Revised 2014-2015 Academic Calendar: Fill & Download for Free

BJP, like almost every other right wing party in the world has an ANTI-SCIENCE agenda because it's very important for them that their supporters remain blind, emotional and logic less.If anyone becomes a critical thinker, they would lose precious votes and blind supporters. That's why we see regular anti-scientific bullshit coming from them"Our feelings of cold changed, climate didn't change" - Modi"Evolution is wrong cuz we didn't see ape turning to man" - Junior Education minister in Center Govt"Cows exhales oxygen" - Education minister of Haryana"Cow shit helps prevent cancer" - Some random minister- Cervical cancer vaccine blocked for being pervertedCommercialisation and saffronisation of the education system has intensified in the NDA II regime of Narendra Modi. Funding has been cut for public educational institutions and some are being privatised. Through political appointees (who are often inexperienced and inept) and stooges, and through the RSS affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the ruling dispensation is curtailing democratic spaces in educational institutions.In the 2013-14 budget, the education sector was allotted 4.57% of the total budget. This has been reduced to less than 3.8% in the 2017-18 budget. The 1966 Kothari Commission Report proposed that 6% of the GDP be allocated to education. More than 50 years later, the Modi government is on a mission to reduce funding for the entire education sector – including school and higher education.For the Dept. of School Education & Literacy, Modi Sarkar spent Rs. 45,722 crore in 2014-15, down by Rs.1134 crore over the previous year (UPA’s last year). In 2015-16, Rs. 42187 crore is estimated to have been spent (revised estimates), further down by Rs.3535 crore and in 2016-17 budgeted allocation, the govt. has allocated Rs. 43554 crore.The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana - to save girl child and to ensure education and participation of the girl child - was allocated Rs. 43 crore in the 2016-17 budget. According to the Parliamentary Standing Committee report on the Ministry of Human Resource Development only Rs. 5 crore was utilised. It is evident that this government’s schemes are only gimmicks to convince a certain section of the society that development is taking place through online campaigns such as #SelfieWithDaughter.The NITI Aayog has called for handing over the “student-challenged” schools to private entities under the PPP (public-private partnership) model. The plan is to hive off the education department into a separate autonomous directorate under “professional management”. The NITI Aayog is even exploring the possibility of the private sector adopting government schools and the government paying the private companies on a per child basis. The excuse given is that the government expenditure per pupil is too high and by involving the private companies the expenditure can be minimised.Meanwhile, forced by the deterioration of learning in govt. schools, more and more parents are being forced to send their children to private schools that extort exorbitant fees and charges. All over the country, parents’ associations have been protesting against this racket but to no avail. Although CBSE issued a circular that schools should not indulge in such malpractices, the managements have paid no heed. This is because of the close nexus between politicians of several bourgeois parties and educational institutions. The central and state govts. are silently allowing this to continue because they are committed to privatisation at any cost.In the name of educational reforms and autonomy, the NITI Aayog has decided to grant complete autonomy for so called well-performing universities. This is nothing but a move to reduce government expenditure on education and allow universities to hike fees. Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, Delhi University, Shri Ram College of Commerce and Lady Shri Ram College that are funded by the Centre could get full operational autonomy, including that in financial matters. The universities then would have to raise funds; the easiest way for which would be through imposing high fees on students. The National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) was set up in 2016 precisely for speeding this process of privatisation.The unwillingness of the government to support education was evident in the 2015 UGC announcement claiming that non-NET fellowship would be stopped. Only after protests from student groups, did the MHRD repeal this announcement. From mid-2016 onwards the non-NET fellowship was delayed from two months to as long as eight months, putting students under severe hardship. IITs have increased fees up to Rupees 2.5 lakh per annum from Rs.90,000 in 2015. Instead of the government funding and subsidising education, it is minting money by providing loans to IITs. Students are trapped in paying off educational loans for a long period after completing their education.Limited seats and limited funding in government universities is pushing students to take loans, join private colleges and making them captive to the bourgeois market. The ruling dispensation is finding every possible way to sell education to private companies. Students protesting fee hike, privatisation and attack on fellowships are termed as “anti-national” and sedition charges are filed against them. 66 Punjab University students were charged with sedition under 124 A for protesting fee hike. The students were also booked under other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from performing his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from performing his duty) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide). Even the attack on JNU came soon after the students protested against the UGC’s decision to stop providing non-NET fellowship and clinched their demand. By portraying students of public universities in a bad light, the funding provided for them is questioned. Journalist Arnab Goswami hammered upon the “I don’t want my taxes to fund JNU anti-nationals” argument endlessly.Another flank for attack is the saffronisation of education. The New Education Policy vigorously propelled by the government encourages teaching of Sanskrit in schools and has a significant component of ‘value’ education. History textbooks are being rewritten across the country. The Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani has said that students will not read “distorted history” referring to Maharana Pratap’s lost Battle of Haldighati against the Mughals. In the annual academic calendar of Maharaja Sayajirao University, several sages were credited for contribution to science. Sushrut was hailed as the “father of cosmetic surgery”, Acharya Kanad was described as having “developed nuclear technology”, Kapil Muni for “father of cosmology” and others.Anyone questioning the right-wing ideology is being crushed. Ambedkdar Periyar Study Circle in IIT-Madras was banned. Ironically that resulted in the formation of several APSCs across the country. A professor in Khopoli town, Raigad dist of Maharashtra was assaulted and arrested for asking why Shivaji’s birthday is celebrated twice every year on a Whatsapp group of his college colleagues.The right wing government is appointing its stooges to push for cultural intervention in every public and private educational institution. Even though the students of FTII sat on 100-day long hunger strike against appointing Gajendra Chauhan as their Chairman, the ruling dispensation was completely relentless. Braj Kumar Bihari was directly appointed by the government as the Chairperson of Indian Council for Social Sciences Research (ICSSR). Bihari clearly lacks the academic and research credentials for the job and members of the ICSSR collegium have also said that they were kept in the dark over about his appointment.The ABVP is working along with the administration and police to create ruckus in universities. Whether it is the attack on JNU, the institutional murder of Rohit Vemula, mysterious missing of JNU student Najeeb, attack on Pondichery Students Union magazine Widerstand, ruckus over inviting JNU student Umar Khalid to Ramjas College or continuous attack on Professor Nivedita Menon, the ABVP has a major role to play in all of them. At Shimoga university in Karnataka, ABVP students have created communal disharmony by wearing saffron shawls to college. When told it was an educational institute and that such explicit display of religion is not accepted, the ABVP students argued that if Muslim women can wear burkha, they can wear saffron shawls.The administrations of universities are finding various ways to attack democratic spaces. A workshop on caste and social movements by Professor Ghanshyam Shah in Maharaja Sayajirao University was cancelled fearing that certain people might raise issues similar to that of Ramjas College. At English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), undertaking forms are being issued during admissions demanding students to sign stating they will not participate in protests. Show cause notices are being issued out to students for raising their voices. JNUSU Vice President Amal P. P. was issued a notice. So was HCU President student union President Kuldeep Singh Nagi.The three of Modi government has made it clear that education and empowerment is not priority. Government funding for education is considered a waste. Students organisation like Students’ Federation of India (SFI) have been demanding 10% of yearly budgetary allocation for education, but the ruling dispensation is curtailing even the existing student friendly structures. But the nation continues to see hope in the form of massive student protests.

Q. What are the good things about going into a neurological medical field?I get immensely depressed thinking about the intense, demanding, and rigorous study (and time studying) to even get into the field (neuropathology, personally), the immense financial debt, and the chance I might not even make the good life that I want.I still find science - especially neuroscience - incredibly fascinating, and there is still a little voice in the back of my head saying I shouldn't give up yet. So, what are the good sides to going into neuroscience?Bonus: are there fields in neuroscience that don't require med school?A. Below are multiple articles that discuss training to become a neuroscientist (PhD) and neurologist (MD) or both.PhD Training:Steps to Becoming a NeuroscientistOverview Of Training Program - Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (Berkeley)Neuroscientist: Job Description, Duties and RequirementsNeuroscience Degree: What To Expect? | Inside JobsHow to become a neuroscientist (House of mind)When will neuroscience blow our minds?MD Training:Become a Neurologist: Step-by-Step Career GuideHow to Apply for a Residency Step-by-Step Guide to Applying to a Neurology Residency ProgramNeurology Residency Road Map Washington UniversitySteps to Becoming a Neuroscientistby Vicki A. BengeRelated Articles[Neuroscience Ph.D.] Salary of a Neuroscience Ph.D. & M.D.[Neuroscience Pay] Neuroscience Pay Scale[Requirements] What Are the Requirements for a Neuroscientist?[Master] What Can I Do With a Master's Degree in Neuroscience?