Neuroscience Curriculum Research Articles

Abstract #20: Neuroscience Curriculum Development based on Neuromodulation as a Stepping Stone Towards Modernizing K-12 Education and Outreach Efforts to Bring Public Awareness of Emerging Neuromodulation Technologies

Abstract #20: Neuroscience Curriculum Development based on Neuromodulation as a Stepping Stone Towards Modernizing K-12 Education and Outreach Efforts to Bring Public Awareness of Emerging Neuromodulation Technologies

M12 - PAVING THE WAY FOR PRECISION MEDICINE IN PSYCHIATRY – DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A UNIFIED RARE GENETICS CURRICULUM

Background This is an exciting time in psychiatry. For the last few years, we have been witnessing an accelerated pace of genetic discoveries that are redefining our understanding of mental health disorders spanning from autism to schizophrenia. Insights have come from common and rare genetics alike, fueled by techniques that have a higher resolution and a lower cost. However, most psychiatrists were trained in an era that preceded this cutting-edge work, and psychiatry residency and fellowship programs have not yet integrated this new information into their curricula. Current challenges include determining unified content areas that should be known by psychiatrists, as well as implementing the delivery and teaching of these concepts using principles of adult learning. Here, we describe joint efforts to address this practice gap, using rare genetics as a vehicle. Methods Multiple stakeholders have gotten together to address this issue. The Education Taskforce of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) was formed to identify and standardize key content areas that should be covered in psychiatry training programs across the globe, while the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (NNCI) has focused on implementing the delivery of this content. As a joint effort, we have developed an interactive case conference tailored towards teaching principles and applications of rare genetics in psychiatry, using autism as an example to provide clinical correlation and applicability of this knowledge. We designed the module using the NNCI standards, and included supporting media and guidance for facilitators to allow for this material to be free-standing and independent from local expertise for its delivery. We administered this exercise to 300 psychiatry residents, fellows, and psychiatry program directors at diverse settings, and obtained pre and post knowledge assessments, as well as qualitative data on impressions and utility of the module. Results Our preliminary results showed an overall low genetic literacy among all surveyed groups in the pre-assessments, followed by a high retention of content after the exercise, with detailed analyses underway. We also obtained positive qualitative feedback, which included an increased appreciation for the clinical relevance of this knowledge and satisfaction with the method of delivery. Discussion Our results were in agreement with our hypothesis of low genetic literacy across psychiatry, which justifies the need for increased efforts to standardize and deliver this knowledge. We showed that the module was well received and feasibly applied with local resources within diverse settings, and led to increased genetics knowledge in participants. This highlights the importance of blending key content with sound pedagogical methods and maintaining the clinical grounding of exercises, and underscores the relevance of modest and attainable learning objectives. The approach used here, for which collaborations between the ISPG Education Taskforce and the NNCI were key, could easily be adapted and broadly generalized for other core competencies in genetics.

Media Talks: Communicating the Neuroscience Underpinnings of Popular Media Stories.

Media Talks: Communicating the Neuroscience Underpinnings of Popular Media Stories.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Integrated Educational Module of Applications of Nanotechnology in Curriculum of Neuroscience Residents in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Background and Objective: The use of nanotechnology in neuroscience research is considered as an essential requirement while neuroscience students have little information in this regard and their educational program less addressed the applications of new technologies in research. Considering this need and by relying on the development of new educational methods, we aimed to design and implement an elective and integrated educational course for neuroscience students in Tehran University of Medical Sciences and then, assessed the level of satisfaction of learners with the course. Materials and Methods: In order to design the curriculum, the Kern's six-step model was applied for curriculum development. In total, 15 neuroscience PhD students were entered into the research, educational needs of whom were determined. After determining the learning goals and outcomes, the educational contents were established and presented in the form of a workshop. In addition, the degree of satisfaction with the method was evaluated by a structured questionnaire designed by the team of lecturers using the Likert scale. Results: Analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaires showed that more than 80% of the learners were satisfied with the course and recommended it to other students in the field. Furthermore, the professors emphasized the unique experience of individuals and superiority of the method to traditional teaching techniques in discussions. Conclusion: The results of the program indicated that the module was successful in attracting the student satisfaction, and can encourage educators to use new educational strategies in neuroscience curriculum to help the researchers of the field. The continuation of implementation of this module is suggested for the target group in various educational years.

