Surgery fellowships for international surgical graduates

[Desargues]

Hello all,
I am a current PGY-3 gen Surg resident outside of the USA, I am ECFMG certified, also planning to take step 3 soon. I have a few oral presentations and poster papers at international and national congresses, most of them are about colorectal. I also have two papers waiting for submission. I have done six months of clinical research&observership in a USA surgery residency program. I will be graduating at the beginning of 2025. I am planning for either HPB or abdominal transplantation fellowships. What else I would need for the fellowship application, and what are my chances for both?

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[mikeGR]

I don't know about transplant - for HPB, you need to research specific programs that accept international grads. I know Mayo (MN) does (AHPBA accredited), and MSKCC used to have a 1-year surg onc international fellowship, not sure if this is still going on. The Univ of Toronto has a great 2-year surg onc fellowship (SSO accredited) and they usually accept 1 international candidate per year - they also have the combined surg onc/HPB fellowship (SSO/AHPBA accredited). There is also the downtown Toronto program that has the HPB and transplant/HPB fellowships (both accredited and I believe both accepting international applicants).

I think for international candidates the most important factor will be connections - all the international surgeons I know who trained in North America either made connections through conferences/research or through their mentors. It is not impossible but not easy either. Research won't hurt either.

 

[Desargues]

I don't know about transplant - for HPB, you need to research specific programs that accept international grads. I know Mayo (MN) does (AHPBA accredited), and MSKCC used to have a 1-year surg onc international fellowship, not sure if this is still going on. The Univ of Toronto has a great 2-year surg onc fellowship (SSO accredited) and they usually accept 1 international candidate per year - they also have the combined surg onc/HPB fellowship (SSO/AHPBA accredited). There is also the downtown Toronto program that has the HPB and transplant/HPB fellowships (both accredited and I believe both accepting international applicants).

I think for international candidates the most important factor will be connections - all the international surgeons I know who trained in North America either made connections through conferences/research or through their mentors. It is not impossible but not easy either. Research won't hurt either.

Thanks man, information about fellowships for an img is pretty limited. What you are saying is gold for me.