[Conflict] How to Stop Conflict in the Workplace Before It HappensA medical scientist who studies the brain and nervous system is called a neuroscientist. Skilled in research and equipped with advanced degrees, some neuroscientists focus on a more narrow disciplines such as neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurophysiology or neuropsychology. To pursue a career in neuroscience, begin taking steps toward that goal in high school.College-Prep CoursesA high school student interested in a career as a neuroscientist can begin by building a strong foundation in science and mathematics. Basic introductory science courses to study are physics, chemistry, and especially biological science courses such as general biology, physiology and human anatomy. In mathematics, study introductory algebra, calculus and geometry.Undergraduate StepsEntering college students pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience can expect a specific curriculum. For example, course requirements for a neuroscience major contain basic science courses, core neuroscience courses and multiple electives. The core courses include introductions to general neuroscience as well as cellular, molecular, and cognitive or behavioral neuroscience. Advanced science courses are in chemistry, biology, physics and physiology. Study of statistics as they relate to the biological sciences may also be a required course. Students participate in laboratory rotations, also.Postgraduate StudyThe next step to becoming a neuroscientist after obtaining a bachelor's degree is to begin postgraduate study. Graduate students concentrate on advanced neuroscience courses and related instruction, such as the study of statistics as they relate to the biological sciences. Grad students participate in laboratory rotations, special seminars and lectures pertaining to the discipline. It is also in postgraduate study that Ph.D. candidates set their thesis topic and research plans to obtain a doctorate degree.Postdoc TrainingA small percentage of neuroscientists obtain a medical degree before pursuing postdoctoral training. However, whether the individual holds a Ph.D. or M.D., a postdoctoral fellowship to gain further training in neuroscience is a common last step before seeking a job. Postdoctoral trainees gain valuable experience conducting research. Some may choose to do laboratory work in a related yet new area of study. This is valuable training as the majority of medical scientists, which includes neuroscientists, spend their careers working in research and development, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Overview Of Training Program - Helen Wills Neuroscience InstituteSteps to a PhDNeuroscience is a broad field that requires multidisciplinary training as well as intensive study of specific concepts and techniques related to each student’s primary research focus. The Neuroscience PhD Program is designed to provide highly individualized, flexible training that fulfills both these needs. Our PhD training program has a standard completion time of 5 to 5.5 years. The program is PhD-granting only, there is no Master’s Degree Program. The following is a general overview of the steps to a PhD. For detailed policies, see Resources For Current Students.Neuroscience Boot CampFirst-year students begin the program with an intensive, 10-day “Boot Camp” course held just prior to the official start of fall semester classes. The course features lectures on key neuroscience concepts and on classical and emerging experimental techniques and evening research seminars by Berkeley Neuroscience faculty. In addition, hands-on research projects in faculty laboratories cover techniques ranging from molecular neuroscience to neurophysiology and optogenetics to fMRI. The goal is to provide an immersive introduction to multiple disciplines and experimental approaches within neuroscience. Boot Camp unites Neuroscience-oriented students from multiple PhD programs.Laboratory RotationsDuring Year 1, each student spends three 10-week periods performing research projects in different faculty laboratories. The choice of laboratories is based on student preference. The goal is to expose students to different techniques and approaches in neuroscience and to provide training in experimental design, critical analysis of data, and presentation of research findings. Performance in rotations is evaluated and graded. Rotations also allow students to identify the laboratory in which their thesis research will be performed. Students formally present results from the laboratory rotations in a dedicated course designed to instruct students in clear, effective presentation of scientific findings.CourseworkThe program has highly flexible course requirements. These are designed to provide students with sufficiently broad training to be conversant in all areas of neuroscience, while allowing focus in the area of primary research interest.During the first two years of the program, each student is required to take 3 courses chosen from three broad areas: (A) Cellular, Molecular & Developmental Neuroscience; (B) Systems and Computational Neuroscience; and (C) Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience. Each student consults with faculty advisers to determine the most appropriate individual courses within these areas.Students must also complete a 1-semester course in Applied Statistics in Neuroscience, or an equivalent approved course in statistics or quantitative analysis methods.For additional details, see the Neuroscience-Related Course List.Training in TeachingEffective teaching is a critical skill required in most academic and research careers. Students are required to serve as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs; equivalent to Teaching Assistants) for two semesters. GSI teaching occurs during Years 2 and 3, and provides supervised teaching experience in laboratory and discussion settings. Teaching is evaluated, and outstanding teaching is rewarded with annual Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards. One to three of our students typically win this award each year.Qualifying ExaminationStudents complete an Oral Qualifying Exam during the Spring semester of Year 2. This exam is structured around two written proposals – one in the student’s proposed area of thesis research, and the other in an area of neuroscience outside the thesis topic. During the exam, a faculty committee tests the student’s knowledge of these areas and general neuroscience. Students must demonstrate the ability to recognize important research problems, propose relevant experimental approaches, and display comprehensive knowledge of relevant subjects. Students must pass the qualifying examination before advancing to doctoral candidacy.Thesis ResearchThesis research begins after the completion of rotations in Spring or Summer of Year 1. During Year 2, students conduct thesis research while completing required coursework and GSI teaching. Years 3 to 5 are spent primarily on thesis research. Progress on thesis research is evaluated by the student, the thesis adviser, and a Thesis Committee of three additional faculty members. Thesis research is expected to lead to publication in top-ranked, refereed scientific journals. Students are strongly encouraged to present posters and speak at scientific meetings and conferences. During Year 4, they make a formal presentation of their research progress to their peers. Completion of thesis research is determined by the Thesis Committee. While there is no formal thesis defense, students present a formal thesis seminar to the neuroscience community in their last semester of candidacy.Other Program ActivitiesDuring training, students are expected to participate in a range of activities to increase their exposure to neuroscience research within and outside their specialty areas. These include the annual Neuroscience Retreat, the Neuroscience Seminar Series, as well as other affiliated seminar series and lectures. Students also participate in journal clubs, lab meetings, and multi-laboratory special interest group meetings focused on specific scientific topics. See Program Activities for a comprehensive list.Financial SupportAll admitted students receive full financial support, including payment of tuition and fees, and direct financial support (set at $34,500 for the 2016-2017 year) during the period of enrollment in the program, providing that good academic standing is maintained.Resources For Current StudentsGraduate Program PoliciesProgress Through DegreeQualifying Examination GuidelinesThesis Committee Guidelines 2016Single Parent Financial Support PolicyNeuroscience Program Graduate Student Appeal ProceduresGraduate Division PoliciesGuide to Graduate PolicyGraduate Division AppealsProcedureFormAcademic AppointmentsImportant DatesAcademic CalendarNeuroscience Graduate Student CalendarCourses and Interest GroupsNeuroscience Course Curriculum and Course ListNeuroscience Courses of Interest Offered-Fall 2016Neuroscience 290 Seminar List-Fall 2016Brain Lunch Web PageCourse CatalogSchedule of ClassesNeuroscience Data Mining GroupNeuroscience Student ResourcesNeuro Grad Advisers 2016-2017Fellowship Information 2016Professional Development LinksGraduate Student Professional Development GuideForms & Important LinksNeuroscience Program FormsAddress InformationAdviser ChecklistThesis Committee Instructions and Report Form 2016Thesis Placement FormGraduate Division FormsAdd Drop ClassApplication Candidacy FormApplication Filing Fee FormApplication Readmission FormChange in Committee Request FormChange of Major Request FormPetition Retroactive WithdrawalQual Exam Application FormQual Exam Report FormResidence Request for Readmission FormWithdrawal Petition FormGraduate Division & Other Important LinksGraduate DivisionGraduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource CenterImproving English Language Proficiency for International StudentsGSI and GSR GuideUAW Contract for GSIsUniversity-wide Financial SupportUniversity Health ServicesRegistrar’s OfficeLibrariesBerkeley International OfficeCampus Disability AccessDisabled Students ProgramGraduate AssemblyCal HousingNeuroscientist: Job Description, Duties and RequirementsLearn about the education and preparation needed to become a neuroscientist. Get a quick view of the requirements as well as details about degree programs, job duties and licensure to find out if this is the career for you.View 10 Popular Schools »Neuroscientists conduct research to develop pharmaceuticals to treat neurological disorders. A Ph.D. or M.D. is required for clinical work. Depending on their focus, neuroscientists can work in offices, laboratories, clinics, and hospitals.Essential InformationNeuroscientists research how the nervous system behaves. They can also develop pharmaceuticals for neurological disorders and treat patients. Neuroscientists are expected to complete advanced degree programs and must be licensed before performing clinical work.Job Description for a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists study the development and function of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and nerve cells throughout the body. They could specialize in one part of the nervous system, such as neurotransmitters, or focus their research on specific behaviors, such as psychiatric disorders. Illnesses based in the nervous system include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.Neuroscientists can take part in publicly funded research projects at universities, research institutes, or government facilities. Others perform applied research for private industry, where they develop new pharmaceutical treatments or other biotechnology products. Some treat patients as licensed neurosurgeons and neurologists.Duties of a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists typically perform research in offices or laboratories. Some work in clinics and hospitals to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients.Neuroscientists begin experiments by preparing tissue and cell samples. They make use of antibodies, dyes, and gene probes to identify different components of the nervous system. Tools and equipment used to monitor brain and nerve activity include magnetic resonance imagers and microelectrodes. Some use computers to create nervous system models, while others study the simplified nervous system of insects to better isolate certain behaviors.Requirements to Become a NeuroscientistNeuroscientists are expected to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree program, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The BLS further stated that those pursing clinical work must earn a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree. Some schools offer a combined Ph.D./M.D. program, which increases a neuroscientist's career opportunities. In order to treat patients, neuroscientists with an M.D. must also participate in a medical residency and pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination.Students intent on pursuing a Ph.D. can choose to enroll in a bachelor's degree program in neuroscience or a biological science to prepare for graduate studies and research. Relevant coursework includes computer science, cognitive science, mathematics, and physics. In addition to neuroscience, graduates may choose advanced degree fields specifically in neurobiology or pharmacology. Before securing