Burish Assumes Responsibility for Neurology Residency Training for Headache Medicine

Mark J. Burish, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, now trains neurology residents in headache medicine during their fourth and final year of residency, following the departure of Pamela Blake, MD, who returned to full-time private practice as director of the Headache Center of Greater Heights.

Burish is board certified in neurology, headache medicine, and pain medicine and specializes in the treatment of neck pain, back pain, and neuropathic pain. His research interests focus on headaches and facial pain.

The Department of Neurology residency training program at McGovern Medical School includes 48 residents, 12 in each of the program’s four years. In addition to educating fourth-year residents in headache medicine, he spends a week training second-year residents after they expressed an interest in a headache medicine rotation. He also works with third-year medical students at the medical school during their neurology rotation.

Burish directs the Will Erwin Headache Research Center at the medical school. Established with a $20 million pledge from the Will Erwin Headache Research Foundation, the center includes experts dedicated to the study of cluster headaches and other debilitating headaches and facial pain diseases.