Direct Fellowship Without Residency : Radiology

Every time I see an animal with the capability to ruminate, it makes me a little jealous - wouldn't that be a great thing to have for us humans too ? ..... I could use that to quickly gobble up stuff before my morning rounds, and then bring it out again and ruminate peacefully on my drive to the hospital - that way save time, make more time to sleep and.....what ? did I gross you out ?

LOL...no, I am not post-call - lets ruminate on the topic in hand instead - I have already dealt with the possibilities of a direct fellowship, to jog your memory some, the usual path for IMGs (and AMGs) is to first complete a residency, which then makes you eligible for the board exams in the specialty that you train for, and once you pass the exams, you are "Board certified". Board Certification is required in most places to hire you as a doc.

IMGs who complete residencies in home countries could do a direct fellowship in the US without doing a residency first - in many specialties, which will still need all USMLE scores. The problem arises at the point of Board Certification - not doing a ACGME accredited residency would mean no board eligibility or board certification. This is where certain boards have an alternative certification pathway - like the American Board of Radiology does

a medical Fellowship without a pre-requisite US medical Residency does not get your Board certified (i.e. eligible to practice the specialty in the US), implying you either stick around less clinical stuff, or get back to your country OR do a residency after your fellowship to get that certification

UNLESS....there exists an alternative pathway, like the way the American Board of Radiology (ABR) provides. The ABR requires that an IMG do a 4-years of fellowship at the same institution as a fellow or as a faculty - or to be more precise, here's a copy-paste job from the ABR website:

"An outline of your 4 year plan to meet the guidelines, including a letter of support from the department chair and program director:

• The required four years of full-time, continuous residency training or continuous clinical faculty experience must be completed in ONE ACGME-/RCPSC-approved program. Research training of up to 12 months will be granted toward diagnostic radiology certification as long as the research is completed at the same institution as the remaining 36 months of clinical training.
• Annual Verification Forms are to be completed by department chair and program director on a yearly basis (forms will be sent from the Board office when appropriate)."

RCPCS = Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Read the complete requirements here for Diagnostic Radiology and Here for Radiation Oncology

To see some sample profiles of IMGs with such fellowships in USA, you could look up the clinical fellows list on the prestigious Washington University's Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology.

- Yes, Interventional Radiology is possible via direct fellowships for IMGs
- Yes, the DNB (Diplomate National Board) in Radiology (for IMGs from India) can also be accepted

Not all boards may have such a pathway, but interested candidates should nevertheless contact individual boards to find out about such pathways, before considering direct fellowships without residencies in the USA.