The Department of Neurology offers a one-year epilepsy fellowship.

The Department of Neurology offers a one-year epilepsy fellowship, led by Dr. Zubeda Sheikh, MBBS, MD, MSCTS, FACNS, and accredited by the  Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Those who successfully complete the program can take the Added Qualification in Epilepsy Exam the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology offers. 

This one-year fellowship training is designed to train adult/child neurologists in EEG and epilepsy to gain proficiency in interpreting all EEG modalities and independently diagnosing and managing epilepsy and related disorders.

The comprehensive epilepsy center at VCU Health is an accredited level IV center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers. It comprises a 6-bed epilepsy monitoring unit in the main hospital and a 4-bed unit in Children’s Hospital of Richmond (CHoR). The critical care EEG monitoring services for pediatric and adult patients attend to all sick patients in the ICUs and floors needing EEG evaluation. The outpatient EEG lab provides routine and ambulatory EEG services at three ambulatory clinical sites. The clinics are also located at three ambulatory sites, where faculty and trainees see the entire spectrum of epilepsy and related disorders. The comprehensive epilepsy center is supported by epilepsy neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists, speech therapists, social workers, epilepsy-trained nursing staff, neurovascular surgeons, and a vast neurophysiology team of EEG technicians.

Fellows will have supervised training in reading routine and ambulatory EEGs in the outpatient setting and scalp video-EEG and intracranial EEGs in the epilepsy monitoring unit in adult and pediatric patients. They will train on video evaluation of seizure/spell semiology to help diagnose and localize epileptic seizures. During the Continuous EEG (CEEG) rotation, they will become proficient in reading inpatient routines, prolonged EEGs in critical care, and quantitative EEG. During this time, they will train on identifying and managing seizures in the critically ill. They will also learn about EEG changes in non-seizure conditions, such as various degrees of encephalopathy for prognostication and focal/generalized cerebral hypoperfusion.

Fellows will see adult and pediatric patients with epilepsy and related disorders in the adult and pediatric outpatient settings. They will learn to diagnose and manage new-onset seizures, drug-resistant epilepsy, epilepsy in various settings such as the transition from pediatric to adult care (including epileptic encephalopathies), people with epilepsy of childbearing potential, epilepsy in the elderly, autoimmune epilepsy and acute symptomatic seizures. They will have an opportunity to participate in the neuromodulation clinic and learn to program vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and responsive neural stimulation (RNS).

The fellows will participate in the 2-3 x monthly multidisciplinary epilepsy surgery conference. During this, they will learn to interpret advanced neuroimaging (PET/fMRI) and neuropsychological measures in the context of epilepsy pre-surgical evaluation and integrate this data into stereo-EEG planning. There will also be an opportunity to participate in Wada (intracarotid amobarbital) testing in pre-surgical patients.

Additionally, the fellows will participate in epilepsy didactics, journal club and EEG conferences. They will be involved in teaching neurology residents and medical students. Fellows will be encouraged to attend at least one national conference. Mentorship and supervision for research/QI projects is available in the diverse faculty within the epilepsy division. Guidance and support is available for epilepsy certification examination preparation. Upon successful completion, fellows will have gained comprehensive expertise in epilepsy management, making them eligible for board certification and well-prepared for careers in academia or clinical practice.

Click on the link to learn more about the Division of Epilepsy and its faculty.

Applicants must have successfully completed an ACGME-accredited neurology or child neurology residency program, an AOA-approved neurology or child neurology residency program, a neurology or child neurology program with ACGME International Advanced Speciality Accreditaion, or a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada-accredited or College of Family Physicians of Canada-accredited neurology or child neurology residency program located in Canada. Applicants must also have successfully passed through USMLE Step 3 or COMLEX Level 3.

Any applicants unable to begin training by July 1^st of the appointment year must notify the program coordinator and program director before their interview. Approval for off-cycle training will be granted by the GME office on a case by case basis.

One fellowship position becomes available beginning July 1 each year.

We are no longer accepting applications for the 2025-26 academic year. Our Epilepsy fellowship program will resume recruitment using the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), and applications will only be accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for the academic year 2026-27. 

If you have additional questions please don't hesitate to reach out.

Kelsey Schneider, Fellowship Program Coordinator
Email: Kelsey.Schneider@vcuhealth.org

 

Zubeda Sheikh, Program Director
Email: Zubeda.Sheikh@vcuhealth.org

 

Phillip Gastrell, Assistant Program Director
Email: Phillip.Gastrell@vcuhealth.org 

Cimy Jacob, MD

2020-2021

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Pittsburgh, PA

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Latangela Smith, DO

2019-2020

Vidant Medical Center. Greenville, NC

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Diana Oyoung-Oliver, DO

2018-2019

UC Health Longmont, CO

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Muhammad Bhatti, MD

2017-2018

Geinsenger Medical Center. Danville, PA

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Ammar Hussain, MD

2016-2017

The University of North Carolina.  Chapel Hill, NC
AdventHealth Medical Group Epilepsy.  Orlando, FL

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Kenichiro Ono, DO

2015-2016

Virginia Commonwealth University.  Richmond, VA
Richmond VA Medical Center.  Richmond, VA