About Us

Missions and Goals

The Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Department of Neurology serves as the premier neurological center for the state of West Virginia and the surrounding region. It is committed to providing outstanding tertiary neurological care to patients, teach medical students and residents and carry out neurological research.

Neurology has a large cadre of neurologists with a variety of sub-specialty expertise including epilepsy, neuromuscular diseases, cerebral vascular diseases, movement disorders, child neurology and behavioral disorders. Strong programs in Neuroradiology, Neurosurgery and Neuropathology support the Department of Neurology in carrying out its clinical and research missions. This includes interdisciplinary programs that involve epilepsy monitoring and surgery, deep brain stimulation for movement disorders and interventional stroke therapy.

The faculty are committed to a strong teaching program. This is directed at medical students, neurology residents and fellows in headache and vascular neurology. Active research program exist in the department's sub-specialty sections.

The Department of Neurology maintains active inpatient and outpatient services. In addition, it maintains and supervises the clinical neurophysiology (EEG, EMG and autonomic testing) laboratory, inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit and sleep laboratory. The department has approximately 950 hospital admissions and sees approximately 20,000 outpatients annually.

Letter from the Chair

The Department of Neurology in the WVU School of Medicine, founded in 1965, represents the major neurological referral center in West Virginia. Areas of subspecialty expertise include neuromuscular diseases, epilepsy, headache medicine, multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, neuro-oncology, clinical neurophysiology, movement disorders, stroke and neuro-critical care.

In addition to providing outstanding patient care, we are dedicated to the education of residents and students. Teaching is done in small group lecture, inpatient rounds and outpatient clinic settings, and the teaching environment is a very personal and friendly one. Residents and students have the opportunity to work with patients with a wide variety of neurological conditions.

The Department of Neurology is actively engaged in clinical research in a variety of subspecialty areas. Residents are encouraged to participate as co-investigators, or even to develop their own project. Many of our residents have published journal articles and case reports, and every year many residents’ present posters at regional and national conferences.

In addition to clinical research, interested residents have the opportunity to collaborate with the WVU Center for Neurosciences in more basic or traditional research.

In addition to our rich academic environment, West Virginia is a beautiful state with an abundance of outdoor recreational offerings, including boating, camping, fishing, skiing, hiking and biking opportunities only minutes away. Morgantown is a beautiful, small town and is consistently rated as one of the top college towns in America. This combination of excellence in patient care, teaching and research opportunities coupled with a wonderful lifestyle make this a great place to practice and play.

David B. Watson, MD, FAAN, FAHS

Chair, Department of Neurology