translational research (previously called the “R25” program). Participating residents are eligible to apply for 80% funding for 1-2 years of a research fellowship at any institution that also holds an UE5 training grant. Additionally, the University of Pennsylvania has numerous T32 training grants from the National Institutes of Health that may also be used to support basic and translational research Fellowships.

With over 21,000 students and trainees, the University of Pennsylvania is a large research institution. The Perelman School of Medicine alone (the home of the Department of Neurology) is the 3rd largest recipient of NIH funding support in the nation. Within the Department of Neurology, most of the faculty engage in scholarly or research activity, and about one-quarter are tenure-track faculty who operate research laboratories. Department faculty are connected to the graduate groups across campus, and lead several of the University institutes and centers relevant to neuroscience.