Fellowship (medicine)


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. During this time, the physician is known as a fellow. Fellows are capable of acting as an attending physician or a consultant physician in the generalist 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. 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.

ACGME Fellowships

The following are organized based on specialty required for the fellowship.

Internal Medicine ''or'' Pediatrics

1 Not officially recognized as a subspecialty by the American Board of Obstetrics/Gynecology or the American College of Obstetrics/Gynecologists.

Ophthalmology

There are a number of programs offering a combined fellowship, training in two or more sub-specialties as part of a single program.