Neurosurgery Residents Place Second in National Competition

A team from The University of Kentucky's Neurosurgery Residents program placed second in their first year of competition at The Congress of Neurological Surgery Resident Academic Competition. Dr. Steven Grupke and Dr. Farhan Mirza were the two residents selected for the team. The live competition, which was held at the annual congress in Boston in Oct. 15-22, featured the top nine teams from an initial pool of 105 neurosurgery resident programs from the United States and Canada. The elimination process for the competition began with year-long serious of multiple timed internet quizzes about neurology. The finals were formatted like a college bowl with rapid-fire questions. Points were awarded to the team who buzzed in first and correctly answered the question. For incomplete or wrong answers points were deducted. In the semifinals, UK dominated Thomas Jefferson and Cedars-Sinai by more than 100 points before losing to Walter-Reed in the finals (1,600-1,100). "We in Neurosurgery are very proud of this showing and the positive statement this makes about the academic excellence of our program here in Lexington. Our congratulations go out to Drs. Grupke and Mirza, and to Program Director Dr. Thomas Pittman," said Dr. Phillip Tibbs, chair for the Department of Neurology and director of the UK Spine Center. "UK bested 103 of 105 of the teams in the competition, including powerhouses like Yale, Harvard, Duke, and the Mayo Clinic." The dream team plans to compete in next year's competition. "Now that they have been exposed to the format in person, who knows what will happen?" said Tibbs.