more permanent research positions, neuroscientists commonly participate in postdoctoral fellowships to gain laboratory experience.Salary Info and Job OutlookAccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the median annual salary earned by medical scientists, the category under which neuroscientists fall, was $82,240 in May 2015; those working in scientific research and development services earned an average of $104,310 a year in 2015. The employment of medical scientists is expected to grow by 8% between 2014 and 2024, per the BLS.Neuroscientists improve lives by developing medications to treat patients with neurological disorders. They must possess a Ph.D. or M.D. to engage in clinical work. As of 2015, neuroscientists fall under a category with a median salary of $82,240; those classified under the scientific research and development services industry have an average annual salary of $104,310.Neuroscience Guide1. Online DegreesOnline Neuropsychology Degree Program InformationOnline Oncology Degrees: Summary of OptionsOnline Chemotherapy Certificate & Degree Program Info2. Salaries and OutlookDiabetologist: Job Description, Salary and Career OutlookNeurobiologist: Salary, Job Description and Career Outlook3. Career InformationHow to Choose an Endocrinology SchoolNeuroscientist: Job Description, Duties and Requirements4. Program InfoOnline Neuroscience Course and Class InformationBest Neuroscience Undergraduate Programs: List of Top SchoolsNeuroscience Degree Program InformationNeuroscience Nurse Certification and Training Program Information5. JobsCareers in Neuroscience Research: Job Options and Salary InfoVascular Scientist: Job & Career InfoCardiology Administrator Jobs: Career Options and Requirements6. Top SchoolsTop Colleges with Oncology Programs: List of SchoolsBest Colleges for Forensic Pathology: List of Top SchoolsNeuroscience Degree: What To Expect? | Inside JobsFiguring out what’s going on in another person’s mind is no easy task. Like Psychiatrists, Neuroscientists are professionals who dedicate their days to deciphering what’s going on upstairs. However, unlike Therapists who try to help with feelings or diseases created by our synapses and frontal lobes, Neuroscientists focus on the science and biology of the brain. They work to answer questions about specific diseases affecting the anatomy of the brain, and, in general, attempt to figure out how the different parts of the mind work.If all this sounds interesting, read on so you’ll know what to expect from a degree in neuroscience.TrainingGetting into neuroscience requires you to have more than a few years of schooling. The first degree to get is a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. Though you can be a neuroscience major, you might also spend your time studying biology, chemistry, or physiology. No matter what you major in though, you want to make sure you get used to doing research, as this is a skill that most job opportunities for Neuroscientists call for.What you study in your undergrad years can influence what area of neuroscience you focus on later, but ultimately, that’s not as important as what you study while getting your master’s degree or Ph.D. in neuroscience.Next StepOnce done with your undergraduate degree, you need more advanced training before you can consider yourself a Neuroscientist. There are a number of neuroscience careers, and what you hope to do dictates what type of degree you need.If you want to work with brain injury patients, head to medical school. If you want to find new medicines or figure out why Alzheimer’s affects certain people, get your Ph.D. and become a researcher. You can become anything from a Professor at a university to a researcher for the National Institute of Health.How to become a neuroscientistHouse of Mind"BIOLOGY GIVES YOU A BRAIN. LIFE TURNS IT INTO A MIND."- JEFFREY EUGENIDESAbout Dr. MNYU Neuroscience PhD turned Postdoctoral Fellow at Pitt. I started this neuroscience/psych blog as a grad student (2010) to help me remember cool concepts learned during class. Now, I mostly review articles and concepts, summarize new findings, answer questions you may have about neuroscience/psych/the grad school experience.May 6, 2011How to Become a NeuroscientistI have gotten so many questions about people who are interested in neuroscience as a career that I have created this post so I can reference back to it in the future.Note: This is a guide directed towards people that want RESEARCH careers. My graduate program’s approach towards neuroscience integrated knowledge from many areas like electrophysiology, cellular and molecular biology, and computational neurobiology relying on mathematics/physics. Also, a number of you seem to be under the impression that I am studying neuropsych, which I am not. Neuropsych is traditionally a more clinically-oriented branch within neuroscience.First of all, if you want to become a neuroscientist, you will most likely have to complete formal graduate training in a related branch or field. You have to be ready for this, because it is something that will take a long time. Not to worry though, time flies and if you like what you’re doing you won’t mind…In college, the most common options are majoring in either biology or psychology. Some schools have a neuroscience or biopsychology major that may be in the biological sciences department or the psych department or even a combination of both. For example, you could major in biology and minor in psych or vice versa… Because neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field, I would recommend taking courses outside your major (especially if you’re in a psych dept). Helpful and attractive courses include: physics, calculus, organic chemistry, biochem, genetics, cell and molecular biology, bioethics, and neuropsych or psych courses. Importantly, some people come from other backgrounds like electrical/computer engineering that are also helpful in areas like electrophysiology, computational neurobiology and neuronal modeling. Thus, a major in biology or psychology is not a MUST but it definitely gives you an advantage.While in college, it is also important to gain research experience (try volunteering in labs just to learn or for course credit) while maintaining a decent GPA. And by decent I mean higher than 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Of course, not all is lost if your GPA is below a 3.5. It will just be harder and you might not be regarded as competitive as other students. Mind you, if you have a 4.0 but all your classes are in the soft sciences and you didn’t take challenging courses, you’re in trouble as well… Third year of college (assuming you will graduate in 4 years) is crucial. This is the time to beef up your CV/resume, take the GRE, talk to people who will be your references, and complete your application to graduate schools. Graduate schools have a wide variety of programs (i.e. neurobiology, neuroscience, neuropsych) with different kinds of focus. Look at the curriculum for each program and find one that is well-suited for your interests and career aspirations. Remember to apply early and to ask for fee waivers, if available (I applied to 8 schools and got fee waivers for all but one of them!). Your personal statement is essential. And by that I mean it absolutely has to be good if not great. Different schools have different criteria for this essay and you should remember to pay attention to these criteria and follow instructions. You should also have several people proofread it before you send it. After you submit your application, send an e-mail to make sure everything is complete. If you get an interview, ask who your interviewers will be and familiarize yourself with their research and areas of expertise. Be nice, enthusiastic and ask smart questions. Also, during your interview, highlight why you want to be part of the training environment at that particular university or location and why you’d be a good match for the program and the department. Remember to send thank you e-mail to the faculty that met with you and anybody else you deem appropriate to thank.Graduate school: Do your best to learn and understand the material presented in your intro classes, as it will be the foundation that most of the other classes will be built upon. You don’t need stellar grades in graduate school, but you do need to pass, which for most universities is a solid B. While you are during your first year, you will most probably rotate through different labs in which you will be able to get to know the lab, learn the techniques and figure out if it’s a good fit for you. After you finish classes, you will be working on your thesis. Most likely, you will need to propose your thesis, select a review committee (composed of experts in fields relating to your research), work in lab and collect data to support your thesis, and defend it. After you defend your thesis, your committee decides your fate. This is the meat of grad school. Work, work, work. Get that thesis out and publishing well. Bonus if you learn how to write grants.Post-graduate school: Postdoctoral fellowships are a common way of learning additional techniques or addressing a different but related question. Or you could also go into something you don’t know much about. I keep hearing that a postdoc is supposed to add versatility, diversity and publications to your CV. This is also the time period in which you learn how to run a lab, work on your own independent projects, write grants, and decide where you want your career to go (i.e. industry, academia, clinical). Think about it as an extension of your training in which you get more freedom and flexibility.Alternatively, some people enroll in medical school to pursue an MD degree in addition to the Ph.D. one while others go back to school for other degrees (ex. PsyD, law, etc…). Others find industry jobs or go into public policy.Hope this helps. If you want to know about something more specific not listed here, contact me.When will neuroscience blow our minds?The discipline has promised big advances in many areas, but is it failing to live up to the hype? Three neuroscientists consider the state of their fieldAugust 4, 2016Source: AlamyThere has been no great theoretical revolution in neuroscience. But that does not mean that no revolution will ever come. Neuroscience is still youngIt’s a curious time to be a neuroscientist. The science of brain and behaviour is everywhere: endless books, documentaries, newspaper articles and conferences report new findings aplenty.The recognition by the general public that the brain deserves serious attention is gratifying. Much of this interest derives from worries about maintaining brain health. Disorders of brain and behaviour (from anxiety and depression to brain tumours and Alzheimer’s disease) come with enormous costs to both individuals and health systems. Consequently, many private and public agencies support wonderful research in neuroscience. The Wellcome Trust, for example, funds a vast and far-reaching programme extending from studying individual molecules all the way to imaging the working brain. In the US, both the National Institute of Mental Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) support a large neuro-research programme – partly driven in the latter’s case by the desperate need for viable treatments for brain trauma deriving from blast injuries in active service personnel.Philanthropy is also active: my own institution, Trinity College Dublin, recently received a joint endowment with the University of California, San Francisco of €175 million (£134 million) for work on brain health – the single largest endowment in our history.And yet there are misgivings. The deep answers to the problems that impact on public health and well-being are not coming quickly enough. The hundred or so failed drug trials for Alzheimer’s disease have come at a cost reckoned in the billions; these are huge sums for any pharmaceutical company to absorb, and many have now written off research in brain diseases as too complex and too costly to sustain – blocking off one potential career destination for neuroscience graduates in the process.Answers to big basic questions also seem a long way off. Even if this trend is now in decline, there have historically been too many papers reporting results along the lines of “brain area x does trivial function