Cognitive Fellowship
Our Mission
To educate fellows in the assessment, diagnosis and management of behavioural and cognitive disorders, with a focus on neurological and vascular causes of neurodegeneration. To provide training in research on neurodegenerative and vascular causes of cognitive impairment.
Dr. Eric E. Smith, MD, MPH
Katthy Taylor Chair in Vascular Dementia
How to Apply
Check Program Requirements
You're required to have completed residency training in:
(1) Neurology,
(2) Psychiatry,
(3) Internal Medicine, or
(4) Geriatrics
Obtain Necessary Documentation
Applicants should provide:
(1) A letter of intent,
(2) CV, and
(3) Documentation of good standing in an appropriate residency program
Submit Your Application
Please send your application to the Program Director, Dr. Eric Smith, with copy to Dr. Jolene Phelps.
Dr. Eric Smith: eesmith@ucalgary.ca
Mr. Liam Harrison: liam.harrison1@ucalgary.ca
Are you an International Applicant?
For more information on eligibility and the application procedure, please refer to 'Clinical Fellowships for International Medical Graduates'.
Term of Appointment
Fellowships will last either 1 year (clinical plus research) or 2 years (research intensive).
Conditional Promotion
Promotion to the 2nd year, when appropriate, is conditional on satisfactory standing during the first year.
Rotations and Activities
Clinic Blocks
Clinical/Research Fellows will typically do five half-day clinics per week at two sites: the Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) and South Health Campus (SHC). The Fellow will see new patient referrals, under the supervision of one of nine Cognitive Neurosciences Clinic (CNC) attendings (six at FMC, three at SHC). The Fellow will see patients on his/her own and then review with one of the CNC attendings.
Neuropsychology
The Fellow will spend two days minimum in the FMC Neuropsychology department, under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Burton. The Fellow will view psychometric assessments and will participate with the neuropsychologist in formulating clinical diagnoses and reports.
Neuropsychiatry Consult Service
The Fellow will have the option to do up to four weeks of inpatient neuropsychiatry consultations at FMC with Dr. Aaron Mackie or Dr. Brienne McLane.
Personal Learning Project
The Fellow will select a topic of their choice in cognitive disorders or cognitive neuroscience, perform a systematic literature review, and prepare a one hour presentation for academic dementia rounds at FMC. The topic must be approved by a Cognitive Neurosciences Program attending. Minimum one project per year.
Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine
The Fellow will spend two weeks interpreting FDG-PET, CT, and MRI studies. Additionally, the Fellow will attend Dementia Clinical.
Neuropathology
The Fellow will be on call for Cognitive Neurosciences Clinic patients that undergo brain autopsy and brain banking. When a case is identified, the Fellow will attend brain cutting and gross neuropathological examination, and later review the slides with the Neuropathology attending.
Academic Project
The Fellow will carry out an academic project under the mentorship of a CNC attending. This project may consist of original research or an implementation of an innovation in clinical care, clinical systems, or education.
For original research projects, the Fellow will be expected to formulate a hypothesis, design a study to test the hypothesis, analyze research data, and make conclusions, with the goal of presenting their data at a national or international meeting with publication in peer-reviewed literature.
For projects related to analysis of research data, the Fellow will be asked to leverage data collected as part of multiple ongoing research programs within the Cognitive Neurosciences Program.
For all Fellows, up to two half-days per week will be spent in screening, recruiting, and assessing participants in observational studies and clinical trials.
Rounds
Attendance is required at multidisciplinary case rounds, dementia-neuroradiology case conference, dementia academic rounds and Cognitive Neurosciences Program research rounds. The Fellow is encouraged to attend other rounds.
For more details, please see the 'Rounds' section below.
Rounds
- Day(s): Every Monday
- Time: 12:00 - 1:00 PM
- Location: Zoom
Review of neuroimaging of CNC patients, with neuoradiologists and nuclear medicine physicians.
- Day(s): Every Second Friday of Every Month
- Time: 12:00 - 1:00 PM
- Location: Zoom
Academic topic in cognitive disorders or dementia, with invited international/national or local speakers.
