Medical training following postgraduate
A fellowship is the period of medical training, in the United States and Canada, that a physician, dentist, or veterinarian may undertake after completing a specialty training program (residency). During this time (usually more than one year), the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows are capable of acting as an attending physician or a consultant physician in the specialist field in which they were trained, such as internal medicine or pediatrics. After completing a fellowship in the relevant sub-specialty, the physician is permitted to practice without direct supervision by other physicians in that sub-specialty, such as cardiology or oncology.
United States
In the US, the majority of fellowships are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education ("ACGME"). There are a few programs that are not accredited, yet are actually well received, given the importance of being a Board Certified Physician in a primary specialty, where a Fellowship is often more based on research productivity.[1]
ACGME Fellowships
The following are organized based on specialty required for the fellowship.
Internal Medicine or Pediatrics
General Surgery
[2]
[3]
Non-ACGME Accredited Fellowships:
Neurology
- Vascular Neurology
- Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology (Interventional Neurology, or Neurointerventional Radiology [NIR])
- Neurocritical Care
- Clinical Neurophysiology
- Movement Disorder
- Dementia/Behavioral Neurology
- Neuroimmunology
- Neuro-oncology
- Neuro-ophthalmology
- Geriatric Neurology
- Headache Medicine
- Sleep Medicine
- Epilepsy
- Neurohospitalist
- Neurorehabilitation
- Sports Neurology
ObGyn
[4][5]
- Gynecologic Oncology
- Maternal Fetal Medicine
- Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
- Reproductive Endocrinology
- Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery1
- Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology1
1 Not officially recognized as a subspecialty by the American Board of Obstetrics/Gynecology or the American College of Obstetrics/Gynecologists.
Ophthalmology
- Cornea
- Glaucoma
- Medical retina
- Neuro-ophthalmology
- Oculoplastic and reconstructive surgery
- Oncology
- Pathology
- Pediatric
- Refractive
- Uveitis
- Vitreoretinal surgery
Psychiatry
[6]
- Addiction Medicine
- Addiction Psychiatry
- Brain Injury Medicine
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
- Forensic Psychiatry
- Geriatric Psychiatry
- Headache Medicine
- Hospice and Palliative Medicine
- Sleep Medicine
Urology
- Pediatric
- Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
- Urologic Oncology
- Endourology
- Hand
- Sports Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Spine
- Foot and Ankle
- Joint replacement
- Trauma
- Oncology[7]
Other
Requirements
In general, ACGME accredited programs require completion of ACGME-accredited, RCPSC-accredited or CFPC- accredited residency program, however, exceptions for an ACGME-International- accredited residency programs and non-ACGME-accredited residency programs are possible.[8] International medical graduates must be ECFMG certified. Some fellowship specialties require participation in special matching programs like Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®) or SF Match.[9]
Combined fellowships
There are a number of programs offering a combined fellowship, training in two or more sub-specialties as part of a single program.
- Pulmonary/Critical Care: this type of program is more common than Pulmonary Disease (non-combination) programs. As of 2007, there were 130 ACGME-accredited combined Pulmonary/Critical Care programs while only 25 programs for Pulmonary Disease alone.
- Hematology/Oncology: as of 2005, there were 125 ACGME-accredited programs for Hematology-Oncology, while only 12 programs for Hematology alone and 18 for Oncology alone.
- Geriatrics/Oncology: the American Board of Internal Medicine approved a 3-year combined fellowship training program in medical oncology and geriatrics. The John A. Hartford Foundation initially funded 10 institutions for this type of training.