y”. The brain is, by definition, more complex than our current models of it, and it is only by embracing that complexity that we will be able to address questions such as: How can a brain be conscious? How can a brain experience diffidence or embarrassment, or reason in a moral fashion – and be simultaneously aware that it is so doing? How can a brain play rugby? Should a brain play rugby?A few simple principles aside, there has been no great theoretical revolution in neuroscience comparable to those precipitated in other disciplines by Darwin, Newton or Crick and Watson. But that does not mean that no revolution will ever come. Neuroscience is still a young discipline, reflected by the fact that many undergraduate programmes still rely on matrix arrangements between multiple home departments (chiefly psychology, physiology and biochemistry).Number of neuroscience degrees conferred in the USSource: US National Center for Education StatisticsMeanwhile, recent controversies over the replicability and reliability of research studies have been healthy, as they expose limits to knowledge. Understanding has been boosted of the dangers of basing conclusions on experiments that lack sufficient statistical power because of, for instance, low numbers of research participants or the retrofitting of hypotheses in light of results.Other anxieties revolve around definitional issues: where does neuroscience stop and psychology or molecular biology start? But really, nobody should care too deeply about such questions: there are no knowledge silos in nature, and man-made silos aren’t useful. Knowledge blending is the game: it’s good to know something about the engine, the engineering principles and the nuts and bolts of the car you drive: not just the dynamic relationships between the steering wheel, accelerator, brake and petrol gauge. To take one example, there has been great mutual enrichment between socio-psychological theories concerned with stereotyping and those concerned with the brain’s mentalising network (activated when we attempt to understand agency in others). It turns out that brain regions involved in disgust are activated when we make judgements about members of despised out-groups. This is an important finding, integrating psychological processes involved in stereotyping into more general biological processes concerned with cleanliness and self-other differentiation.Yet further anxiety is generated by neuroscience’s encroachment into public policy. We see the almost obligatory “neuro” prefix attached to concepts from ethics to politics, leadership, marketing and beyond. No wonder the great “neurobollocks” rejoinder, blog and meme have arisen. There are regular calls to apply neuroscience in classrooms, for example, despite there being no meaningful knowledge base to apply. Similar pleas arise for the use of brain imaging in the courtroom, as if the underlying science to detect the presence (or absence) of lying were settled. It is not. And the public will have been done no favours if one form of voodoo science (lie detection polygraphy) is substituted by another. The background thinking, of course, has not been done: a science that revealed actual thoughts (as opposed to coloured blobs representing neural activity) would be a remarkable violation of our assumed rights to cognitive privacy. There are lots of sticky questions here for the willing (neuro-) ethicist to ponder.But one useful effect of the popular focus on the brain is destigmatisation. Seeing conditions such as addiction as a brain and behaviour disorder rather than a moral failing facilitates understanding and treatment – although, ironically, the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs for treating depression is being obstructed by unhelpful rules based on inappropriate worries about addiction.Adding to the ferment are new neurotechnologies. Some are potentially dangerous, such as the use of commercially bought or even home-made electrical devices known as transcranial direct current stimulators to “enhance” brain function, or the off-label experimentation with supposed cognitively enhancing drugs that some students indulge in during revision and exams. But other technologies are astounding: brain imaging, optogenetics (which uses light to control genetically modified neurons in living tissues) and deep-brain stimulation (which uses a surgically implanted device to treat neurological disorders with targeted electrical impulses) are just three examples.But, with all new therapeutic treatments and devices, there is always a question of how scalable it is. A successful pharmacotherapy-based treatment for Alzheimer’s disease would scale easily, but deep-brain stimulation for drug-resistant Parkinson’s disease involves serious and very expensive neurosurgery. Of course, restoring individual productive potential should be important to the bean counters; restoring quality of life to sufferers is beyond value. But only about 100,000 patients have had this operation; scaling it to all sufferers worldwide is a pipe dream.There are early interventions that could have great effect by addressing prevention rather than cure. Early childhood poverty, for instance, has enduring effects on brain structure and function: relieving it through income support, school meal provision and intensifying education has an upfront expense but a great downstream benefit in terms of productive lives supported. Similarly, aerobic exercise interventions promote brain and cognitive function, in addition to heart health. But only public intervention is going to promote such things because there is no money to be made in it for a pharmaceutical company.And while we are (again) on the subject of money, it is worth reflecting that, notwithstanding the billion-euro and billion-dollar brain projects currently being carried out in Europe and the US (see Steven Rose’s piece), research into diseases such as dementia still receives much less funding than research into cancer.Perhaps that balance could be redressed if there were one catch-all term for diseases and disorders of the brain, just as “cancer” designates a wide array of fundamental and applied research in cell biology, applied to a difficult patient condition.It is not easy to think of something suitable. “Neurodegenerative disorders” doesn’t work, for example: it has too many syllables, and misses the many other brain disorders that are not neurodegenerative (such as attention deficit disorders or addictions). But here’s a thought: just as “malware” is used to indicate functional or structural problems with a given information technology device, perhaps we could use “malbrain” to mean something like “any disorder, dysfunction, structural problem or pathophysiological problem afflicting the brain, impairing normal neurological, psychological and psychiatric functioning of an individual”.“Malbrain” has advantages as a word. It hasn’t been widely used before, it has few syllables and it doesn’t come with any stigma. Adopting it would not instantly erase neuroscience’s problems, but if it drew in more medical funding it could help the discipline further mature, opening up career options, enhancing the sense of common purpose among researchers and, hopefully, edging one or more of them closer to their Einstein moment.Shane O’Mara is professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin and was director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience from 2009 to 2016. His latest book, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, was published by Harvard University Press in 2015.The technologies are there, the problems to be addressed are tempting and the theoretical issues are profound, touching some of the deepest questions about what it means to be humanNeuroscience has become one of the hottest fields in biology in the half-century since the term was coined by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With the mega-projects under way in the European Union and the US, the discipline can now qualify as a full-fledged Big Science.As neuroscience has expanded, the “neuro” prefix has reached out far beyond its original terrain. For our new book, Hilary Rose and I counted no fewer than 50 instances, from neuroaesthetics to neurowar, by way of neurogastronomy and neuroepistemology. “Neuro” is intervening in the social and political, too. We have neuroeducation, neuromarketing and neurolaw. In public consciousness, the glowing, false-coloured magnetic resonance images of the brain, ostensibly locating the “seats” of memory, mathematical skill or even romantic love, have replaced DNA’s double helix as a guarantor of scientific certainty.Meanwhile, the torrent of neuro-papers pouring out of labs overspills the proliferating specialist journals and threatens to take over much of Nature and Science. A wealth of new technologies has made it possible to address questions that were almost inconceivable to my generation of neuroscientists. When, as a postdoctoral researcher, I wanted to research the molecular processes that enable learning and underlie memory storage in the brain, my Nobelist superiors told me firmly that this was no fit or feasible subject for a biochemist to study. Today, memory is a mainstream field for molecular neurobiologists; it has yielded its own good-sized clutch of Nobel prizes, and ambitious neuroscientists are reaching out to claim the ultimate prize of reducing human consciousness to brain processes.What has proved most productive has been the combination of new genetic and imaging techniques. The well-established methods of deleting or inserting specific genes into the developing mouse and exploring their effect on brain structure or behaviour have been superseded. It is now possible to place the modified genes into specific brain regions and to switch them on or off using electronically directed light, allowing researchers to activate or erase specific memories, for instance. The new imaging techniques are so powerful that they even make it possible to track the molecular events occurring in individual synapses – the junctions between nerve cells – as chemical signals pass across them.But such technical and scientific triumphs may pale into insignificance when faced with the complexity of the brain. To see how far there is to go, consider the ostensible goal of the EU’s Human Brain Project: to model the human brain and all its connections in a computer and thereby develop new forms of “neuromorphic” computing. The scale of the task and the grandiosity of the ambition is indicated by the fact that in 2015, after six years of painstaking anatomic study, a team of US researchers published a complete map of a minuscule 1,500 cubic micrometres of the mouse brain – smaller than a grain of rice. And the mouse brain’s weight is about 1/3,000th of that of the human brain – although this didn’t inhibit the journal’s press release from suggesting that the map might reveal the origins of human mental diseases.What might a complete model of the human brain reveal if one could be built? Potentially very little. For we still lack any overarching theory of how the brain works – not in the sense of its minute molecular mechanisms or physiological processes, but how brain processes relate to the actual experience of learning or remembering something, solving a maths problem or being in love. What is certain is that these experiences are not statically located in one brain site, but engage many regions, linked not just through anatomical connections but by the rhythmic firing of many neurons across many brain regions. It may be that, despite its imperialising claims, neuroscience lacks the appropriate tools to solve what neuroscientists and philosophers alike refer to as “the hard problem” of consciousness.Perhaps of more general concern is the question of what neuroscience can contribute to the pressing problems of neurological disease and mental illness. Where biology is still unable to provide methods to regenerate severed spinal nerves to overcome paralysis, advances in ICT have come to the rescue, with the development of brain-computer interfaces and prostheses, offering hope of bypassing the severed nerves and restoring function. But despite detailed knowledge of the biochemistry and pathology underlying Alzheimer’s and other dementias, there are still only palliative treatments