Sowing the seeds of Neuroscience Middle School Curriculum Program: Learning about the Nervous System Using Medicinal Plants

Educators are increasingly looking to neuroscience for guidance to improve classroom instruction and to teach their students about the nervous system. Although materials to assist teachers are available, many educators still have misconceptions about the brain. Twenty-three middle school teachers were trained to use the Sowing the Seeds of Neuroscience (neuroseeds.org) curriculum in their sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classrooms. The novel, hands-on, interactive lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core standards. The curriculum uses the “5Es” model of instruction to study the neuroactive properties of plants and increase students’ neuroscience literacy. The lessons are designed to be culturally responsive by encouraging students to bridge their home and school experiences through an examination of medicinal plants used by their families, communities, and/or ancestors. Student pretest-posttest (N=1,240) results revealed that students significantly improved their neuroscience content knowledge after participating in the Sowing the Seeds of Neuroscience curriculum program. These findings suggest that this curriculum program is a promising resource for middle school educators who want to improve their students’ neuroscience literacy.

What's happening in Without Borders

We are aware of the increasing shortage of neurologists practicing in the United States,1 but in some low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), such as Cambodia, the number of practicing specialists may be in the single digits. In a recent Global stuff you should know titled “Bringing neuroscience to Cambodia,” Dr. Soma Sahai-Srivastava outlined the need for her summer teaching program and follows with information on the program that will begin its 5th year in July 2018. “In my many trips to Cambodia in the last decade, volunteering solo, I realized that there are no short-term volunteering opportunities for neurology clinical care, unlike other specialties like emergency medicine, pediatrics, surgery, etc. No neurology outpatient clinics or inpatient specialized programs existed until recently. There were only 3 neurologists in the country in 2012.2 The first internal medicine residency program launched in 2011 and there are still no adult or pediatric neurology residency programs. There is one pediatric neurosurgeon and no pediatric neurologists in the entire country. There is a lack of commonly prescribed neurologic medications (e.g., phenytoin and phenobarbital are the only antiepileptics available at the public hospitals). Under these circumstances, I realized that rather than volunteering in clinics treating individual patients, the first priority was neuroscience education and curriculum development at all levels: undergraduate, medical school, and postgraduate.”

A Multimedia Dissection Module for Scalp, Meninges, and Dural Partitions

For students beginning their medical education, the neuroscience curriculum is frequently seen as the most difficult, and many express an aversion to the topic. A major reason for this aversion amongst learners is the perceived complexity of neuroanatomy. By means of a video tutorial, this module aims to help students feel confident with the cadaveric dissection and identification of key anatomical structures as well as improve comprehension of associated clinical correlations presented for the scalp, meninges, and dural partitions. The authors expanded upon an established neuroscience curriculum, designed for first-year medical students, with the addition of a dissection video tutorial. A survey was provided to all students for feedback. Of 36 students who participated in the survey, a majority (72%, n = 26) rated the video tutorial 5 out of 5 for helpfulness, and 53% (n = 19) rated the video 4 out of 5 for perceived confidence after viewing prior to the dissection. Most students viewed the tutorial only once prior to the dissection. This video tutorial focuses on the structures and clinical correlations related to the scalp, meninges, and dura; provides useful graphics for identification of checklisted structures for predissection preparation; and serves as a succinct step-by-step guide for the dissection and as a study aid for review. Its addition to the already established curriculum was well received by the student group, a majority of whom found it helpful and had a high level of perceived confidence prior to the start of the dissection.

From Healthcare to Warfare and Reverse: How Should We Regulate Dual-Use Neurotechnology?

Recent advances in military-funded neurotechnology and novel opportunities for misusing neurodevices show that the problem of dual use is inherent to neuroscience. This paper discusses how the neuroscience community should respond to these dilemmas and delineates a neuroscience-specific biosecurity framework. This neurosecurity framework involves calibrated regulation, (neuro)ethical guidelines, and awareness-raising activities within the scientific community.

