Skip to main content

Graduate Certificate Programs

Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

Note: School of Medicine graduate certificate programs are open to Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) students only. 

The Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NDD) certificate program provides an opportunity for Vanderbilt medical students to receive substantial education and training in the field of neurodevelopmental disabilities. As participants in the Vanderbilt Consortium LEND program (VCL), medical students
will work with graduate students, residents, and fellows from up to fourteen other professions as they receive training to provide culturally sensitive, patient- and family-centered, interprofessional care to children and youth with special health care needs, including autism, intellectual disability, cerebral
palsy, learning disabilities, behavior problems, and genetic syndromes that are associated with NDD.

The program provides an intensive (more than 300 hours), two-semester interprofessional training experience which includes:

  • Rigorous weekly core curriculum in NDD, a monthly leadership seminar series, and a Care Navigation Practicum in which trainees assist patients and families in care navigation while learning about socio-ecologic determinants of health and community-based services.
  • Clinical experiences in various interprofessional hospital-based, community-based, and public health clinics.
  • Interprofessional group projects.
  • A broad list of activities from which the trainees can tailor their experiences based on their professional goals and aspirations.

At the completion of this experience, the students will have the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to assume leadership roles in the field of NDD and to provide interprofessional, patient- and family-centered, community-coordinated, culturally competent, and empirically-based services to individuals
with NDD and their families.

Participants receive tuition assistance. Successful completion of the VCL program also meets the VUMC Foundations for Healthcare Delivery requirement for an interprofessional experience during the Immersion Phase and LC7 of the VUMC Learning Communities requirements during the Immersion Phase.

AUCD LEND program website
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND program website

Contact

For additional information on the Graduate Certificate in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, please contact:

Rachel H. Goode, M.D.
Program Director
2141 Blakemore Ave
Nashville, TN 37212
(615) 936-0249