In April 2016, I spent four weeks as the “Sub-I” for the Department of Neurology at New York Presbyterian - Weill Cornell Medical Centre in New York.

The Neurology Sub-I program is supervised by Dr Joseph Safdieh and Dr Natalie Weathered, both of whom are not only wonderful and experienced attending clinicians and teachers, but are both approachable, and enjoyable to talk to. They took a genuine interest in my learning and future career, and I am immensely grateful for their wisdom and guidance. The program is administered by the ever-delightful Carol Hopkins, who I’m equally thoroughly indebted to.

As a medical student in London, I had previously completed a Neurology clerkship at a specialist centre, and quickly realized this was a specialty that I very much enjoyed. I was delighted to be offered an additional opportunity to experience Neurology before my graduation, and I was particularly excited to have this opportunity at Weill Cornell. Before my elective, I had read a lot about Cornell’s reputation as a leading medical school, but it was only on arriving at Cornell did I truly realize the magnanimity of the learning arena.

Immersive is probably the most apt way of describing the experience of being Neurology Sub-I. Working hours for medical students in the US are generally fairly intense compared to UK and Europe, and as such, your opportunity to learn is plentiful, and your near-continuous presence on the ward makes you feel an established member of the clinical team. I spent most of my time working with the acute neurology team, which predominantly specialised in vascular neurology. I would follow a number of patients from admission to discharge, presenting their progress to the attending each morning at rounds. I was responsible for all day-to-day clinical jobs for my patients, supervised by the Senior and Chief Residents.

The team were eager to get me as involved as possible, and were keen to teach whenever an opportunity arose. Neurology at Cornell benefits from a wide-ranging educational program for its residents and medical students, and I was encouraged to attend morning report, grand rounds, specialist teaching sessions and teaching rounds. The lectures and presentations were of high quality, and were delivered by engaging and thoroughly interesting members of Cornell’s diverse faculty.

As an international student, I was additionally looked after by Dr Madelon Finkel and Dianne Young of the WCMC Global Health Department. This gave me an opportunity to meet other international medical students, and reflect on the differences of our respective native healthcare settings. Furthermore, our shared non-American-ness created a small but active group of explorers of New York when we weren’t at the hospital. There were a number of organized (and plenty of spontaneous) social events that allowed me to learn about what studying medicine is like in different parts of the world.

Overall, my elective with Cornell Neurology was academically fulfilling, intellectually engaging, and socially rewarding, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this experience to all that are interested. I remain incredibly grateful to Dr Safdieh and Dr Weathered of the Department of Neurology, and Dr Finkel and Mrs Young of the Global Health Department, and look forward to crossing paths with them and their teams in the future.