Neurosurgery Training

Neurosurgical Residency Program

Ronnie L. Alterman, MD of BIDMC reviewing a brain scan Following the approval by the Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in April 2016, the BIDMC Department of Surgery now offers a general Neurosurgical Residency Program. The seven-year residency is a combined program with Boston Medical Center (BMC).

The combined BIDMC/BMC Neurosurgical Residency Program will provide residents with a unique opportunity to train at three of the busiest medical centers in New England, all of which treat patients with some of the most complex neurologic conditions.

During their seven years of training, residents will spend equal amounts of time at BIDMC and BMC, six months at Boston Children’s Hospital, and one year conducting research.

Ultimately, the program will have a total of seven residents, but will begin with one resident each year, starting in July 2016.

Due to COVID-19 related restrictions, visiting medical student clerkships have been suspended by Harvard Medical School until February 2021. The BIDMC division of neurosurgery is offering a virtual neurosurgery sub-I to medical students pursuing neurosurgery. Please apply here if you are interested.

Program Leadership

Application Information

House Officer Salary and Benefits

Resident salaries are similar for all members of the Council of Boston Teaching Hospitals; rates are adjusted annually to account for cost of living. Training conditions and work schedules follow the guidelines of the Residency Review Committee for Neurological Surgery of the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.

The program provides a wide range of benefits, including malpractice insurance coverage, on-call meals, and short- and long-term disability insurance. The program also makes available the opportunity to purchase several types of health, dental and life insurance. Each intern is allotted three weeks’ vacation; all higher level residents are allotted four vacation weeks per year. In addition, the program has a liberal leave of absence policy for residents who are new parents, require medical leave, or need to care for a seriously ill family member.

Licensure

All residents and clinical fellows appointed to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Neurological Surgery Residency Program must hold a current limited license or a current full license to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Applications for the limited license are obtained from the Surgical Education Office. Limited licenses must be renewed every year, up to a maximum of five years. The cost of a limited license is $100 annually.

Applications for full licensure should be sent directly to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, 200 Harvard Mill Square, Suite 330, Wakefield, MA 01880. The website is mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/borim.Please contact borim.info@state.ma.us with questions.

Application Process and Deadline

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Neurological Surgery Residency Program participates in ERAS, the Electronic Residency Application Service. The program selects interns through the National Resident Matching Program in accordance with the policies established by the NRMP.

Deadline for receipt of all application documents is November 1. All applicants are required to pass USMLE Step-2 before starting in a first-year position.

Interviews

Each application is reviewed in its entirety with an eye toward a combination of overall academic excellence, leadership ability, career development potential and personal character. Qualified individuals will be invited to interview. Interviews are held on selected days from November through the following January. No interviews are scheduled without an invitation, and no individual interviews are scheduled outside of these scheduled sessions. Any candidate who is invited to interview must contact the Surgical Education Office to confirm acceptance of the invitation.

Meet Our Residents

PGY1

Alejandro Enriquez-Marulanda, MD
Education: Universidad ICESI Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud
Postdoctoral Training: Harvard University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Clinical Fellowship: Boston University, Boston Medical Center

PGY2

Andrew Powers, MD
Education: Brown University, The Warren Alpert Medical School

PGY3

Charles Mackel, MD, JD
Education: Georgetown University; The University of Texas School of Law; Tufts University School of Medicine

PGY4

Anirudh Penumaka, MD, MS
Education: Harvard University; University of Oxford; Duke University School of Medicine

PGY5

Dominic Harris, MD
Education: University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine

Aristotelis Filippidis, MD, PhD
Education: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Medical School
Postdoctoral training: Barrow Neurological Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University, UAB
Clinical fellowship: Boston University, Boston Medical Center

Contact Information