Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship

Fellows in the Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine train on a brain injury unit and learn effective team leadership and medical management of persons with brain injury, including consultation-liaison, admission screening, acute and post-acute care, vocational and educational rehabilitation, and working with families. Fellows develop skills to manage spasticity through serial and inhibitive casting, medications, motor point and nerve blocks, botulinum toxin injections and intrathecal Baclofen pumps.

• Understanding the mechanisms of action and side effects of pharmacologic agents used for neurobehavioral and cognitive and affective dysfunctions after brain injury
• Developing expertise to perform mental status and neurofunctional examinations to interpret neuroimaging studies, EEG, evoked potentials and neuropsychological testing and to relate these findings clinically
• Understanding the pathophysiology of coma and learn appropriate assessment techniques and management skills
• Learning to assess and treat cranial nerve, musculoskeletal, and other dysfunctions caused by brain injury
• Learning to develop and implement behavioral modification programs for persons with brain injury
• Developing an awareness of medico-legal issues pertinent to brain injury, including competence, guardianship and expert witness testimony
• Learning administrative skills in program development and evaluation, team leadership, and quality improvement