- Day(s): Monday
- Time: 10:30 - 11:30 AM
- Location: Zoom
Weekly update on research activities.
- Day(s): Friday
- Time: 8:00 - 10:00 AM
- Location: Zoom
Cognitive Fellowship Research Training Opportunities
Research training is available under Drs. Philip Barber, Aravind Ganesh, Zahinoor Ismail, Dallas Seitz, and Eric Smith. A brief description of each of the research programs can be seen below.
Dr. Barber is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology at the University of Calgary, Director of the Calgary Stroke Prevention Clinic, and a member of the Calgary Stroke Program. His primary research interests include acute stroke evolution, biomarkers and MRI surrogates of cerebrovascular disease and neurodegeneration, and longitudinal case control studies. In his research he uses MR neuroimaging, cerebral spinal fluid outcome measures of Alzheimer’s disease to investigate the effects of vascular risk factors and stroke on structural changes of the brain that lead to whole brain and regional brain atrophy in healthy populations and in patients with transient ischemic attack. Key research studies include the Predementia Neuroimaging of Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) (PREVENT) study, which is a prospective, longitudinal, case controlled study designed to determine preclinical detection of dementia in subjects at high risk of the condition many years before it develops; and the Immune Mediated Pathways and Cognitive Trajectory with Blood Brain Barrier dysfunction (IMPaCT-BBB) study, which explores early and chronically elevated BBB dysfunction and its effect on progression of cerebral small vessel disease (cVSD), the trajectory of cognitive decline mediated through pre-existing brain disease (atrophy, cSVD, Amyloid, Tau), and post-stroke peripheral immune response.
Dr. Aravind Ganesh is a Vascular and Cognitive Neurologist. Dr. Ganesh is a Fellow of the Canadian Stroke Consortium and is actively involved in the development of best-practice guidelines for stroke and dementia care. His clinical research is focused on the natural history, prevention, and treatment of stroke and cognitive impairment.
Cognitive fellowship research training in the Ismail lab entails clinical research and secondary data analyses across the cognitive spectrum, ranging from normal cognition through subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and syndromic dementia. Our primary projects entail the use of non-cognitive markers for dementia detection and prognostication. These markers include behaviour, gait, hearing, and frailty, etc. with outcomes of neuropsychological testing, and fluid biomarkers (e.g., plasma amyloid, p-tau, NfL, urine metabolomics, stool for gut biome). We also have caregiver and care partner-focused research through the CAN-PROTECT study, a nationwide online cohort of brain aging, and a clinical trials program for neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias. This includes an apathy clinical trial in all-cause dementia with a dopaminergic agonist, an agitation trial for AD with a serotonergic agent, and an agitation trial in AD using a cannabinoid medication.
Dr. Seitz is a Professor of Psychiatry and Community Health Sciences, in the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. He is the immediate past president of the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry. His research examines health service and knowledge translation in geriatric mental health. Dr. Seitz is actively involved in the development of health system strategies, guidelines and policies related to seniors and mental health at both the provincial and national level.
Major themes of my research are vascular contributions to cognitive decline and aging, cerebral small vessel disease, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Much of my research uses MRI neuroimaging of markers of cerebral small vessel disease to understand cognitive and other outcomes in cohorts in the general population and with cognitive disorders such as MCI and dementia. My lab website is https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/labs/smith-research. Current openings for student-run projects are: a) prevalence of vascular brain injury in persons with (n=300) and without (n=300) community COVID infection and relationship to cognitive decline, b) prevalence of CAA by Boston criteria 2.0 and 1.5 in patients with normal cognition, MCI, and dementia in the CCNA COMPASS-ND study, c) clinical outcomes in persons diagnosed with silent brain infarction and white matter lesions of presumed vascular origin on routine clinical imaging in Alberta, and d) association of vascular brain injury with mild behavioural impairment in the CCNA COMPASS-ND study.
