Neurology

The Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides a full range of both inpatient and outpatient neurological services.


There are over 1,500 admissions per year to the inpatient Neurology Ward Services (Stroke, Epilepsy, and General Neurology), 200 to the NeuroICU service, and 4,000 inpatient and Emergency Department consults annually. There are more than 30,000 outpatient visits per year including General Neurology and an array of Neurological Subspecialties including Cognitive Neurology, Epilepsy, Stroke, Neuromuscular Disease, Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Neuropsychology, Neuro-HIV, Autonomic and Peripheral Nerve Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis, and Sleep Disorders.

The Harvard Medical School Neurology Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital trains 7 adult and 5 pediatric neurology residents per year. The Program combines the resources of two major Harvard teaching hospitals,with over 800 inpatient beds and extensive outpatient clinics, provide the setting for training physicians in the art and science of clinical neurology.

The combined faculty consists of more than 80 neurologists at the two participating hospitals, and provides core experiences in inpatient and outpatient neurology, as well as training in electrophysiology (including EEG, EMG, and sleep polysomnography) and neuropathology. A critical component of the program is the opportunity for residents to have a mentored teaching experience as well as the opportunity to undertake a mentored project, which may entail either clinical or laboratory based investigation or preparation of innovative teaching materials or methods.

The Department of Neurology is the most research-intensive Department at BIDMC (highest percentage of faculty with external grants, most grant dollars per faculty member). Its research programs include both basic neuroscience (sleep and circadian circuitry; neural control of breathing; brain circuitry for gait regulation; molecular basis of autism; control of growth of brain tumors; genetic disorders that cause epilepsy, etc.) and human-based research (cognitive response to magnetic brain stimulation; recovery of brain function after stroke; cardiovascular, pain, immune, and metabolic consequences of insufficient sleep; impact of HIV and related illnesses on neurological function; cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease; impact of diabetes and Parkinson’s disease on autonomic function; and studies on treatment of stroke, movement disorders, epilepsy, neuromuscular disease, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, headache, and sleep disorders).