Alternate Entry Path - Fellowship (AEP-F)

A path to ABA subspecialty certification for outstanding international anesthesiologists

EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2023

How this works

The Alternate Entry Path – Fellowship (AEP-F) program provides a pathway for international medical graduates who are certified by the ABA through the Alternate Entry Pathway, and are practicing anesthesiology in the U.S., to obtain subspecialty certification in Adult Cardiac Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, Pediatric Anesthesiology or Pain Medicine. Candidates for the AEP-F program should demonstrate a record of documented achievement in teaching and/or scholarship rather than the potential for future success.

AEP-F program participants will spend one year in an academic anesthesiology training program as faculty members. Participants are expected to actively participate in departmental educational activities and to otherwise retain or gain anesthesiology knowledge and experience that would help them earn ABA Subspecialty Certification. Participants approved for the AEP-F program will take the subspecialty exam for the subspecialty of their choice.

Anesthesiology departments enrolling an international medical graduate in the AEP program must have an anesthesiology residency or fellowship training program with “continued full” ACGME accreditation status.  Those individuals who participate in the AEP-F will not count toward the maximum of four individuals participating in the AEP.

Fellowship Pathway

This pathway provides a subspecialty certification pathway for outstanding internationally trained medical graduates who are certified by the ABA through the Alternate Pathway and are practicing in the United States.

  • Be board certified in anesthesiology from the ABA
  • Verification of an active, unrestricted, unexpired medical license
  • Internationally trained with 4+ years (3+ years of anesthesiology-specific training) of post-graduate medical education as well as additional training in the desired fellowship of at least one year in duration
  • Have a letter of support from the sponsoring program’s chair and program director
  • Have an active clinical appointment for a minimum period of one year after enrolling in the AEP program
  • Have an academic appointment in a department of anesthesiology with an ACGME-approved fellowship and should be an outstanding clinician educator in the field of anesthesiology
  • Have the sponsoring program’s department chair and program director submit mentoring plan of one year duration for future academic development, co-signed by the physician for prospective approval by our Credentialing Committee
  • Demonstrate excellence in teaching and excellence in clinical anesthesiology during the year specifically designed and identified for the physician

Learn more about what you gain with an ABA certification