The Utility of Neuroscience in Educating Families About Adolescent Mental Health

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article CommentaryNo AccessThe Utility of Neuroscience in Educating Families About Adolescent Mental HealthBharat Reddy Sampathi, B.A.Bharat Reddy SampathiSearch for more papers by this author, B.A.Published Online:1 Sep 2017https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2017.120906AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Hypothetical Case Scenario“Patient T” is a 17-year-old, first-generation Asian-American male brought to the clinic by distraught parents concerned about an “unbelievably disrespectful” lack of energy and motivation. The parents stated, “Our son refuses to work hard in school, his grades are very poor, and he doesn’t appreciate the hardships we had to endure to provide him with the life he lives. He claims he is tired, but we think he is outright lazy!” The patient’s symptoms began 6 to 9 months prior and include loss of appetite, fatigue, irritability, social isolation, and significant weight loss. You notice that he avoids eye contact and consistently defers answering your questions to his parents. After multiple visits and a thorough analysis, you conclude that the patient suffers from major depressive disorder.Explaining the patient’s condition to his parents proves to be difficult. They struggle to acknowledge the concept of mental health and consequently refuse the therapy and medication that their child may need. Furthermore, they ruminate on their child’s somatic symptoms and believe his current state is due to a physical ailment.How do you convince this patient’s parents of their child’s true predicament, especially when immediate medical attention is necessary?Introducing the concept of mental health to a family with stigma toward, or who are unfamiliar with, the topic is a challenging task that requires a longitudinal relationship. For example, mental health has been denounced for centuries in many Asian cultures; therefore, rooting your discussion in anatomical and physiological concepts may make this seemingly abstract topic more understandable (1, 2).The National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (http://www.nncionline.org/), funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, was created to help psychiatrists integrate neuroscience into their psychotherapy and psychopharmacology (3). Allowing psychiatrists to link brain circuits, brain function, and more into their treatment plans has created an avenue for communication with parents who might be in denial about their child’s struggles.At Stanford University, for example, I have observed psychiatrists using cross-sections of the adolescent brain depicting key structures and neurotransmitter pathways to demonstrate that each part of the brain is complexly intertwined. Consequently, parents are able to comprehend that what they might have labeled as “lazy and unmotivated” is actually a physical manifestation of depression due to a biological error such as the inadequate production of neurotransmitters. In order for their child to reach the academic potential they desire, they need to understand that the instigating causes must be addressed first.This form of communication is not revolutionary, but as a medical trainee, through such cases, I have realized that mental health is a delicate art. It’s much more than a stereotypical prescription for antidepressants or a few sessions of therapy. Rather, cases should be approached in an individual manner. If a family leaves your office feeling apprehensive or, even worse, in denial, then you have created an uphill battle for both your patient and yourself. In summary, for cases that resonate with the hypothetical scenario presented above, neuroscience will serve practitioners well.Bharat Sampathi is a third-year medical student at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, Calif.The author thanks Shashank Joshi, M.D., for his mentorship.

Integrating Clinical Neurosciences in a Psychiatry Residency Training Program: A Brief Report with Pilot Data.

A novel neuroscience curriculum was developed attempting to address the growing consensus that increased attention be given to incorporating clinical neuroscience in psychiatric residencies. Eight 2-h sessions delivered over 2 academic years were incorporated into the teaching curriculum at one institution in which residents participated in case-based clinical neuroscience learning. Each session utilized multimodal teaching methods facilitated by two senior psychiatry residents with support from a faculty mentor. A survey assessing resident comfort with clinical neurosciences was gathered over four timepoints during the 2-year period. There were 69 attendees in total across the four time points, with a 100% response rate to the surveys. There was a significant overall effect found, F(3,16)=12.64, p<.01, on resident comfort level between the four timepoints. There was a significant increase in comfort level at the third timepoint compared to the first two timepoints; however, there was a notable drop in comfort level between the third and fourth timepoint such that there was no statistically significant difference between the first and last timepoint. Nevertheless, despite mixed positive and negative responses on qualitative analysis, all residents supported the continuation of the course. Resident comfort level did not change appreciably with this curriculum; however, there was unanimous support for the continuation of the course in future years. Incorporating this type of curriculum is feasible in a medium-sized psychiatry residency program. Given that subjective comfort ratings are not indicative of actual competency, future work should include objective, competency-based outcomes.

Integration of Patients into First-year Neuroscience Medical Curriculum

BackgroundA medical neuroscience curriculum that integrates broad categorization of neurological diseases in the first year of medical education has a functional utility to strengthen the foundation of medical students in clinical neuroscience. Students–patients interactive activities could provide an understanding of core curricula for basic neuroscience and clinical neurology. MethodsTwelve neurological patients, with varying neurological diseases, volunteered to share their medical experiences with small groups of students in a 30-minute session. A debriefing segment with clinical and biomedical science faculty and students followed these sessions. Two structured student surveys – a pre and posttests were administered. Results98.5% of students agreed (85.5% of these students strongly agreed) that patient integration into the first-year neuroscience module provided real-life experiences that were helpful in their understanding of clinical neuroscience. 95.6% of students agreed that their ability to interact with a diverse group of neurological patients was improved. Prior to the students–patients interactive session, only 91.1% of students agreed (52.6% of these students strongly agreed) that patient integration would be beneficial in their understanding of clinical neuroscience. DiscussionThe integration of patients into the neuroscience module provides better understanding of clinical concepts in neuroscience. It facilitates a meaningful discussions, stimulated critical thinking in neuroscience, and increased students׳ insights into patient–physician relationships, even at year one in the medical school, with significant real-life experiences.

