Our next fellow feature will be James Andrews, MD.
Dr. Andrews has been with Duke for both the Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy fellowship programs and will remain in Durham as he embarks on his professional journey with Accurate Neuromonitoring.
What are your plans once you complete your fellowship?
Accurate Neuromonitoring, Clinical Neurophysiology.
How have you changed or grown since joining Duke Neurology?
I've really become an expert in my field, which is the point of fellowship. Each day you rub shoulders with giants in the field of epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. Over time their knowledge is passed down to you. I now feel confident in continuing my career independently.
What is a favorite memory from your time with Duke Neurology?
Seeing real time clinical events with neurodiagnostic tools was always the most fascinating part of the training. After spending an abundance of time going through a stereo EEG, it was always the most rewarding to get a positive result at bedside during cortical stimulation mapping. There's not much better a feeling than eliciting a habitual seizure at bedside during cortical stimulation mapping from the electrode contacts that were your primary hypothesis of seizure onset!! With low frequency settings... I mean come on! I also enjoyed being down in the OR during intraoperative neuromonitoring cases and taking part in motor mapping or language mapping.
What advice would you give to those following in your footsteps?
Very cheesy, but my high school motto (which is just down the street in Durham!) was 'Accept the Greater Challenge'. This totally applies to CNP and epilepsy fellowship. At the end of the day, you are capable of such a vast fund of specialized knowledge (really cool knowledge) that will go a long way in making a positive footprint on other's lives.
What most excites you for the next chapter as a faculty member here at Duke?
I ended up leaning more into the clinical neurophysiology side of my two fellowship years and will be working for an intraoperative neuromonitoring company. I'm excited to keep up my neurodiagnostic skills every day!
Are there any personal highlights you'd like to note from your time with Duke Neurology?
I got to celebrate TWO babies from my co-fellows last year and am looking forward to becoming an uncle in the next few months with my brother over in Charlotte. Bought a house in Durham, joined an adult soccer league, picked up film photography as a hobby... fellowship has been quite busy.
Any shout-outs you'd like to give for friends, family, mentors, educators, etc.?
Dr. Husain has been a great mentor in the operating room for IONM (he wrote the textbook for Pete's sake!) He's one of the best medical educators I've encountered in my training. At the same time he is incredibly humble and a blast to work alongside. My wife started an attending job within Duke's med-peds faculty when I started fellowship and has been the ultimate support. I'm looking forward to joining attendinghood with her. Shout out to my co-fellows for being rockstars.