Program Overview

The Child Neurology Residency Program at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children trains child neurology residents to provide compassionate, evidence-based, and cost-effective care to children with neurologic conditions. Residents are exposed to a variety of clinical experiences including bread-and-butter outpatient neurology as well as rare diseases, with a range of acuities, which help them to develop the skills necessary to diagnose and treat primary neurological disorders as well as the neurological complications of medical and surgical conditions. The program provides an academic environment conducive to the development of clinical, educational, and research skills. Residents have abundant support from their attendings but are encouraged to develop independence in practice. We also foster an atmosphere of wellness and promote a work-life balance.

Our graduating residents are well-prepared for the autonomous practice of child neurology in both academic and private practice environments. Former graduates have gone on to subspecialty fellowships and appointments at high-ranking institutions such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Boston Children’s Hospital.

The program is now accepting 2 residents per year and enrolls applicants for a 5-year categorical experience that includes 2 years of general pediatrics, 1 year of adult neurology, and 2 years of child neurology.

  • Daphne M Hasbani, MD, PhD

    Program Director Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics Drexel University College of Medicine View profile
  • Division Chief for the Section of Neurology, Associate Program Director Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Drexel University College of Medicine View profile

Program Coordinator

Kimberly Abrams
Kimberly.Abrams@towerhealth.org
215-427-8812

Applications and Interview Process

All applications to the Child Neurology Program must be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for a 5-year combined program (categorical). Separate application to General Pediatrics Residency is not required. We typically interview applicants for categorical positions only unless we have vacant positions from previous years to fill. Availability of noncategorical positions is posted on ERAS, FREIDA, and the Child Neurology Society training program site.

Interviews will last for half a day and will be held from November through January. We are offering interviews on several days of the week with the option of morning or afternoon sessions to accommodate different schedules. All interviews will be virtual (no in-person interviews). You will receive more information on the interview day when you are invited for an interview.

Section of Child Neurology

The Section of Neurology is very active both clinically and academically. The section sees approximately 8000 outpatient visits and 800 inpatient admissions/consults per year. The neurology physicians, nurse practitioners, neuropsychologists, social worker, and administrative support staff all work together as a family to deliver comprehensive and compassionate care to our patients. St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is located in one of the economically poorest communities in the country with a largely Hispanic population. Our mission echoes the mission of the hospital to deliver the best neurologic care to the underserved community we share.

The Section of Neurology enjoys seeing general neurology patients in addition to subspecialties including neuromuscular diseases, sleep medicine, and refractory epilepsy. We are active members of the St. Christopher’s community and approach patients with a multidisciplinary mindset. To that end, we actively collaborate with other team members such as cardiology and rehabilitation services for children with neuromuscular diseases, or the metabolic dietician and neurosurgery for nonmedical treatments for refractory epilepsy such as the ketogenic diet and epilepsy surgery.

The members of the section are prolific citizens of the scientific community, presenting abstracts yearly at national and international scientific meetings and publishing original research articles, invited reviews, and book chapters. Residents are actively involved in this scholarly activity. Main areas of clinical research include metabolic disorders, epilepsy, and sleep disorders. Basic research interests of the section are brain tumors and mitochondrial disorders.