 My name is Dr. Charlie Sansour. I'm the Director of Spine Surgery and the Associate Program Director at the University of Maryland. I've been here for over 10 years as faculty and I can confidently say that it is a extremely unique and special place to work and train residents. I think this stems from a variety of factors. Most importantly we have some of the premier programs in trauma, spine, functional, vascular, and tumor surgery. I feel that one of the most important things that I get is feedback from some of the fellowship directors where we've sent residents to to train for fellowships and they commonly come back to me and say that these residents are the strongest and most well-trained residents that they've ever seen and they come back to me and say what's your secret. I think the secret is the fact that we have the perfect balance between complex neurosurgical problems and bread and butter neurosurgery and we're able to expose and teach our residents in ways that assume a very gradual assumption of responsibility. The breath of cases and the diversity of patients that we treat I think is unparalleled. There's no question in my mind that all of us as faculty are very dedicated to training our residents everything that we know certainly finished the program being extremely prepared for the future. My name is Aaron Wessel and I'm a chief resident in neurosurgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center. I think the University of Maryland's Department of Neurosurgery offers residents a very unique and dynamic training environment. Not only do we gain exposure to a wide breath of complex neurosurgical pathologies but this is done so in a very intimate setting. The residents and faculty get to know each other very well and this allows the faculty to really help a resident develop as a neurosurgeon as they understand his or her unique strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore this unique relationship between residents and faculty fosters an environment of mentorship which allows residents to pursue various interests whether that be clinical or research oriented and in any given variety or a subspecialty of neurosurgery. My particular interests pertain to cerebral vascular and endovascular neurosurgery and as a resident I was fortunately able to complete a dedicated endovascular fellowship. Furthermore I've been heavily involved in the high volume of complex open cerebral vascular cases and I think this will lead me very well prepared to care for the sickest and most complex neurosurgical patients when I finish my residency. On top of the clinical strengths the University of Maryland maintains a very strong research presence in the Department of Neurosurgery. We have R01 funded faculty and our research endeavors range anywhere from the discovery of the SUR1 TRPM4 channel to the use of MRI guided focused ultrasound for treatment of movement disorders and also for enhanced delivery of chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of brain tumors. Overall I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to train here at the University of Maryland and I'm very pleased and excited for future residents to have this opportunity as well. Hi I'm Nicole Winger. I'm an intern in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Maryland. When I was interviewing for residencies a year ago one of the first things I noticed about Maryland's program was the camaraderie of the residents. At the dinner the night before the interviews it was evident that the residents loved spending time together and really cared about one another. They were easy to talk to and they tried to make me feel at ease during what was a very stressful process. It was easily one of the most fun dinners during the residency interview season. Now that I've been here for a month I can say that those relationships are absolutely real. From the day you get here as an intern you're part of the team. One of the unique things about Maryland's program is that as an intern you're given a role in complex decisions and complex cases and independence early on. Another thing I've really enjoyed is that despite how busy this service is the residents and faculty remain relaxed. I don't know if any other program has the combination of support and independence from day one that Maryland does. I'm really glad that I picked Maryland. Good luck to all of you in your interview trail and on your residency search and I hope to meet you soon.