Charting Your Course: Career Advancement Strategies for Academic Neurologists*
Date: October 20, 2026
Time: 7:00 am to 8:30 am
Room: Coral 2
Track: Professional Development Workshop - Early Career & Early to Mid-Career Level
Session Description
This Professional Development Workshop offers a practical roadmap for career advancement in academic neurology. As expectations for productivity, scholarship, and leadership continue to evolve, neurologists face increasing challenges in navigating promotion pathways, building sustainable careers, and achieving professional fulfillment.
Structured around four key pillars—educational, research, and clinical scholarship, as well as mentorship and negotiation—this session provides an actionable framework for success. Faculty will share strategies to define and align academic contributions with institutional expectations, build cohesive scholarly portfolios, and effectively leverage mentorship and sponsorship.
Through expert perspectives and interactive discussion, participants will gain practical tools to negotiate for resources and protected time, integrate clinical, research, and educational responsibilities, and enhance career trajectory and visibility. The session is designed for neurologists across career stages and emphasizes sustainable approaches to long-term career success.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this session, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the roles of educational, research, and clinical scholarship in academic promotion.
- Apply mentorship, sponsorship, and negotiation strategies to support career advancement.
- Develop strategies to build a sustainable and impactful academic career while mitigating burnout.
Speakers
- (Chair) Vinita Acharya, MD, FANA
- (Co-Chair) Tracey Milligan, MD, MS, FANA
- (Speaker) Beau Ances, MD, PhD, MSc, FANA
- (Speaker) Jaffar Khan, MD
Choose Your Own Promotion Adventure: Navigating Faculty Tracks and Pathways to Success
Description
As academic medicine continues to evolve, advancing through a neurology faculty career is no longer a one-size-fits-all journey. Faculty members face unique promotion tracks—spanning clinical care, research, education, and institutional service—highlighting the need for clear strategies to align personal career goals with institutional promotion criteria.
This presentation will examine the distinct pathways to academic advancement in neurology, with a focus on using a “Choose Your Own Adventure” framework to master promotion tracks. Participants will review current promotion track structures, explore strategies for capturing and framing non-traditional contributions—such as educational innovation, clinical program development, and committee service—and discuss how to build a high-impact promotion dossier. Topics will also include practical considerations for creating realistic advancement timelines, securing effective mentorship, and adapting career trajectories as professional goals evolve.
Attendees will leave with a greater understanding of the promotion pathways available in academic neurology and practical insights into articulating their full institutional value to build an authentic, successful path to promotion.
Innovate, Educate, Elevate Educational Scholarship in Academic Neurology
Description
As academic medicine continues to evolve, advancing through a neurology faculty career is no longer a one-size-fits-all journey. Faculty members face unique promotion tracks—spanning clinical care, research, education, and institutional service—highlighting the need for clear strategies to align personal career goals with institutional promotion criteria.
This presentation will examine the distinct pathways to academic advancement in neurology, with a focus on using a “Choose Your Own Adventure” framework to master promotion tracks. Participants will review current promotion track structures, explore strategies for capturing and framing non-traditional contributions—such as educational innovation, clinical program development, and committee service—and discuss how to build a high-impact promotion dossier. Topics will also include practical considerations for creating realistic advancement timelines, securing effective mentorship, and adapting career trajectories as professional goals evolve.
Attendees will leave with a greater understanding of the promotion pathways available in academic neurology and practical insights into articulating their full institutional value to build an authentic, successful path to promotion.