available.Furthermore, despite the funds poured into the brain sciences by the pharmaceutical industry, there have been few advances in treating those with mental disorders, from depression to schizophrenia. The newer generations of antidepressant drugs, for example, work no better than those discovered or synthesised at the dawn of the psychopharmacological era in the 1960s. All are based on the proposition that the origins of these disorders lie in some malfunction of the processes by which neurons communicate with one another, primarily through chemical transmission across synapses. Plausible though this sounds, the continued failure to come up with better treatments has even led many biologically oriented psychiatrists to question the entire paradigm. In the US, the National Institutes of Health will no longer accept grant applications related to psychiatric disorders unless they can specify a clear hypothesis and a biological target. And I have lost count of the number of times in the past few decades that the discovery of a “gene for” schizophrenia has been loudly trumpeted, only to be quietly buried a few months later. A consequence has been that many pharmaceutical companies have rowed back from such research in favour of more tractable areas.So how to sum up the state of neuroscience? If one sets aside general issues about the state of academia, such as job insecurity, the ferocious competition for grants and the increasingly authoritarian structure of universities, there has never been a more exciting time to be working in the field. The technologies are there, the problems waiting to be addressed are tempting and the theoretical issues are profound, touching both the minutiae of day-to-day life and some of the deepest questions about what it means to be human.But, in approaching them, neuroscientists must learn some humility. Ours is not the only game in town. Philosophers, social scientists, writers and artists all have things of importance to say about the human condition. And neuroscientists who offer to use their science to educate the young or adjudicate morality in courts of law should proceed with utmost caution.Steven Rose is emeritus professor of neuroscience at the Open University. Co‑written with Hilary Rose, his latest book, Can Neuroscience Change Our Minds?, was published by Polity Press in June.The ‘black box’ that has squatted resolutely between genes and specific behaviours for such a long time is now being filled with real mechanistic insightI was at a meeting recently where a speaker declared that “in the neurosciences, we have experienced the excitement of technical innovation, followed by inflated expectation, and now we have entered the trough of disappointment”. This depiction surprised me. Not just because it is a cliché, trotted out and used to describe the current status of topics as diverse as graphene and the Great British Bake Off, but also because it is palpably wrong.Wanting to get to the root of the speaker’s confusion, I enquired over dinner if he was getting enough sleep. He said “tiredness stalks me like a harpy”. Interesting. The rationale for my question was a recent study showing that sleep-deprived individuals retain negative or neutral information, while readily forgetting information with a positive content. I concluded that sleep deprivation must be at the root of his distorted and overly negative views. As I articulated my counterarguments, his eyes glazed over and his head dipped. I rest my case.I sleep well, and so remain immensely positive about the current state of neuroscience. But why? What positive knowledge and experiences have I retained and consolidated in my cortex? The first would be the immense culture change that many of us have experienced over the past 20 years. Traditionally, questions in neuroscience were addressed by a single laboratory using a limited repertoire of techniques. The work usually focused on a specific neuron, or neuronal circuit, located in a favoured animal model. Some individuals spent their entire working life hunched over “their” electrophysiological rig collecting data from “their” neuron. Just moving the electrode a few millimetres and “poaching” the neuron of another was considered to be the height of predatory aggression.Most neuroscientists were more than aware of the limitations of this narrow approach. Ready for change and helped by surprisingly innovative funding initiatives, they found a new way of working – not just with other neuroscientists but across the spectrum of biomedical science. There are now countless examples of major questions being addressed by a critical mass of researchers sharing expertise and employing integrated approaches and communal facilities.The result is that detailed information is emerging about the molecular and cellular basis of core functions of the brain, providing a real understanding of how the brain is involved in autonomic, endocrine, sensory, motor, emotional, cognitive and disease processes. All these developments, along with advances in bioinformatics and computational modelling, now place the neuroscience community in an unparalleled position to address the bigger picture of how the brain functions through its synchronised networks to produce both normal and abnormal behaviour. Furthermore, the expansion of experimental medicine is providing new and exciting research opportunities. The human genotype-to-phenotype link, studied through close cooperative contacts between clinical and non-clinical researchers, is an increasingly important driver in elucidating fundamental mechanisms.True – neuroscientists have yet to answer the question of “what is consciousness?”, or to cure dementia or schizophrenia. We may not be able to do this for some time. But should these great and laudable goals be the only metrics against which progress is measured? If so, then spectacular successes will be overlooked. Across the neurosciences, important fundamental questions are being answered: not least, how genes give rise to specific behaviours. In my own field, the collective efforts of many individuals have begun to explain in considerable detail how circadian rhythms arise from an interaction between key “clock genes” and their protein products. We are also beginning to understand how multiple individual clock cells are able to coordinate their efforts to drive circadian rhythms in every aspect of physiology and behaviour, including the sleep/wake cycle. Attempts to understand how the eye detects the dawn/dusk cycle to align the molecular clockwork to the solar day led to the discovery of an entirely new class of light-sensing system within the retina. Efforts to explain why some people are morning types (larks) while others are evening types (owls) have been linked directly to subtle changes in specific clock genes.I could go on and on, and I know colleagues in other areas of neuroscience could cite analogous triumphs. For some balance, I am keen to highlight psychiatry. It has long been known that conditions such as schizophrenia have a major genetic component, but identifying the specific genes involved has been a significant problem, and at one stage was thought to be an intractable one. However, very recent genome-wide association studies have provided real insight. More than 100 gene loci have now been linked with schizophrenia risk, identifying for the first time “genes for schizophrenia”. Furthermore, many of these genes have clear therapeutic potential, both as drug targets and in identifying environmental factors that influence the development of the condition. The point I am trying to make is that the “black box” that has squatted resolutely between genes and specific behaviours for such a long time is now being filled with real mechanistic insight.I will not pretend that everything is perfect. We do face significant problems, not least how we fund and recognise the efforts of early career neuroscientists, who are often obliged to work in very large teams, making individual achievements hard to highlight. However, I absolutely refuse to support the notion that neuroscience now resides within a “trough of disappointment”. The immense progress and successes that have been and are being achieved across the broad spectrum of the discipline should be recognised and celebrated. The state of neuroscience is robust, and we are genuinely shuffling forward in our understanding of the most complicated structure in the known universe: the human brain.Russell G. Foster is professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford.Read more about:Knowledge transferResearchScienceRelated universitiesUniversity of OxfordExploreMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyExploreTrinity College DublinExploreBecome a Neurologist: Step-by-Step Career GuideShould I Become a Neurologist?Neurologists are physicians and surgeons who treat patients with nervous system disorders, including problems with the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Many neurologists work in hospitals, and though health and safety precautions are taken, there is some risk of exposure to infectious diseases while working in any medical setting. Doctors who work in hospitals commonly work more than 40 hours a week and often during irregular hours of the day. The potential for high income is present in this career. It can be emotionally and physically challenging, but there is great reward in improving peoples' health and saving peoples' lives.Neurologists will need strong communication and leadership skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, problem-solving skills, patience, empathy, and knowledge of human anatomy and the nervous system. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average salary for all other physicians and surgeons, including neurologists, was $197,700 as of May 2015.Undergraduate DegreeEarning a bachelor's degree is the first step toward becoming a neurologist. There is no specific major required for undergraduate study. However, aspiring neurologists may benefit from concentrating their studies in biological sciences, chemistry, physics or pre-med to meet admission requirements for medical school. Pre-med requisite courses typically include microbiology, biochemistry and human anatomy.During the junior year of an undergraduate program, aspiring neurologists must take and pass the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). This exam allows medical schools to evaluate an applicant's training and knowledge through a skills assessment and a set of multiple-choice questions. They then must submit their applications through an online service administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).Students can improve their undergraduate preparation by volunteering. According to the BLS, medical school admissions boards may give preference to students who have completed volunteer hours throughout their undergraduate studies. Volunteering at a hospital or in a similar medical environment can help an aspiring neurologist stand out on his or her medical school application, while also gaining hands-on experience working with patients.Students can also participate in extracurricular activities. The BLS reports that extracurricular activities can help students demonstrate their leadership qualities. Joining honors societies, clubs, student-run publications, or other similar extracurricular activities can help an aspiring neurologist build essential skills and stand out when applying to medical schools.It might also be helpful to learn a foreign language. Neurologists may frequently work with patients who do not speak English, so learning a foreign language, such as Spanish, can help a candidate succeed in this field and may help him or her stand out over other medical school applicants.Graduate Education & ResidencyAspiring neurologists are required to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree by attending medical school. Most medical school programs last four years, with the first two years typically covering the basics of human anatomy and physiology. Courses may also delve into nutrition, immunology and ethics. During their third and fourth years, med students usually receive clinical training and participate in a clerkship that covers medical specializations, like family medicine, neurology or radiology.The National Board of Medical Examiners and the Federation