Headache

Pediatric Headache Fellowship

The Headache Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center was established in October 1996 and has grown to be a recognized national and international pediatric headache leader. As part of this development and the mission to advance the understanding of pediatric headache, the Pediatric Headache Fellowship was established.

Goal

The goal of the headache fellowship is to advance the clinical management and basic understanding of pediatric headache from pathophysiology to outcome. This has become a recognized concern by both the American Headache Society (AHS) and International Headache Society (IHS) with support by both organizations for the development of headache training programs.

Accreditation / Certification

The Cincinnati Children's Headache Center has been accredited by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS). Search for fellowship subspecialties using the UCNS Fellowship Directory.

Objectives / Curriculum

The objectives of the program are to provide advanced training in the pathophysiology, recognition, management and study of pediatric headache disorders with an anticipation of academic careers in headache.

The curriculum of the headache fellowship will involve three major components:

Clinical exposure and clinical experience
Defined educational objective
Establishment of research projects

The clinical exposure will not only be based in the Cincinnati Children's Headache Center, but will also include experience in the University of Cincinnati Adult Headache Center (Drs. Martin and Nichols) and at a community-based headache specialty clinic (Dr. Mannix). This latter component should provide ample opportunity to learn some of the unique strategies in treating adults with intractable headaches, as well as different pharmaceutical management techniques.

The educational component will both be self-directed, as well as potential course work, both through the University of Cincinnati, as well as through Cincinnati Children's. This course will be designed to augment the development of research projects and will include epidemiology, biostatistics and bioethics.

The research projects will be directed by the candidate's interests, but may include pathophysiology, neuroimaging, disease phenotyping and characterization, treatment response, disability and epidemiology. Currently, some of these projects are funded (headache genomics and pharmaceutical studies) while many these projects are undergoing development with potential grant funding in the future.

Headache Center Team

The Headache Center is supported by:

Two child neurologists (Andrew Hershey, MD, Director, Headache Center, and Marielle Kabbouche, MD, Inpatient Headache Director)
Three child psychologists (Scott W. Powers, PhD, ABPP, Co-Director, Headache Center)
Three nurse practitioners
Two registered nurses
Research technicians

Drs. Hershey, Kabbouche and Powers are faculty members of Cincinnati Children's and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. All of these members of the Headache Center will serve as educators and supervisors with Dr. Hershey serving as the program director.

In addition to these faculty members, faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (Drs. Martin, Nichols and Mannix) will be involved in training of the headache fellow. The nurse practitioners in the Headache Center also provide a unique educational experience for the fellowship and will assist in their mentoring.

Prerequisites / Requirements

The Headache Fellowship is intended for post-residency training and therefore requires the completion of a residency. This residency, however, will be open to pediatric neurology residents, adult neurology residents and pediatric residents. Candidates with other residency training will be considered on an individual basis.

Length of Program in Months: 12 to 36 months, depending on research tract or clinical only.

For candidates interested in primarily clinical training in pediatric headache, a one-year program will be offered. This one-year program, however, will still require a research project. For those candidates with a higher research interest, a three-year program will be offered. The second and third year will place a higher emphasis on research career development with the anticipation of applying for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding upon the completion of training.

The headache fellowship will augment to training program for pediatric neurology residents by increasing their opportunities in further sub-specialization. It should not have any negative impact on other training programs.

Number of trainees per Year: one for headache.