Former Fellows & Visiting Researchers
Cognitive Neurosciences Fellowship Alumni
Quentin Collier
Landon Perlett, MD
Cognitive and General Neurologist, Alberta Neurologic Centre (Calgary, AB)
Years of Fellowship: 2021 - 2023
About Me:
I am a cognitive behavioural neurologist with an interest in upstream medicine to reduce risks of contracting neurodegenerative diseases as well as in technology, such as virtual/augmented reality or artificial intelligence, to allow individuals to adapt to changes in their cognition. As a Métis person, I hope to work with aboriginal populations with neurologic concerns. I now live in Calgary and am starting a full time practice with the Alberta Neurologic Centre, one of the clinics I was fortunate to be able to train while completing fellowship.
How did this program help you achieve success? What did you like about the program?
The Cognitive Behavioural fellowship at the U of C was an open and well rounded experience. Being able to work alongside both neurologists and psychiatrists, as well as other allied health members, allowed me to see many different facets and approaches to dementia care. The weekly dementia radiology rounds was a collaborative learning experience where physicians could discuss challenging cases and provide support to one another while aiming to make the best diagnoses for the patients. I felt greatly supported to explore my interest and help create a pilot program for the ketogenic diet for Alzheimer's disease, and I was able to work independently with my own patients each week with daily review from senior staff. I was involved in clinical care, assisted with different areas of research such as writing or reviewing patients for RCTs, and recruited physicians or researchers to speak at our monthly Dementia Rounds. By the end of training I was well equipped to assess, test, investigate, and treat neurodegenerative disease and varying cognitive concerns.
Quentin Collier
Sophie Del Degan, MD
Internist-Geriatrician, Department of Medicine, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (Montréal, QC)
Adjunct Clinical Professor, Université de Montréal (Montréal, QC)
Years of Fellowship: 2021 - 2022
About Me:
I am an internist-geriatrician in a francophone university hospital in Montréal. I have various clinical tasks such as working on an ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) unit, doing consultations at the emergency department and co-managing hospitalized patients in specialities other than geriatric medicine. I also work at the geriatric medicine outpatient clinic and specifically at the memory clinic, where I supervise residents doing an elective rotation in cognitive neurosciences. I have a great interest in teaching, and I am currently completing a Master of Education in university pedagogy for medical sciences, at the Université de Montréal.
How did this program help you achieve success? What did you like about the program?
I learned so much during my fellowship, both at the Cognitive Neurosciences Clinic (CNC) and in the Healthy Brain Aging Labs. All the physicians I worked with at the Foothills Medical Center (FMC), South Health Campus (SHC) and Alberta Neurologic Center were generous teachers who trusted me to assess patients independently, while always being near to help me. Dr. Eric Smith was an amazing fellowship director who gave me a lot of freedom to adapt the fellowship to my specific learning needs. I was then able to work at the Stroke Prevention Clinic (SPC), with radiologist specialized in cerebral PET, in neuropsychology and to attend brain autopsies, among others! I particularly liked having a clinic with my own patients, under Dr. Alicja Cieslak’s supervision. I also really liked my radiology learning sessions with Dr. Smith and with Dr. Feryal Saad, where I learned to read brain MRIs on my own and to diagnose several conditions, such as acute strokes and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Everyone at the clinic and in the labs made me feel welcomed and part of the team.
I am now comfortable assessing patients with both typical and atypical cognitive symptoms, whether they are hospitalized or at the memory clinic. Thanks to the fellowship, I can give them the best care, which includes investigations, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. I also presented to the CHUM Department of Medicine on cerebral amyloid angiopathy. My colleagues regularly ask my opinion on vascular dementia cases, and I was even recently referred a cerebral amyloid angiopathy case for a second opinion!
Dr. Eric Smith was an amazing fellowship director who gave me a lot of freedom to adapt the fellowship to my specific learning needs.
Aravind Ganesh, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Neurologist (Stroke & Cognition/Aging) and Research Scientist, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary (Calgary, AB)
Years of Fellowship: 2020 - 2021
About Me:
I am a clinician-scientist studying the identification, prevention, and treatment of vascular cognitive impairment using imaging, cohort studies, and clinical trials.