of State Medical Boards administer the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners administers the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX). All aspiring physicians, including neurologists, must pass one of these exams prior to practicing medicine in the United States. Both tests come in multiple stages, beginning during medical school. The final stage can be taken right after medical school or within the first part of a residency program. Taking the test immediately after graduating from medical school may be beneficial, as internship and residency programs may rely on these scores for admissions.Aspiring neurologists begin their postgraduate training by entering a 1-year internship program in either internal medicine or surgery. Interns generally gain advanced experience with patients and specific healthcare practices through rotations. For example, while interns working in oncology may interact and provide treatment for cancer patients, those in the intensive care unit may receive instruction on protocols when caring for critically ill patients.After completing their internships, postgraduates will begin a 3-year neurology residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Neurology residents typically attend lectures, participate in patient rounds, and complete case studies of clinical scenarios. Through these activities, they gain experience with an assortment of neurological disorders and issues, such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and neuroradiology.Students may also consider a fellowship program. Neurologists seeking advanced training in a particular field of neurology might consider participating in a fellowship offered by a university medical facility or hospital. These programs generally last 1-2 years after a residency and offer extensive work and research opportunities with faculty and medical teams. Fellowships may be available in epilepsy, neurophysiology and other specialized areas of practice.Journey with Parkinson's (interesting site on developments)Beyond SchoolThe American Board of Psychology and Neurology (ABPN) offers voluntary certifications for qualified neurologists. Prospective candidates may become certified as neurologists or child neurologists after completing a certification examination. In order to take the exam, candidates must have completed an accredited medical school program, earned a medical license, and satisfied the ABPN training requirements. Once certified, neurologists participate in the ABPN 10-year certification maintenance program, which includes completing self-assessment activities and other ABPN components.Continuing education can help a neurologist stay up-to-date with trends, breakthroughs and advances in the field. In some cases, continuing education may even be required. For example, the ABPN 10-year certification maintenance program requires completion of continuing education opportunities to ensure certified neurologists are constantly learning and improving in their careers. Continuing education can be completed through classes hosted by professional organizations or university medical centers; opportunities may include classes, meetings, self-assessment and seminars.Neurologists are physicians that specialize in the nervous system. They require a residency and perhaps a fellowship beyond medical school.How to Apply for a Residency Step-by-Step Guide to Applying to a Neurology Residency ProgramNeurologyOverview of the SpecialtyThe specialty of neurology is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of nervous system disorders involving the brain, spinal cord and other nerve and muscular conditions as well as the blood vessels that relate to them. Many neurological problems are characterized by pain and can be chronic, debilitating and difficult to treat. Headaches, strokes and seizure disorders are typical conditions neurologists treat. A large portion of the practice of neurology is consultative, but the neurologist may also be the primary physician.Training RequirementsTraining generally consists of a minimum of four years of postgraduate education. Entry into a neurology residency training program is preceded by 12 months of ACGME-accredited graduate training in the United States or Canada, usually in general internal medicine. ACGME-approved residency training programs in neurology must provide three years of graduate education in neurology. There were 133 neurological residency training programs accredited by the ACGME for 2014/15 that offered 717 categorical/advanced positions.Matching Program Information and Match StatisticsNeurology training programs participate in the NRMP. Match results and competitiveness information for neurology residency training positions are summarized in U.S. Match Statistics table below.US Match StatisticsSubspecialty/fellowship training upon completion of a neurology residency training program is available in child neurology and clinical neurophysiology.Detailed information about the scope of these subspecialty training programs, number of positions offered and length of training is available in the GMED online database FREIDA.FREIDA Career Information FREIDA physician workforce information for each specialty includes statistical information on the number of positions/programs for residency training, resident work hours, resident work environment and compensation, employment status upon completion of program and work environment for those entering practice in each specialty.Washington University Resources Washington University Graduate Medical Education: GME Washington University Department Website: Department of Neurology

The Palestinian recent history contends that the Palestinian people are over 4000 years even claiming that Jesus was a Palestinian. They want to pretend that since they call themselves Palestinians, so any time the name Palestine was used must mean them. This is so ridiculous. The name has been used since the times of Dovid Hamelech in the bible! The Moslems are less than 2000 years and the Palestinians were formed under Arafat in 1964 (less than 60 years ago - how soon people forget!)Recent history has called the land Palestine under the Turkish and British - referring to the people who lived in the land which were Jews and Arabs. In fact, before 1948 the Jerusalem Post was called the Palestine Post. After 1948, a Jewish government was established (after a bitter war where all the Arab lands fought the Jews after the Arabs did not want to share the land even though the UN vote established 2 lands for the Jews and Arabs. The Arabs who lived in Palestine were told by the other Arab countries to leave and return in victory after the war. Only they didn’t win. Then the Arab countries abandon these Arabs and had them live in refugee camps - as a symbol. These were the ones who then became known under Arafat in 1964 as Palestinians.The following article is from the Palestinian Media Watch: Palestinian history fabricated | PMW“The statehood of Palestinian is a mythRewriting historyRewriting the history of the Land of Israel in order to deny Israel's right to exist is central to the Palestinian Authority (PA) policy. Long before it started the PA terror campaign (the "Intifada," 2000-2005), the PA was fighting a history war – erasing Jewish history and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history. This rewriting has two central goals:1- Erase the Jewish nation's 3,000 year history in the Land of Israel;2- Invent ancient Palestinian, Muslim and Arab histories in the land.The goal of this historical revision as a political strategy was first expressed publicly at a conference of Palestinian historians in 1998, when rewriting history was linked to the political goal of denying Israel's right to exist:"Dr. Yussuf Alzamili [Chairman History Department, Khan Yunis Educational College] called on all universities and colleges to write the history of Palestine and to guard it, and not to enable the [foreign] implants and enemies to distort it or to legitimize the existence of Jews on this land... [History lecturer Abu Amar] clarified that there is no connection between the ancient generation of Jews and the new generation." [Al-Ayyam, Dec. 4, 1998].Erasing Jewish history in the land of Israel is followed by the PA’s invention of ancient and modern histories that support its political ideology and claim to the land of Israel. The Holocaust and other aspects of Jewish history are alternately denied, downplayed or distorted. Another distortion is to hide from Palestinians that Jesus was a Jew who lived in the Land of Judea/Israel. PA leaders repeatedly define Jesus as a Palestinian who preached Islam, thus denying not only Jewish history, but also the history and legitimacy of Christianity.Citing numerous examples, this section will document that these and other historical revisions are an integral part of Palestinian policy and are used to create political ideology.Palestinian history fabricatedHaving erased Jewish history, the PA fills the historical void by fabricating the ancient histories of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. PA academics claim that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims all populated the Land of Israel in Biblical times and even earlier. These fictions are all historically impossible, as the name “Palestine" as a replacement for the Land of Judea/Israel was coined by Rome only in 136 C.E., Islam was established only in 610 C.E., and Arabs first arrived in Israel with the Muslim invasion in 637 C.E.Inventing thousands of years of history when none existed is accomplished through numerous distortions and lies, including changing the Biblical Canaanites into Arabs, changing Biblical Israelis, Judeans and Hebrews into Arabs and Muslims, changing the religion preached by Moses from Judaism into Islam, and changing Jesus into a Palestinian who preached Islam and not Christianity.This so-called documentary depicting Biblical Canaanites as Arabs, broadcast many times on PA TV, is one example of this PA historical revision."The Arab Canaanites established ports on the coast of Canaan, known today as Palestine. Palestine was attacked by invaders, but its Arab Canaanite features withstood attempts to change them. Jaffa was one of the cities whose Canaanite origins the invaders failed to erase." [PA TV, repeatedly, 2005-2007.]The documentary further invents history by indicating visually that the victims of the Roman invasion were Arabs, not the Jewish kingdom of Judea.PA Chairman Abbas calls Palestinians “We Canaanites, the owners of this land”Source: Official PA radio station The Voice of Palestine, Jan. 25, 2019Official PA radio station The Voice of Palestine, filler featuring a statement made by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during a speech at a PLO Central Council meeting on Oct. 28, 2018PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “We Canaanites, the owners of this land, were born in it, will live on it, and will be buried under its holy ground.”Op-ed in official PA daily says Jesus is a symbol of a national struggle against those who falsified the Old Testament, and which have not “ceased committing their crimes to this very day”Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 25, 2018Excerpt of an op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily“Jesus, peace be upon him, was the first symbol of a national struggle for liberation and escape from the claws of those who pretend to belong to Judaism, who falsified the Old Testament and its intentions, fought their prophets, and did an injustice to the Jews, Christians, and others in Jesus’ times. They have not ceased committing their crimes to this very day, after Judaism was hijacked by the Zionist movement that imposed its colonialist project on it. This was with unconditional agreement and support from the colonialist West in order to achieve its colonialist goals.”Song on PA TV to Britain: “We will erase the memory of the Balfour Declaration;” "We are rooted in this land from the days of the Canaanites"Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Nov. 1, 2018Song “Listen Balfour, Listen” performed by Qassem Al-Najjar and Shadi Al-BuriniLyrics: “O Balfour, years have goneGenerations have gone until nowYou have gone and others have gone, yet this is the land of PalestineRegardless of the time that passes, we will erase the memory of this [Balfour] PromiseListen Balfour, listenThe right of my land will yet returnWe bow only to AllahWe are the Palestinians…We are your owners, PalestineAnd we are rooted in this land from the days of the CanaanitesWe have identityPalestine’s history is great, Jerusalem is ours and no one else’sRegardless of your efforts to falsify, this land is Palestinian…O British man, listen upYou must apologize to usThis homeland is ours, and not the Zionists’You deprived my precious homelandYou stole the right to my land and gave it to the ZionistThis is an international crimeBalfour [of] the ominous promise committed a crime against my oppressed peopleWe will not be silent from this day forward, we will not forget the cause"Click to view videoClick to view bulletinClick "full article" for moreFatah thanks boycotters of Jerusalem municipal elections; Jerusalemite Palestinians are "the Canaanite owners of the land" whose history, holy places, and heritage are being "erased"Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 31, 2018“The Fatah Movement saluted with honor and appreciation ‘the members of our people and our heroes, the residents of Jerusalem, who have proven for the 1,001st time that Jerusalem, with its residents, alleys, mosques, and churches, is purely Arab-Palestinian – thus it was and thus it will remain.’ [Fatah] Revolutionary Council member and [Fatah] Movement Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi said in a press release last night [Oct. 30, 2018] in response to the Jerusalem residents’ complete boycott what is called ‘the Jerusalem municipal elections’: ‘The iron commitment of the Canaanite owners of the land, the residents of Jerusalem, to boycott the elections conveys a strong and clear message: Despite all the attempts to forge history… the members of our splendid people in Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, have proven through their national awareness that they are unified against the plans that target their history, their present, their future, their holy sites, and all the elements of their cultural heritage, and that the national memory is much stronger than their failed attempts to erase it.’"Click to view bulletinClick "full artilce" for a longer excerptPA TV portrays Israel as foreign colonial occupier, claims ancient Jewish history is PalestinianSource: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Oct. 30, 2018The PA TV video shows a woman who represents "ancient Palestinians" (or possibly Muslims) going through the history of the land - replacing the Jewish people's actual history. The woman is introduced in a peaceful scene feeding birds in a period predating the Roman conquest of Judea and destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Suddenly the scene is disturbed, the birds scatter and the woman runs away from various foreign invaders: first an ancient Roman soldier, then a Crusader, then a British soldier, and finally a Jew (wearing a skullcap), who throws a lit cigarette at her.In the final scene, the woman stops fleeing when a man on a horse - the "new" Muslim conqueror Saladin who defeated the Crusaders - extends his hand and helps her up the mountain. He represents the coming savior who will "liberate Palestine" from Jewish-Israeli rule. In the end, the woman stands on the top of the mountain, fleeing no one anymore, symbolizing that Israel is gone like the other foreign rulers.Click to view videoNote: The video originally aired March 2, 2012. It was rebroadcast on both PA TV and PA TV Live at least 18 times in 2012, 54 times in 2013, 44 times in 2014, 42 times in 2015, 24 times in 2016, 22 times in 2017, and 9 times in 2018, most recently on Oct. 30, 2018. It was broadcast on Fatah-run Awdah TV twice on Jan. 8, 2016, and 6 times in 2017, most recently on Aug. 20, 2017.PA Government Spokesman: “the identity of the Islamic Arab city” of Jerusalem “has been historically known and scientifically proven since the dawn of history."Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 5, 2018Headline: Settlers have taken over a historical asset in the Old [City of] Jerusalem""Gangs of settlers took over an ancient and historical asset on Aqabat Darwish [Street] within the Old City of occupied Jerusalem early yesterday morning, Thursday [Oct. 4, 2018], under the protection of a reinforced military force made up of the occupation's soldiers and police…Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud… demanded that the international organizations and institutions, and particularly UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), intervene in order to prevent the occupation from taking over the authentic Arab cultural heritage in occupied Arab Jerusalem, and make it stop harming the identity of the Islamic Arab city, which has been historically known and scientifically proven since the dawn of history."PA deputy district governor accuses Israel of stealing Palestinian heritage; "The antiquities in all of Palestine prove that the land of Palestine is an Arab-Canaanite land”Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 25, 2018Headline: "Qalqilya: A seminar to introduce the new Palestinian Cultural and Material Heritage Law""The Qalqilya district organized a seminar yesterday, in cooperation with the [PA] Ministry of Tourism [and] under the sponsorship of District Governor of Qalqilya Rafe' Rawajbeh, to introduce the new Palestinian Cultural and Material Heritage Law.Deputy District Governor [of Qalqilya] Husam Abu Hamda and [PA] Deputy Minister of Tourism Ali Abu Sorour participated in the seminar… Abu Hamda emphasized the importance of the new law in protecting the heritage, the identity, and the Palestinian existence. He referred to the situation in the Qalqilya district and to the fact that it is targeted by the occupation and its settlers, who are attempting to steal every Palestinian thing… The deputy district governor… said: 'Our struggle with the occupation is a struggle over the identity, the land, and the heritage. The antiquities in all of Palestine prove that the land of Palestine is an Arab-Canaanite land.'"PA TV lies, claims “Palestinian antiquities” at Judean fortress of HerodiumSource: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 19, 2018Official PA TV newsreader: "The occupation authorities continue to falsify and steal Palestinian antiquities at the archaeological site at the Herodium fortress..."Official PA TV reporter: "The occupation tries to exploit the heritage sites for the benefit of the Israeli narrative: the existence of Jewish history on the land of Palestine. Therefore it is intentionally falsifying the facts, searching for false antiquities in this land, and striving to erase the Arab landmarks that contradict its narrative. Israeli attempts to falsify [the land's] Palestinian character [continue] at this important archaeological site."Click to view videoNote: 1980 years before the creation in 1965 of the “Palestinian people,” Judean King Herod built a palace fortress at Herodium, south of Jerusalem. There are no “Palestinian antiquities” at Herodium or anywhere in the land of Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Op-ed in official PA daily claims Jerusalem is Palestinian “from before Adam”Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 28, 2018"Before you [the Jews] say Jerusalem is your capital, you must open the chests of millions [of Palestinians] with butchers' knives in order to uproot the city from within them, seal off the women's wombs, expel the birds and butterflies, slaughter the songs… bring Jesus down from Heaven and crucify him, hunt Al-Buraq (i.e., flying steed of Islam's Prophet Muhammad; see note below), digest the mountains in your stomachs, expel the olive trees from the land, and prevent the sun from shining, as it shines only for the sake of Jerusalem – which is ours from before Adam (i.e., the first man created by God mentioned in the Bible) and until after the resurrection of the dead."Al-Buraq – According to Islamic tradition, Al-Buraq is the miraculous flying steed upon which Islam's Prophet Muhammad is said to have rode during his Night Journey from Mecca to "al aqsa mosque", i.e., "the farthest mosque" (Quran, Sura 17).Fatah spokesman: The Palestinians were “on this land before the dawn of civilization”Source: Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), Aug. 9, 2018Headline: "The Fatah Movement's response to the harsh Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip""The Fatah Movement said that the occupation state is continuing in its crimes and massacres against the members of our people in light of the world's silence, and is ignoring international law. The Movement demanded that the international community carry out its obligation and come out against the Israeli stupidity and barbarity.This was said in a statement by [Fatah] Movement Spokesman Atef Abu Saif, who said: ‘…The willpower of our people that was on this land before the dawn of civilization is too strong to be harmed by the occupation’s missiles, launchers, and warships.’"PA Parliament condemns Israel’s Jewish Nation-State Law, claims Palestinians are the original inhabitants of the land, and that Israel strips Israeli Arabs of their citizenshipSource: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 26, 2018Headline: "The [PA] Parliament discusses the latest political developments with the Italian consul""[PA] Parliament (Legislative Council) members Nabil Shaath, Bernard Sabella, and Sahr Al-Qawasmi yesterday [July 25, 2018] reviewed different viewpoints regarding some of the central issues in the Palestinian arena together with the Italian consul…Shaath condemned the Israeli Parliament's decision in July 2018, which is a law that recognizes Israel as ‘the nation-state of the Jewish people,' which strengthens the policy of racial separation that Israel is carrying out, and through which it denies the right of citizenship and the rights of 20% of the inhabitants – the original Palestinians(sic., Arab citizens of Israel have not been stripped of their citizenship; see note below –Ed.)."Nabil Shaath also holds the position of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Foreign Affairs and International Relations.Jewish Nation-State Law – law passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 19, 2018, which codifies in Israel's Basic Law that Israel is the home of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem its capital, and the Hebrew calendar its official calendar. It establishes Hebrew as the sole official language and grants Arabic a special status, and it recognizes Jewish and Israeli holidays, memorial days, and the Jewish Sabbath as national holidays and days of rest - while guaranteeing the right of all Israeli citizens and residents to celebrate their holidays and days of rest.PLO official criticizes the Jewish Nation-State Law, saying it omitted “the original ones” – the PalestiniansSource: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 20, 2018Headline: "Erekat met with the director of Middle East Affairs in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs""Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, [Fatah Central Committee member, and PLO Chief Negotiator] Saeb Erekat met with Director of Middle East and North African Affairs in the French Ministry for [Europe and] Foreign Affairs Jerome Bonaparte, who was accompanied by the French consul general and other senior French officials.Erekat emphasized his condemnation of the ratification of the apartheid and racism law in the Israeli Parliament (refers to Jewish nation-state law; see note below –Ed.), according to which the State of Israel has officially become an apartheid state and a racist state, particularly since it established that only Jews have the right to self-determination, and omitted 20% of the citizens – the original ones, the members of the Palestinian people."Jewish Nation-State Law – law passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 19, 2018, which codifies in Israel's Basic Law that Israel is the home of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem its capital, and the Hebrew calendar its official calendar. It establishes Hebrew as the sole official language and grants Arabic a special status, and it recognizes Jewish and Israeli holidays, memorial days, and the Jewish Sabbath as