At NYU Langone’s Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center, our focus is on compassionate patient care, clinical and translation research, and physician education. Our center offers two fellowship tracks: multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical care and MS research.

NYU Langone Adult and Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Fellowship

NYU Langone’s Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center, located in bustling Midtown Manhattan, serves an incredibly diverse population of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and related disorders from New York City and the tri-state area. NYU Langone MS Center, founded in 1992 by Prof. Joseph Herbert, houses within its walls the NYU Langone Pediatric MS Center, NYU Langone Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD) and Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD) Treatment and Research Program. NYU Langone MS Center is part of the highly-acclaimed NYU Langone Department of Neurology, which was rated number 1 in the country by US News and World Report in 2022-2023,2023-2024, and 2024-2025.

The clinical staff at NYU Langone MS Center comprises seven full-time neuroimmunology attendings, two of whom are double-boarded in neurology and psychiatry, a part-time neuro-urologist, two part-time psychologists, three nurse practitioners, four nurses, and a social worker. In 2023, the MS Center’s neuro-immunologists completed more than 9,000 patient visits, of which around 800 were new evaluations.

The faculty involved in fellow training include Lauren B. Krupp, MD, Director of the Center and internationally recognized authority on pediatric and adult MS; Ilya Kister, MD, fellowship director and clinical researcher; Tyler E. Smith MD, associate fellowship director; Robert W. Charlson, MD, neurologist and psychiatrist; Jonathan W. Howard, MD, neurologist and psychiatrist, Vito P. Arena MD, Mirza Omari MD, and Josef M. Gutman MD, – all fellowship-trained neuroimmunologists.

Our center is active in clinical research. The director of research, Dr. Leigh E. Charvet, PhD, is highly published in the neuropsychology of MS, and is an expert in telerehabilitation and transcranial direct current stimulation. Other clinical faculty contribute widely to research on the different aspects of MS care, as reflected on the publications section of their respective NYU Langone website pages.

We enroll one-to-two fellows per year, and can offer separate fellowship tracks to best meet the applicants’ needs. We are participating in the SF Match for our one-year clinical fellowship (program ID PR09445) with the option of extending for an additional year to focus on research for interested candidates. Our second track is a translational research track, for which the application process will be conducted outside the match. For more information on applying to either track, please see the Application Deadlines and Requirements section below.

Fellowship Overview

Our fellowships provide extensive training in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of adults and children with MS and related disorders. All fellows will gain expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric and adult neuroimmunologic conditions. The emphasis of the fellowship – pediatric versus adult, clinical versus research – is dependent upon the fellows’ interests and prior training.

The one-year clinical fellowship is 60 to 80 percent clinical, with the balance of time devoted to research and education to be tailored to the applicant. Fellows are expected to participate in clinical research conducted at the center, including clinical trials, and will have multiple opportunities to develop a research project under the mentorship of one or more neuroimmunology attendings. Fellows are expected to publish at least one paper during the one year clinical track. A partial list of our fellows’ recent publications and presentations can be found below.

For interested clinical fellows, the option to extend their clinical fellowship by an additional year to focus on clinical research can be discussed on an individual basis. The second year of the clinical research fellowship will have less clinic time and will be mostly devoted to clinical research.

We also offer a translation MS research fellowship track, which is geared toward candidates with extensive bench research experience (Ph.D. preferred), who would work in the laboratory of New York University-affiliated, National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded researchers four days a week, and see patients with our MS center attendings one day a week. The translational research fellow will work on problems of direct relevance to the field of neuroimmunology, and serve as a liaison between the clinic and the research laboratory. Translational research fellows are expected to publish three papers over the course of their fellowship. The translational research fellowship is not administered through the SF Match. Interested candidates should contact the fellowship director, Dr. Ilya Kister, with any questions.

All NYU Langone fellowship graduates will be expected to become proficient in diagnosing MS and – equally importantly – avoiding MS misdiagnosis; the use of all approved disease-modifying therapies for MS, with emphasis on high-efficacy therapies; and pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches to managing the complex manifestations of MS. Fellows will receive comprehensive training in diagnosing and managing patients diagnosed with NMOSD and MOGAD, neurosarcoidosis, and will collaborate with specialists in neuro-genetics, neuro-ophthalmology, vascular neurology, rheumatology, and other allied fields in challenging cases that require multi-disciplinary expertise.

Fellows are provided a competitive salary commensurate with their postgraduate year (PGY) level. Nearly all our fellows have been funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or other external sources of fellowship funding. Additional internal resources for fellowship funding are available as well. All accepted fellows will be asked to apply for fellowship funding but are guaranteed their position independent of external funders’ decisions.

Our graduates are widely sought out by both academic centers and private practices. See our fellows’ current affiliations for the past 15 years.

Fellowship Rotations and Assignments

The critical element of training is the ability to formulate a succinct impression and treatment plan for each patient. The fellow is expected to evaluate patients on their own at first, and formulate their plan independently, and then discuss their impressions and plan with the attending. Every patient seen by a fellow is also seen by the attending physician.

