Neurosurgery Residency Program

The Yale Neurosurgery Residency Program is committed to training the best and brightest resident physicians to becoming capable, competent, safe neurosurgeons who will be exceptional leaders in our field.

Dr. Michael DiLuna, Neurosurgery Residency Program Director, and Dr. Joseph King, Jr., Associate Program Director, work with faculty and residents on the Education Committee, clinical and research faculty, and with Chair Dr. Murat Günel, to ensure an educational experience for each neurosurgery resident that provides them with the skills, knowledge, and judgement to serve as a foundation to achieve their career goals in neurosurgery. The Department wishes to thank Dr. Charles Duncan for his 18 years of service as the Program Director for the residency program.

The Yale Neurosurgery Residency Program is a 7-year program and currently accepts 2 residents per year. Residents receive broad and comprehensive training in all neurosurgical domains, achieving confidence in the ability to independently diagnose and treat patients with all types of neurosurgical conditions.

Under our relatively new leadership, the Yale Department of Neurosurgery has benefited from significant clinical growth and expansion in a short period of time.

We have doubled our clinical faculty to 20 full-time neurosurgeons, who now have a presence beyond New Haven, providing coverage at 10 hospitals throughout the state of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Residents primarily rotate at New Haven-based hospitals (see below), but benefit from the transfer of more complex cases from other health system hospitals to New Haven.

Our case volume has more than doubled and consists of a wide range of surgical cases. Community neurosurgeons throughout New England often refer cases of particular complexity, such as spinal deformity, complex brain tumors and neurovascular cases, and cases that benefit from our subspecialty expertise and infrastructure, including our hybrid OR with intra-operative angiography and MRI capabilities.

• We have substantially increased mid-level provider support in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, allowing residents to focus on learning in the operating room as a top priority.

Our residents receive cutting-edge surgical and clinical experience at our main hospitals:

• Yale New Haven Hospital - York Street Campus
• Yale New Haven Hospital - St. Raphael’s Campus
• Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven
• Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital
• VA Connecticut Healthcare System - West Haven Campus

• Early OR experience, with dedicated and protected operative rotations beginning intern year
• Two years of protected academic time embedded in the residency with flexibility and support in choosing an academic endeavor specific to the resident and his/her interests, including basic or clinical sciences, advanced degrees, such as MBAs and MPHs or enfolded fellowships
• Our Department continues to rank among the top NIH-funded neurosurgical departments in the country.
• Our residents consistently receive national clinical and research awards, including a strong track record with AANS/CNS awards and grants.
• Nearly all recent graduates have gone on to take highly competitive fellowships or academic positions.