Doctors who deal with conditions like cerebral palsy, meningitis, epilepsy
and multiple sclerosis are called neurologists. They're in great demand.
Dr. Karen Roos is the program director in the neurology department at Indiana
University. She specializes in infections of the central nervous system. These
infections include meningitis, encephalitis, prion diseases and HIV. (Prion
diseases are infectious diseases of the brain that can be spread between animals
and people. Mad cow disease is one example.)
Roos says fate got her interested in treating infectious diseases. While
working as an intern in the emergency room at a hospital in Virginia, a helicopter
brought in a coal miner from West Virginia. The man had a fungal brain infection.
"I took care of him," she says. "It was the beginning of my realization
that I wanted to treat people with brain infections."
Roos works 50 to 60 hours a week. Her day usually begins by making rounds
in the hospital. She visits patients accompanied by medical students and neurology
residents who are learning the profession. Rounds usually last anywhere from
two to four hours.
"They always feel a little longer on Friday than on Monday," she laughs.
At noon, she might give a lecture to a class of students. Then she might
spend the rest of the afternoon seeing patients who come in with neurological
problems. She must also teach, consult with other physicians, write, research
and give public talks and presentations.
Roos says writing papers and books that help other doctors diagnose and
manage infectious diseases is her most important contribution to the field
of neurology.
Her greatest pleasure is when she sees a patient recover. Recently, a woman
was brought in from an outside hospital. This woman had suffered from meningitis
for three years and was in a coma.
"I had applied all of the practices I write about in terms of taking care
of meningitis and its complications," Roos says. "It all came together for
one human being. She came out of the coma."
Roos enjoys almost all aspects of her work. But she doesn't enjoy
filling out disability forms and writing letters to insurance companies.
Dr. G. Bryan Young is a neurologist at a teaching hospital. During his
medical school training, he was intrigued by the nervous system and the anatomy.
"Later, I decided to specialize in neurology," he said. "It has been a
longstanding interest."
After doing a fellowship in neurology, he did an extra year studying epilepsy
and learning to read electroencephalograms, or EEGs as they are usually called.
EEGs are diagnostic tests that involve interpreting brain waves.
Since Young works at a teaching hospital, he does a mixture of clinical
work, research and teaching. "I see patients, read EEGs, and I teach in formal
classes as well as in rounds and bedside teaching. In the evenings, I do reading,
writing and paperwork."
He works about 60 hours a week at the hospital, including a fair bit of
work in the intensive care unit. "I have an interest in monitoring patients
in intensive care," he says.
Young finds his work satisfying and rewarding. He is particularly pleased
about co-authoring a book with two other people. The book was called Coma
and Impaired Consciousness.
One of the challenges facing neurologists today is the need to keep up
to date. That's important because of all the new things that are coming
out, such as new treatments, new diagnostic tools and so on.
"Keeping up to date is harder now than it used to be, and takes a lot more
work. But it has to be done if someone is going to pursue this career," says
Young.
"But it is an exciting career, an exciting profession. The knowledge is
expanding tremendously. I would do it all over again, but I would take more
basic science training in high school and university."