NYU Langone Neurology Department has a very strong neuro-ophthalmology division, and we follow many of our patients jointly with colleagues from neuro-ophthalmology. All our fellows rotate once a week for half a day in the neuro-ophthalmology clinic, supervised by department chair Steven L. Galetta, MD; vice-chair Laura J. Balcer, MD, MSCE, and other senior neuro-ophthalmologists.

Fellows also rotate at NYU Langone Huntington MS Center with Dr. Josef Gutman and affiliated clinicians once a month.

Beginning in October, fellows will have two days per month to attend elective clinics in neuroradiology, neuropsychology, rheumatology, urology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and additional time in neuro-ophthalmology. To highlight a few of these options, we work with neuro-urologist Dr. Benjamin M Brucker, who evaluates patients in NYU Langone MS Center once a week. To gain specialized training in spasticity management – including botox injections, fellows have the option to work with Dr. Heidi Fusco in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rusk Rehabilitation Institute, located under the same roof as the NYU Langone MS Center.

Fellows also have opportunities to teach both medical students and residents in the clinic and hospital, as well as delivering lectures throughout the year.

Fellows will be expected to prepare inpatient consults on MS and neuro-immunology patients at NYU Langone inpatient on selected patients (time will be taken off from clinic duties to see inpatient consults on an as-needed basis).

Fellows share phone call duties a few days a month with the attendings.

Didactics

• Friday MS Conference: This weekly conference, in continuous operation for over 15 years, is at the core of our training program. The conference is attended by clinical and research staff of the NYU Langone MS Center and features difficult case discussions, invited speakers, joint seminars with neuropathologists, neuroradiologists, ethicists, journal clubs, and more.
• Fellows meet once a week with attendings for dedicated sessions on immunology and clinically relevant subjects. At the start of each year, this program will include a boot camp series covering the essentials of multiple sclerosis and other neuroinflammatory disorders. Following the boot camp series, fellows continue to meet weekly with individual faculty to discuss key topics, cases, and papers.
• Neuroradiology Conference: A monthly discussion between all NYU MS neurologists and neuroradiologists. Fellows will prepare five to seven case summaries for this conference.
• MS Clinical Case Conference: A monthly meeting of MS neurologists across the NYU Langone system to discuss management of difficult day-to-day MS symptoms.
• Fellows will attend weekly Grand Rounds at the Department of Neurology.
• All fellows will attend at least one national or international MS conference during their fellowship.
• Clinical Research Training Program
  • Fellows interested in clinical research can apply for the Intensive Program in Clinical Research Methods (the application process for this program is independent of the MS fellowship). This 3.5-week course provides instruction in research statistics, ethics, and protocol informatics and design. Fellows participating in this course will have protected time to attend.

Application Deadlines and Requirements

Our fellowships are highly competitive, and applicants are asked to submit their applications in a timely manner.

Eligible candidates must have completed an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited neurology residency training and hold a valid New York State license or limited permit to practice medicine in the state of New York at the time of their fellowship start.

July 2025 (and later) start date:

• One-year clinical track fellowship and optional second-year clinical research
  • Please apply through the SF Match. Our program ID is PR09445. Interviews are conducted in January.

• Two-year translational research track fellowship
  • Applications for this track will be conducted outside the SF Match. Please submit a brief statement of interest and future plans, curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation to Drs. Ilya Kister ([email protected]) and Tyler Smith ([email protected]). We encourage candidates for this track to apply approximately 18 months before the projected fellowship start date, but translational research track fellowship does not have fixed submission deadlines.

For any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Contact Us

Ilya Kister, MD
Fellowship Director
[email protected]

Tyler Ellis. Smith, MD
Associate Fellowship Director
[email protected]

Lauren Krupp, MD
Neuroimmunology Division Director
[email protected]

Kimberly Kaloroumakis
Fellowship Coordinator
[email protected]

Fellow Publications and Presentations

Selected publications and presentations from projects completed by NYU Langone multiple sclerosis fellows during their fellowship training.

O’Neill KA, Fernandez Carbonell C, Maletic-Savatic M, Krupp LB. Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis. Under Review. In The Rose and Mackay Textbook of Autoimmune Diseases, 7th Edition, Elsevier. Accepted, publication pending publisher edits.

O’Neill KA, Pehel S, Azmy N, Friedman S, Hu J, Lustberg M, Sosa A, Charvet L, Krupp LB. Greater Childhood Adversity and Allostatic Load Biomarkers Among Pediatric Onset vs. Adult Onset Multiple Sclerosis. Accepted for poster presentation at AAN meeting (2024).

O’Neill KA, Charvet L, Waltz M, Casper T, George A, Benson L, Gorman M, Goyal M, Mar S, Ness J, Schreiner T, Waubant E, Weinstock-Guttman B, Wheeler Y, Abrams A, Chitnis T, Lotze T, Rensel M, Rodriguez M, Rose J, Shukla N, Tillema J, Ortiz R, Krupp L. Adverse Childhood Experiences in Parents of Patients with Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis. Poster presentation at ECTRIMS Meeting (2023).