Psychiatry Resident and Program Director Perceptions of Neuroscience

The goal of this survey was to gain an understanding of perceptions and experiences of neuroscience for psychiatry residents. We administered a 30-item online survey. One hundred and nineteen participants responded, allowing for a margin of error of 8.4% at a 95% confidence interval. Half of respondents felt they were receiving adequate training in neuroscience (48%), with most reporting opportunities to participate in neuroscientific research (64.6%). However, few felt prepared to translate neuroscientific findings into practice (33%). Almost half of the participants indicated that the Royal College should develop a specific neuroscience curriculum (46%). These findings are subject to limitations inherent in survey studies, including possible bias of who responds and how responses are based off the participant’s perception of their own training environment, and the intent of the questions in the survey. Overall, findings support the idea that changes are needed to improve neuroscience literacy among residents in psychiatry.

A Comparison of Three Neuroscience Curriculum Models in an Osteopathic Medical School

ObjectiveNeuroscience has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past 20 years, including a substantial increase in the number of neuroscience departments, programs, and courses at the undergraduate level. To meet the need of new neuroscience courses, there has also been growth in the number of introductory neuroscience textbooks designed for undergraduates. However, textbooks typically trail current knowledge by five to ten years, especially in neuroscience where our understanding is increasing rapidly. Consequently, it is often important to supplement neuroscience and textbooks with information about recent findings in neuroscience. The purpose of this educational study is to compare 3 different models of teaching and evaluate their effectiveness as they are applied to get a better idea of how neuroscience education is being delivered.Methods3 Models of teaching were compared in this study; The Longitudinal model where the neuroscience course was taught separately, irrespective of the rest of the gross anatomy course, the Interdisciplinary model where the neuroscience course was taught as a single unit of different disciplines, irrespective of the other different courses and systems, and finally, the Interdisciplinary/system‐based model where the neuroscience course was taught as a single unit of different disciplines, following the system‐based curriculum adopted by the school. A retrospective study of the students’ grades and student's evaluation in surveys that were presented to postgraduate neuroscience students was conducted. These surveys were presented to students at the end of each neuroscience course in an Osteopathic Medical School between the years 2009 to 2015, regarding how the neuroscience education is being delivered.ResultsStudents have scored highest scores in the longitudinal model of teaching followed by the Interdisciplinary model and lastly by Interdisciplinary/system‐based model. With scores data, there was statistically significant differences in the scores between the three models. The mean score of students’ evaluations showed that the students were more content with the Interdisciplinary/system‐based model of teaching, followed by the Interdisciplinary model and lastly by the Longitudinal model.ConclusionThe results of this study provide data that can be used to determine future directions and priorities for neuroscience education. Data will hopefully help faculty who teach neuroscience at medical institutions to better define their activities.Support or Funding InformationThe authors declare no funding to report.

"The time is now": Integrating neuroscience into psychiatry training.

This is an extraordinary time for psychiatry, as new research in neuroscience is re-defining the essence of how we conceptualize psychiatric illness. In this issue, Torous et al. (2015) have written a significant paper that captures at once the excitement of new work in the field and the importance of meaningfully incorporating this perspective into both clinical and educational settings. The authors also review some of the many challenges to doing so effectively. The authors’ work comes at a time when many academics are wrestling with this same question and the authors refer to various ongoing efforts seeking to address this practice gap. One such program is the National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (Ross et al., 2015; www.NNCIonline.org). The NNCI was formally launched in March of 2014 with the overarching goal of creating a set of open resources that will help improve the teaching of neuroscience in psychiatry. Similar to Torous et al.’s goal of helping trainees ‘‘bridge, in real-time, brain-symptom relationships in psychiatry’’, the NNCI sets as a central objective that ‘‘residents will incorporate a modern neuroscience perspective as a core component of every formulation and treatment plan.’’ Additional learning objectives relate to relevant knowledge, attitudes towards neuroscience, and specific behavioral skills – including that residents will be able to serve as Ambassadors of Neuroscience who can thoughtfully communicate findings from the field to different audiences. The core work of the NNCI has been the creation of educational resources that can be used as in-class teaching and learning activities for residency programs. The guiding principles for these resources are: to maintain an integrative, patient centered approach; to teach well, by applying adult learning theory; and

