About Thoracic Surgery Fellowship

| About | Schedule of Dates | Match Results Statistics |
| Participating Programs in Previous Match |

Thoracic surgery is sometimes referred to as cardiothoracic surgery and is operatively the treatment of diseases and injuries of the heart, lungs, mediastinum, esophagus, chest wall, diaphragm, and great vessels.

Before admission to a thoracic surgery residency program, the resident must have documented completion of a general surgery residency program accredited by either the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Thoracic surgery fellowships are two to three years in length.

The Thoracic Surgery Director's Association, the sponsoring organization for thoracic surgery fellowships, has requested that the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) conduct a match program. Please refer to the Schedule of Dates for the specific Thoracic Surgery Match dates.

Specialty Matches conducted by the NRMP are not centralized applications services. Candidates apply directly to the residency program that interests them.

A directory of programs participating in the last match is available in Participating Programs in Previous Match. Once a match begins, registered participants have access to a real-time directory of registered programs located in the Match Site. Program Directors also will have access to a real-time listing of applicants registered for the current match. Another source of information is the Graduate Medical Education Directory published by the American Medical Association. This publication includes the names and addresses of all accredited programs regardless of whether the program participates in the Thoracic Surgery Specialty Match.

For more information about the Thoracic Surgery fellowship, please visit the official web sites of the Thoracic Surgery Director's Association and the Thoracic Surgery Resident's Association. Another source for information and statistics on Thoracic Surgery fellowships can be found on the American Medical Association's interactive online program called Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access (FREIDA).

Before registering, please review the SMS Match Participation Agreement. By registering with the match and submitting a certified rank order list (ROL), applicants and programs agree to abide by the outcome of the match. Failure to do so is a breach of the Agreement and violators may be subject to penalties under the NRMP's Violations Policy. Both applicants and programs must follow the cardinal rule that neither must ask the other to make a commitment before the submission of ROLs. It is to be expected that one may express a high level of interest in the other; however, it is not acceptable for one to ask the other how one will be ranked.

Any verbal or written contract between an applicant and a program prior to the submission of the ROL is a material violation of the SMS Match Participation Agreement, and violators may be subject to penalties under the NRMP's Violations Policy. The final preference of program directors and applicants as reflected on the submitted ROLs will determine the offering of positions and the placement of applicants.

The Application Process

Candidates must apply to the programs of their choice using the method accepted by the program. Beginning, December 2006, the Thoracic Surgery Fellowship will participate in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). ERAS, a service developed by the AAMC, transmits application materials via the Internet to programs in residency and selected fellowship specialties.A few programs may use their own application. Do not send any program applications to the NRMP. .

Program directors review candidates' credentials and, if interested, invite them for interviews. Applicants also are responsible for ensuring that they meet all program prerequisites and institutional policies regarding eligibility for appointment to a fellowship position prior to ranking a program through the NRMP.

Applicants who have not completed prerequisite training in an accredited ACGME program in the U.S., or a similar program in Canada accredited by the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, must be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).

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Updated 10/19/2010