How did this program help you achieve success? What did you like about the program?
A great strength of this program is the wide breadth of clinical exposures provided through a highly eclectic group of cognitive neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, and geriatricians. The fellows are also well integrated into ongoing clinical trials and cohort studies, and this helped me better conceive my own research program.
Alicja Cieslak, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary (Calgary, AB)
Years of Fellowship: 2015 - 2017
About Me:
I completed my medical degree at the University of Alberta and residency in Neurology at the University of British Columbia. In July of 2015, I joined the University of Calgary Department of Clinical Neurosciences as a fellow in the Cognitive Neurosciences program. I participated in research and academic activities with fellowship co-supervisors Dr. Eric Smith and Dr. Zahinoor Ismail. During my fellowship, my research interests included reviewing therapeutic strategies for Vascular Cognitive Impairment as well as contributing to the understanding of Mild Behavioural Impairment as a prodromal syndrome of neurodegenerative diseases that affect cognition and behavior.
I joined the Cognitive Neurosciences clinic after completion of her fellowship in June of 2017. Later that year, I also joined the Movement Disorders clinic, where I follow patients with Parkinson’s disease and have applied my training in Cognitive Neurology to assess cognitive change in patients with advanced Parkinson disease and Parkinson Plus diseases. I also see patients in the General and Urgent Neurology clinics.
How did this program help you achieve success? What did you like about the program?
I really enjoyed the program and gained both clinical and research skills during the fellowship, which certainly led to my success in continuing to pursue Cognitive Neurology as a subspeciality career in Neurology. I feel fortunate to have been offered a position as a member of the Cognitive Neurology team after completing my fellowship in 2017. There are many aspects that I enjoyed about the fellowship, a major one being the opportunity to work with Dr. Smith and his research team and as well as with Dr. Ismail. I had both the opportunity to be involved in research that resulted in publication as well to gain clinical skills by working with each of the physicians who worked in the Cognitive Neurosciences clinics during my fellowship. I had the opportunity to learn from Neuroradiologists with expertise in interpreting neuroimaging modalities, including FDG PET scan, in both one on one teaching sessions and during our Neuroradiology dementia case rounds. During clinical assessments, I learned about the interpretation of CSF biomarkers in Alzheimer disease. Finally, I had the opportunity to present at our Dementia Academic rounds and present my research at conferences. Throughout my training, I felt like a valued team member; the working environment was positive and supportive.
During my time in the fellowship program, I gained skills both in clinical and research aspects of Cognitive Neurology. I’ve very thankful to Dr. Eric Smith and Dr. Zahinoor Ismail for their supportive mentorship and the opportunity to purse a career in Cognitive Neurology.
Visiting Researchers Alumni
Quentin Collier
Chih-Hao (Antony) Chen, MD, PhD
Attending Physician, Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital (Taipei, Taiwan)
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan)
Years of Fellowship: 2021 - 2023
About Me:
I am a stroke neurology trained in National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. My clinical service included acute stroke and neurocritical care, as well as outpatient stroke clinic. My research interests includes acute reperfusion therapy, clinical and imaging analyses of cerebral small vessel disease with a special focus on CADASIL, a hereditary cause of stroke. I also participated in the establishment of the Taiwan CADASIL cohort.0
How did this program help you achieve success? What did you like about the program?
One aspect I’ve learned a lot was how to document the MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease systematically and accurately. Dr. Smith and Dr. Feryal Saad both helped me since day one, with a special design imaging review training manual. This helped me build my own imaging report form best suitable for our CADASIL or stroke patients in Taiwan. Another thing I appreciated was how to conduct a principal investigator-initiated clinical trial. I had the privilege in participating Prof. Smith’s TRIC-VCI trial, from which I learned how to design the trial, to coordinate between sites, and to keep track of the quality and progress of the trial.
Although not trained in Canada, I felt completely comfortable and a sense of belonging to the team. The team members are very energetic, friendly, and always willing to help. I especially enjoyed the BBQ party at Dr. Smith’s house, and I’ll always miss his insightful talks (and jokes)!