Use of the Film The Bridge to Augment the Suicide Curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use and reception of the movie The Bridge as complementary to the suicide curriculum of medical students. One hundred eighty second-year medical students watched The Bridge as a part of the neuroscience curriculum in understanding suicide. They completed a pre- and post-movie survey regarding the understanding of suicide risk, reasons for suicide, prevention of suicide, and impact of suicide on surviving families. The percentage of answers in categories agree, strongly agree, disagree, and strongly disagree were calculated. The significance of results was calculated using paired t tests. Students were also asked to comment on the movie. The comments were grouped according to themes, and the percentages of comments on each theme were calculated. Students consistently reported they found watching the movie The Bridge to be valuable. Students were very receptive to the idea of using a movie to augment instruction on suicide and agreed that it reinforced concepts used in lecture. They also believed that The Bridge should be shown to people in the medical field, and more than 80% of students had detailed comments to make about one or more people in the story or about the story in general. The Bridge represents a useful method for instructing students and residents on suicide and has utility in medical education. It can and should be used alongside lectures for assisting in education about suicide.

Neuroscience and Humanistic Psychiatry: a Residency Curriculum

Psychiatry residencies with a commitment to humanism commonly prioritize training in psychotherapy, cultural psychiatry, mental health policy, promotion of human rights, and similar areas reliant upon dialogue and collaborative therapeutic relationships. The advent of neuroscience as a defining paradigm for psychiatry has challenged residencies with a humanistic focus due to common perceptions that it would entail constriction of psychiatric practice to diagnostic and psychopharmacology roles. The author describes a neuroscience curriculum that has taught psychopharmacology effectively, while also advancing effectiveness of language-based and relationship-based therapeutics. In 2000, the George Washington University psychiatry residency initiated a neuroscience curriculum consisting of (1) a foundational postgraduate year 2 seminar teaching cognitive and social neuroscience and its integration into clinical psychopharmacology, (2) advanced seminars that utilized a neuroscience perspective in teaching specific psychotherapeutic skill sets, and (3) case-based teaching in outpatient clinical supervisions that incorporated a neuroscience perspective into traditional psychotherapy supervisions. Curricular assessment was conducted by (1) RRC reaccreditation site visit feedback, (2) examining career trajectories of residency graduates, (3) comparing PRITE exam Somatic Treatments subscale scores for 2010-2012 residents with pre-implementation residents, and (4) postresidency survey assessment by 2010-2012 graduates. The 2011 RRC site visit report recommended a "notable practice" citation for "innovative neurosciences curriculum." Three of twenty 2010-2012 graduates entered neuroscience research fellowships, as compared to none before the new curriculum. PRITE Somatic Treatments subscale scores improved from the 23rd percentile to the 62nd percentile in pre- to post-implementation of curriculum (p < .001). Recent graduates rated effectiveness of clinical psychopharmacology training as 8.6 on ten-point Likert scale. From multiple vantage points of assessment, these outcome results support effectiveness of this neuroscience curriculum for a residency committed to humanistic psychiatry as its primary mission. As a naturalistic study, further examination of its methods in pretest and posttest assessments and a multisite comparison is warranted.

Integrating Neuroscience in the Training of Psychiatrists: A Patient-Centered Didactic Curriculum Based on Adult Learning Principles

The authors describe the development and implementation of a new adult psychiatry residency didactic curriculum based on adult learning principles and an integrative, patient-centered approach that includes a progressive 4-year neuroscience curriculum. The authors describe the process of conducting a needs assessment, engaging stakeholders and developing guiding principles for the new curriculum. The curriculum was evaluated using qualitative measures, a resident survey, course evaluations, and a pilot version of a specialized assessment tool. Feedback from the resident survey and from course evaluations was positive, and residents indicated interest in receiving additional training in neuroscience. Residents self-reported not incorporating neuroscience into formulation and treatment planning as often as other perspectives. They also reported that neuroscience was reinforced less by clinical faculty than other perspectives. Performance on the curriculum assessment corroborated that clinical application of neuroscience may benefit from additional reinforcement. Residents responded well to the design and content of the new didactic curriculum. The neuroscience component appears to have achieved its primary objective of enhancing attitudes to the field. Continued work including enhancing the culture of neuroscience at the clinical sites may be required to achieve broader behavioral goals.

Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Curriculum

Enhancing neuroscience education during psychiatry residency training requires the organization of comprehensive and longitudinal pedagogy in various aspects of clinical neuroscience. This process can be complex, and limited structured guidance is available for how to implement such a curriculum. The authors' principal goal was to develop a longitudinal interdisciplinary neuroscience curriculum that spans 4years, promotes collaboration of educators from multiple departments, and can be generalized to other psychiatry programs. The authors implemented a 4-year curriculum in a stepwise manner during psychiatry residency training. They obtained feedback and used it for improvement. Positive feedback was given for the curriculum, with improvement to scores across 2years. Development of a clinical neuroscience curriculum at the authors' program provides a potential framework for implementation in other psychiatry residency programs.

Psychiatry Chief Resident Opinions toward Basic and Clinical Neuroscience Training and Practice

The authors queried attendees to a chief resident conference on whether program education and training in neuroscience or in translating neuroscience research into practice is sufficient and what changes are needed. The authors developed and administered a 26-item voluntary questionnaire to each attendee at the Chief Residents' Leadership Conference at the American Psychiatric Association 2013 annual meeting in San Francisco, CA. Out of 94 attendees, 55 completed and returned questionnaires (58.5%). A majority of respondents stated that their program provided adequate training in neuroscience (61.8%); opportunities for neuroscience research existed for them (78.2%), but that their program did not prepare them for translating future neuroscience research findings into clinical practice (78.9%) or educate them on the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (83.3%). A majority of respondents stated that the ACGME should require a specific neuroscience curriculum (79.6%). Chief residents believe that curricular and cultural change is needed in psychiatry residency neuroscience education.

Teaching Clinical Neuroscience to Psychiatry Residents: Model Curricula

It has been proposed that the future of psychiatry is best grounded in the clinical neurosciences because advances in the assessment, treatment, and prevention of brain disorders are likely to originate from studies based on the clinical and translational neurosciences [1]. This exciting potential is reflected by the National Institute of Mental Health’s strategic plan for research, which emphasizes the links between the neurosciences, genomics, and individual and public health outcomes [2]. Psychiatry trainees must therefore become skilled in being able to find, understand, critically appraise, and incorporate those advances that can meaningfully contribute to mental health and to the care of people living with mental illness. Developing the requisite neuroscientific knowledge and skills for residents, however, is an especially challenging proposition for educators for several important reasons. First, there is a phenomenal rate of discovery and complexity of advances in the neurosciences and neuropsychiatry. Second, some programs are limited in the availability of faculty as well as trained educators in the neurosciences and neuropsychiatry. One early survey of program directors, for example, found that a lack of neuropsychiatric faculty was the most common reason for not providing neuropsychiatry training [3]. Last, but not least, our field has not yet really defined clinical neuroscience—a broad interdisciplinary domain that encompasses numerous areas and clearly much more than just neuropsychiatry. Much work remains to be done in characterizing clinical neuroscience, drawing connections between this basic, translational, and applied scientific field to the human aspects of human development, attachment, health, and healing that occur in the work of psychiatrists, and discerning what part of clinical or other neurosciences should be taught to residents, medical students, and our colleagues in the field (e.g., as a part of continuing medical education). Clarification of these issues should be the next step in making clinical neuroscience an integral part of what we teach. One important response to the challenges presented by the acceleration of the field coupled with insufficiently prepared faculty is to develop well-designed neuroscience curricula that are portable across residency training programs. Our patients, as well as the field of psychiatry, will be best served when training programs work together to standardize learning objectives and curricula and to share the best educational practices [4]. To this end, this edition of Academic Psychiatry presents an exceptional compendium of articles concerning the education of psychiatry residents in the neurosciences [5–15]. One of these articles reported on a survey of residency training directors confirming the earlier finding [3] that a lack of qualified faculty constituted a barrier to training in the neurosciences and neuropsychiatry [12]. The vast majority of respondents in this survey identified a need for portable curricula [12]. In another survey, chief residents indicated that they did not feel adequately prepared to translate findings from neuroscience research into clinical practice [13]. Four of the articles [7, 9–11] described a neuroscience curriculum targeted to psychiatry residents. One commentary proposed a novel idea for a pilot training program based on the “triple board approach” [15]. J. Coverdale (*) Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA e-mail: jhc@bcm.edu