Fourth year resident Dr. Adam Harshbarger appreciates the process-oriented nature of the neurology exam, perhaps influenced by his undergraduate studies in economics. He looks forward to the research emerging across the neurology discipline that will eventually lead to treatments that focus on the root causes of neurological diseases. Never one to waste a day off, Dr. Harshbarger often heads to a local stream to do some fly fishing right after a long call shift, coffee in hand.
Tell us a little about your background and how your path led to neurology.
I grew up in southwest Michigan, right on the lake and close to the Indiana border. I went to Notre Dame for undergrad. I studied economics and biology there, always with the intention to go to medical school. I ended up going to Indiana University for medical school in Indianapolis, which is where the main medical school campus is. IU had a smaller campus attached to Notre Dame so I did some undergraduate research there with one of my professors. So I ended up staying at IU, just moving down to Indianapolis.
I always thought I would probably do medicine, but I had the backup thought of doing management consulting or business analysis with the economics background. I really like process-oriented things. Neurology is pretty process-oriented so I think that’s part of what drew me in. I liked the ability to think through the structure of the [neurology] exam.
What attracted you to Vanderbilt?
I met my wife in medical school; she’s in pediatric neurology, also in her fourth year of residency. We were looking for a good city with strong programs in both [neurology and pediatric neurology]. Vanderbilt had broad faculty in the subspecialties to get a good overview and experience. We were able to align our programs and ended up here.
What are your specialization interests within neurology?
I felt like neurology was focused enough, so I didn’t want to focus in more. For that reason, I’m planning on doing general neurology. I’m staying at Vanderbilt in the general neurology division next year while my wife finishes up her program. Ultimately I’d like to be in a smaller practice of general neurologists.
What do you like about Nashville?
I like the proximity to moderate local hiking and mountain biking trails. And in an hour-and-a-half or two hour drive, [the options for trails] really open up. I’ve become interested in fly fishing since I’ve been here as well. There are a couple good streams within a half hour, but again more options an hour out. There’s also plenty to do downtown with all of the tourist stuff and live music. There’s a pretty broad variety of places to go out to eat here too.
Do your weekends off ever align with those of your wife? How do you like to spend your time off?
I think Vanderbilt is really good about making sure our time off aligns with each other. That has been true both in our intern year as well as now within neurology. So we’ve been able to have all of our holidays and vacation time at the same time. On weekends we’ll go out hiking or just stay in and enjoy cooking at home. I also enjoy playing board games (probably more than my wife, but she’ll usually play with me!). I’m part of a board game group in Nashville which meets twice a week, but I just go when I can. I specifically like strategy-oriented games, such as economic games, involving cost-benefit analysis and planning.
How do you like to unwind after a long call shift?
I usually just stay up the whole next day, drinking some coffee and occasionally an energy drink, and recently have been going fishing. I go with the mentality of “I don’t want to waste a day off, I want to do something.”
What are you watching these days?
Especially during COVID we’re just running through the different long multi-season TV series. I rewatched Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and American Horror Story.
Do you have any travel plans for the future?
At some point we’d really like to go to New Zealand. Our last big trip was Ireland at the end of intern year.
What makes you excited about the future of neurology?
Right now in many neurologic diseases we’re still just dealing with symptom management and we have no or limited options to treat the root cause. But, we’re starting to see real treatments emerge. That is becoming more and more interesting over time, and we already see a lot of that with multiple sclerosis and acute stroke than we used to. Broadly speaking, I think by the end of my career, we’ll have a lot more treatment options to stop disease progression.
