A fellowship is the period of medical training, in the United States and Canada, that a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofacial co ...

, or

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

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 In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an M.D. or D.O.) who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the s ...

or a

consultant physician In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all of their specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen ...

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 Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

United States

In the US, the majority of fellowships are accredited by the

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs (i.e., internships, residencies, and fellowships, a.k.a. subspecialty programs) for physicians in the ...

("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.

ACGME Fellowships

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

Internal Medicine ''or'' Pediatrics

* Adolescent Medicine * Allergy/

Immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...

Cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

Child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to ...

( pediatrics only) *

Critical care medicine Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

Emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for un ...

Endocrinology Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field ...

Gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

Hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the pro ...

Infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable d ...

Neonatology Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants, especially the ill or premature newborn. It is a hospital-based specialty, and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). T ...

( pediatrics only) *

Nephrology Nephrology (from Greek'' nephros'' "kidney", combined with the suffix ''-logy'', "the study of") is a specialty of adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (r ...

Oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

Pulmonology Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract ...

Rheumatology Rheumatology (Greek ''ῥεῦμα'', ''rheûma'', flowing current) is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatolog ...

General Surgery

* Complex General Surgical Oncology * Hand Surgery *

Pediatric Surgery Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. History Pediatric surgery arose in the middle of the 1879 century as the surgical care of birth defects requ ...

* Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care *

Vascular Surgery Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which diseases of the vascular system, or arteries, veins and lymphatic circulation, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialt ...

* Colon and Rectal Surgery * Thoracic Surgery * Hospice and palliative medicine * Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Non-ACGME Accredited Fellowships: * Abdominal Transplant Surgery * Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery * Advanced Gastrointestinal, Minimally Invasive, Foregut, and

Bariatric Surgery Bariatric surgery (or weight loss surgery) includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese. Long term weight loss through the standard of care procedures ( Roux en-Y bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversi ...

Breast Surgery Breast surgery is a form of surgery performed on the breast. Types Types include: * Breast reduction surgery * Augmentation mammoplasty *Mastectomy * Lumpectomy * Breast-conserving surgery, a less radical cancer surgery than mastectomy *Mastope ...

* Endocrine Surgery

Neurology

* Vascular Neurology * Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology (Interventional Neurology, or Neurointerventional Radiology IR * Neurocritical Care * Clinical Neurophysiology * Neuroimmunology * Neuro-oncology * Neuro-ophthalmology * Geriatric Neurology * Headache Medicine * Sleep Medicine * Epilepsy * Neurohospitalist *Neurorehabilitation

ObGyn

* Gynecologic Oncology *

Maternal Fetal Medicine ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ge ...

* 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

* 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

Orthopaedic

* Hand * Sports Medicine * Pediatrics * Spine * Foot and Ankle * Joint replacement * Trauma * Oncology

Other

* Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery * Hematopathology *

Cytopathology Cytopathology (from Greek , ''kytos'', "a hollow"; , ''pathos'', "fate, harm"; and , '' -logia'') is a branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases on the cellular level. The discipline was founded by George Nicolas Papanicolaou in ...

Traumatologist In medicine, traumatology (from Greek ''trauma'', meaning injury or wound) is the study of wounds and injuries caused by accidents or violence to a person, and the surgical therapy and repair of the damage. Traumatology is a branch of medici ...

Clinical Informatics Health informatics is the field of science and engineering that aims at developing methods and technologies for the acquisition, processing, and study of patient data, which can come from different sources and modalities, such as electronic hea ...

(multiple specialties) *

Geriatrics Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατρός ''iatros' ...

* Hospice and Palliative Medicine * Interventional Radiology *

Sleep medicine Sleep medicine is a medical specialty or subspecialty devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and disorders. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about ...

(multiple specialties) *

Sports medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since th ...

(multiple specialties) * Transplant hepatology

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. International medical graduates must be ECFMG certified. Some fellowship specialties require participation in special matching programs like Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®) or SF Match.

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.

References

External links

General Internal Medicine Fellowship Directory
from the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) {{Medical education in the United States Medical education in the United States Medical education in Canada