national holidays and days of rest - while guaranteeing the right of all Israeli citizens and residents to celebrate their holidays and days of rest.PA Spokesman says the “glorious heritage” of the Palestinians “goes back to the dawn of humanity”Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 20, 2018Headline: "The Israeli Parliament ratified the 'nation-state law' – the codification of apartheid and the institutionalization of ethnic cleansing""Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, [Fatah Central Committee member, and PLO Chief Negotiator] Saeb Erekat said that the ratification of the 'nation-state law' in the Israeli Parliament (see note below –Ed.) is tantamount to the codification of apartheid and turns the State of Israel into a racist separation regime according to law.Erekat said that this law constitutes strengthening and a direct continuation of the racist colonialist heritage, which is based on the foundations of ethnic cleansing, negating the other, and deliberate denial of the rights of the original inhabitants on their historical land…Official [PA] Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud said: 'What the senior Israeli officials have committed by legislating such a racist law, which is contrary to all the principles of freedom, democracy, and humanity, is tantamount to launching a war against the members of our people and our land, in an additional attempt to harm our people’s existence and eradicate its glorious heritage that goes back to the dawn of humanity.’"Jewish Nation-State Law – law passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 19, 2018, which codifies in Israel's Basic Law that Israel is the home of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem its capital, and the Hebrew calendar its official calendar. It establishes Hebrew as the sole official language and grants Arabic a special status, and it recognizes Jewish and Israeli holidays, memorial days, and the Jewish Sabbath as national holidays and days of rest - while guaranteeing the right of all Israeli citizens and residents to celebrate their holidays and days of rest.Abbas’ advisor invents Palestinian history: Palestinians have been on this land for 6,000 years, we were here “before Judaism, Christianity and Islam... Peace will begin with the removal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian land”Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, July 12, 2018Official PA TV News, broadcast of a Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting held in Khan Al-Ahmar, a site where Bedouins have constructed illegal structures on state landSupreme Shari’ah Judge, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Today, here, we remember 6,000 years of Palestinianness of this land. Six thousand years since the Arab Canaanites built the city of Jerusalem (sic., the Canaanites were not Arabs), even before our forefather Abraham reached this land. We were here not only before the settlements, we were here before Israel, and we were even here before the Jewish religion, before Judaism, before Christianity, and before Islam. The Palestinians were here and will remain here, and the foreigners will leave… The… call is to the Israeli people – do you want peace? Peace will begin with you leaving here. Peace will begin with the removal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian land and with the transfer of all of the land of occupied Palestine, and primarily Jerusalem with all of its details and contours - the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall of the Temple Mount) - which will be transferred to the independent Palestinian state, as it is responsible for protecting the holy sites.”Click "full article" for a longer excerptPA history museum “draws pictures of massacres” because there are “no pictures or documents to connect to them”Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, July 11, 2018Official PA TV program Palestine This Morning, interview with Director of the Yasser Arafat Museum Muhammad HalayqaDirector of the Yasser Arafat Museum Muhammad Halayqa: “There are many pictures of the [Palestinian] suffering. I will give a small example, the Palestinians have experienced many massacres, and there are perhaps dozens. Some of them are documented, and some of them are undocumented, but we do not have one picture related to them. That is to say, there are general pictures, but we cannot say that this picture is of the massacre at Deir Yassin, or Qibya, or Tantur (apparently refers to Tantura; see notes below -Ed.).”Official PA TV host: “General pictures.”Muhammad Halayqa: “Pictures or documents that are related. However, in actuality, the massacres and mass murders occurred, but there is nothing to connect between them and documents, pictures, films, and such.Perhaps they exist somewhere. In other words, perhaps the Israelis are keeping them, but we Palestinians do not have pictures and documents regarding these massacres, as we are talking about the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the uprooting of the Palestinians. This is an example of one of the problems we have run into at the Yasser Arafat Museum while covering this section. It was not easy. Therefore we expressed [the massacres] through drawing [and] artistic creation that hint at these massacres.”Deir Yassin - On April 9, 1948, Jewish fighters from the Irgun and Lehi military groups, part of the forces opening the blockaded road to Jerusalem, attacked the Arab village of Deir Yassin.Click "full article" for moreAbbas’ advisor in sermon: Balfour Declaration was “despicable act of oppression;” denies Jewish connection to land or to Jerusalem, which was founded by “us, the Jebusite Canaanite Arabs;” attacks the USSource: Official Palestinian Authority TV, May 18, 2018Official PA TV and YouTube channel of the Office of the PA Supreme Shari'ah Judge, Ramadan Friday sermon by Supreme Shari’ah Judge, Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice Mahmoud Al-Habbash at the mosque at the PA headquarters in Ramallah.Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "More than 100 years ago a despicable act of oppression befell the Palestinian people, in which one who has no [right] gave a promise to one who does not deserve it, (i.e., the Balfour Declaration) about land to which they have no connection – land that they acknowledged was not theirs, and that they have no right to… except for a sentimental connection… But the oppression occurred, and the world conspired against the Palestinian people, and this people was uprooted 70 years ago, at the time of the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel).... We and the world have seen the completion of the sins, the completion of the sin of Palestine’s Nakba, in that America came to transfer its embassy [to Jerusalem] and to falsely say… that it is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. This is what they are saying about Jerusalem! As if Jerusalem has no people, and has no owners, and as if it has no people, and as if they are the ones who built it; even though the facts of history determine that those who built Jerusalem are us, the Jebusite Canaanite Arabs, and they gave it its name, and they set it as their capital (sic., archaeological finds have proven a Jewish role in building and developing Jerusalem; the Jebusites and Canaanites were not Arabs)… The one responsible for all of this is first of all the USA. Our blood is on their neck and on their hands. They are responsible.”Click "full article" for morePLO: “We are the original owners of the country whose history stretches back thousands of years,” and supports “the Palestinian people’s right to carry out resistance in all of its forms”Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 4, 2018"This morning, Friday [May 4, 2018], at the end of its 23rd session in Ramallah, the Jerusalem and Defense of the Legitimacy Sessions, the Palestinian National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) published the statement on Jerusalem and Return, in which it emphasized that 'We have no homeland but Palestine. We have been here since the beginning and will remain here forever, as we are the original owners of the country whose history stretches back thousands of years. The Palestinian people’s national rights are firm and cannot be compromised on or relinquished.' … The Palestinian National Council also emphasized its adherence to the Palestinian people’s right to carry out resistance in all of its forms (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror)‎, as is anchored in the international conventions. In addition, the council welcomed the heroic model of popular resistance that our brave masses in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip are demonstrating, and called to strengthen this model that establishes the moral supremacy of the Palestinian people against the occupation and the apartheid, and strengthens the ties of solidarity with the peoples of the world and their activist forces.”Click "full article" for moreAbbas: "More than 5,000 years ago, our Canaanite Jebusite ancestors built Jerusalem so that it would be their capital"Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Apr. 11, 2018Official PA TV, speech by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the opening of the Ninth International Islamic Jerusalem Conference at the PA headquarters in RamallahPA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “Ladies and gentlemen, when we say that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine, we are saying nothing new. On the contrary, this is the right and the history over which there is no disagreement. More than 5,000 years ago, our Canaanite Jebusite ancestors built Jerusalem so that it would be their capital. They gave it the name ‘Jebus’ as a sign of appreciation and taking pride in it. Afterwards they called it ‘Urshalim,’ in other words, ‘the city of peace’ in the ancient Canaanite language. From this [period of] history until the present day, the Arab and Palestinian presence in Jerusalem has been uninterrupted, in light of the fact that we are the grandchildren of the Canaanites…At this opportunity, brothers and sisters, I confirm before you that these matters appeared in the Bible. The Bible emphasized that the Canaanites were in this country before Abraham, and their presence has been uninterrupted for the past 5,000 years and until today. Afterwards several [Israelis] say: ‘This is ours and this is our country.’ No, this is not their country!"Click "full article" for moreAbbas speech to UN Security Council demonizes Israel, slams US, but proposes international peace planSource: WAFA, official PA news agency, Feb. 20, 2018This transcript of PA Chairman Abbas' speech before the UN Security Council on Feb. 20, 2018 was published by Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news agency, on Feb. 20, 2018."Seventy years have passed since Palestine’s Nakba, from which 6 million Palestine refugees continue to suffer from the cruelty of exile and loss of human security. They continue to wander the world after the loss of their peaceful and stable lives in their homeland. They are part of the 13 million Palestinians, whose country has not yet been recognized as full Member State of the United Nations, despite the numerous resolutions reaffirming their right to self-determination and statehood on their national land.We are the descendants of the Canaanites that lived in the land of Palestine 5,000 years ago and continuously remained there to this day. Our great people remain rooted in their land. The Palestinian people built their own cities and homeland and made contributions to humanity and civilization witnessed by the world. They established institutions, schools, hospitals, cultural organizations, theaters, libraries, newspapers, publishing houses, economic organizations, businesses and banks, with wide regional and international influence.All of this existed before and after the Balfour Declaration issued by the British Government in 1917, a declaration by which those who did not own, giving to those who had no right. The British Government bears responsibility for the catastrophic consequences inflicted on the Palestinian people as a result..." “Click "full article" for a longer excerpthttp://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=495&all=1