A child in a wheelchair smiling and interacting with a hospital staff member

Neuromuscular Program

The Neuromuscular Program under the Division of Neurology and the Garry Hurvitz Centre for Brain & Mental Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) provides individualized care for children and adolescents with neuromuscular conditions.

Our Neuromuscular Clinic is a multidisciplinary clinic that sees patients who are diagnosed or are showing symptoms of a paediatric neuromuscular condition. The clinic allows our patients and families to access diagnostic testing, including genetic testing, electromyography (EMG), nerve conduction velocity studies (NCS), muscle and nerve ultrasound, lumbar punctures, muscle biopsies and MRI testing, as well as education on their neuromuscular condition and associated care.

Research

The Neuromuscular Program is dedicated to bringing cutting-edge research and clinical trials to the paediatric neuromuscular community. Our research currently focuses on the following conditions:

Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
Congenital myopathy
Charcot-Marie-Tooth

Education and training opportunities

The Neuromuscular Program is committed to providing education to residents, trainees and nursing students to train future neuromuscular specialists around the world. Our team consists of individuals from a diverse mix of training backgrounds, research and clinical interests, and career stages, allowing for excellent mentorship of our learners.

Paediatric Neuromuscular Fellowship Program

The Paediatric Neuromuscular Fellowship Program at SickKids is a one-year fellowship, with the possibility of extension to a second year, and accepts two fellows each year (one in January and the second in July). The program is designed to provide training in diagnosis and management of paediatric neuromuscular conditions. The fellowship will also provide an opportunity to be part of different clinical trials, with a focus on gene therapy.

During each week, fellows will be participating in three neuromuscular clinics. After mastering the basic principles of NCS, EMG and muscle and nerve ultrasound, each fellow will be expected to run their own supervised EMG clinic (once a week). Trainees will be participating in weekly EMG rounds, weekly neuromuscular pathology rounds, journal clubs and teaching sessions.

We have a variety of different specialized multidisciplinary clinics such as the Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and Charcot-Marie Tooth clinics, along with a joint Genetics-Neuromuscular clinic. In collaboration with St. Michael’s Hospital and Sunnybrook Hospital, trainees will also be exposed to adult neuromuscular clinics since we consider it especially important to have exposure to the whole spectrum of this group of disorders.

At the conclusion of the fellowship, trainees will have acquired profound knowledge in genetics/molecular biology, EMG/NCVs, ultrasound, neuromuscular imaging (MRI, CT), pathology and rehabilitation of neuromuscular conditions. Upon completion, the trainee will be eligible to take the CSCN EMG board examination.

Our Neuromuscular Program has a strong educational commitment and a strong clinical and translational research collaboration with different departments across the hospital. Although this is mainly a clinical fellowship, we will encourage the trainee to be involved in clinical or translational research.

The successful candidate must demonstrate:

Completion of residency in Neurology/Child Neurology or Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Fluency in both spoken and written English
Completion of a successful interview with the Neuromuscular Program team (in person or online)

The applicant must complete the Neurology Fellowship Application Form. Applicants will be asked to submit the following as part of the form:

Current CV
Letter of intent
Medical degree (a notarized translation of medical degree, if needed)
Academic transcript
Paediatrics or Neurology subspecialty certificate (a notarized translation of subspecialty certificate, if needed)
Choose between Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation or Neurology (adult or paediatric)
English proficiency test (if needed)
Passport (for international students)
3 reference letters

If an applicant is self-funded, a copy of the sponsorship letter is required.