O’Neill KA, Couvreur L, Hu J, Zhang Y, Pehel S, Sosa A, Fade D, Lustberg M, Feld E, Chen J, Barros N, Billiet T, Ribbens A, Krupp LB. Longitudinal Brain Volume Findings in an Outpatient Practice of Young People with MS. Poster presentation at American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, April 2023

O’Neill KA, Charvet L, Waltz M, Casper T, George A, Benson L, Gorman M, Goyal M, Mar S, Ness J, Schreiner T, Waubant E, Weinstock-Guttman B, Wheeler Y, Aaen G, Abrams A, Chitnis T, Lotze T, Rensel M, Rodriguez M, Rose J, Shukla N, Tillema J, Krupp L. Longitudinal Cognitive Screening Findings in Pediatric MS vs. Pediatric Controls and Adult MS in a Multi-center Cohort. Oral presentation at American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, April 2023.

O’Neill KA, Chen J, Denissen S, Pehel S, Sosa A, Lustberg M, Feld E, Couvreur L, Billiet R, Ribbens A, Krupp LB. Incorporation of Brain Volume in the Outpatient Assessment of Pediatric-Onset MS. Poster presentation at ACTRIMS meeting, February 2023.

Smith, Tyler Ellis; Kister, Ilya. Infection Mitigation Strategies for Multiple Sclerosis Patients on Oral and Monoclonal Disease-Modifying Therapies. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2021 May 19;21(7):36. doi: 10.1007/s11910-021-01117- y.

Smith, T. E., Madhavan, M., Gratch, D., Patel, A., Saha, V., Sammarco, C., Rimler, Z., Zuniga, G., Gragui, D., Charvet, L., Cutter, G., Krupp, L., Kister, I., Ryerson, L. Z. (2021). Does frequency of COVID-19 differ by disease modifying therapy in MS patients? [Abstract and poster]. American Academy of Neurology 2021 Conference, Online poster presentation. The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Annual Conference, 2021, online poster presentation.

Parrotta E, Kister I. The Expanding Clinical Spectrum of Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein (MOG) Antibody Associated Disease in Children and Adults. Front Neurol. 2020 Sep 9;11:960. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00960. PMID: 33013639; PMCID: PMC7509044.

Parrotta E, Kister I, Charvet L, Sammarco C, Saha V, Charlson RE, Howard J, Gutman JM, Gottesman M, Abou-Fayssal N, Wolintz R, Keilson M, Fernandez-Carbonell C, Krupp LB, Zhovtis Ryerson L. COVID-19 outcomes in MS: Observational study of early experience from NYU Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm. 2020 Jul 9;7(5):e835. doi: 10.1212/NXI.0000000000000835. PMID: 32646885; PMCID: PMC7357412.

Gutman JM et al. Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis. International Journal of MS Care. 2018 Sep-Oct;20(5):244-250. doi: 10.7224/1537-2073.2017-093.

Gutman, Josef Maxwell; Kupersmith, Mark; Galetta, Steven; Kister, Ilya. Antimyelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies in patients with optic neuritis and seizures. Journal of the neurological sciences. 2018:387:170-173.

Gutman, Josef Maxwell; Levy, Michael; Galetta, Steven; Kister, Ilya. Clinical Reasoning: A patient with a history of encephalomyelitis and recurrent optic neuritis. Neurology. 2017:89(19):e231-e234.

Rosales D et al. Common and Rare Manifestations of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2016 Jun;16(6):42. doi: 10.1007/s11882-016-0619-4.

Zhovtis Ryerson, L; Frohman, T C; Foley, J; Kister, I; Weinstock-Guttman, B; Tornatore, C; Pandey, K; Donnelly, S; Pawate, S; Bomprezzi, R; Smith, D; Kolb, C; Qureshi, S; Okuda, D; Kalina, J; Rimler, Z; Green, R; Monson, N; Hoyt, T; Bradshaw, M; Fallon, J; Chamot, E; Bucello, M; Beh, S; Cutter, G; Major, E; Herbert, J; Frohman, E M. Extended interval dosing of natalizumab in multiple sclerosis. Journal of neurology neurosurgery & psychiatry. 2016:87(8):885-889.

Boot Camp Lecture Series Sample Curriculum

Week	Topic	Lecturer
1	MS and RIS Diagnostic Criteria	Dr. Lauren Krupp
2	NMO/MOGAD/ADEM Diagnosis and Overview	Dr. Ilya Kister
3	Natural Course of MS	Dr. Ilya Kister
4	Invisible symptoms of MS	Dr. Robert E. Charlson
5	Pediatric MS Overview	Dr. Lauren Krupp
6	MS Differential Diagnosis	Dr. Tyler Ellis Smith
7	Psychiatric diseases and MS	Dr. Robert E. Charlson
8	DMTs: MOA, starting, stopping, risk mitigation strategies part 1	Dr. Tyler Ellis Smith
9	Preparation for board exam	Board prep
10	Board exam	Board exam
11	DMTs: MOA, starting, stopping, risk mitigation strategies part 2	Dr. Tyler Ellis Smith
12	Acute Relapse Management: MS, NMOSD, MOGAD	Dr. Tyler Ellis Smith

This schedule is adjusted based on the needs of fellows and the board exam.