Bascom fellowships

[mmmmaaaaahhhhhh]

Hi all
I'm a Canadian looking at the US for fellowship. Saw this message for Bascom:

Please note: You must have a Florida State Medical License before beginning your Fellowship. You must have passed all 3 parts of the USMLE for a Florida License and have spent 2 years training in the United States under direct physician supervision.

Am I understanding it correctly that BP fellowships would essentially be limited to US citizens in that case? I dont see how Canadians would ever qualify unless they either did residency in the US, or moved to the US after residency, and practiced comprehensive for 2 years before applying for a fellowship at BP.

Can anybody clarify?
Thanks!

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[orbitsurgMD]

You would appear to be correct unless there is a provision (not stated) for Canadians who have completed their residencies in Canada (which are at least as rigorous as US residencies). One other option is to do a different fellowship (not at Bascom) first. The USMLE passage is reasonable and necessary as any US resident will have to do the same before working anywhere. Bascom apparently wants you able to be credentialed to be able to bill for your services as an attending (so you can fund your own fellowship costs among other things--fellowships usually are not institution-supported) when you staff resident clinics and take after-hours call. You have to have an unrestricted state license to be able to do that.

This isn't unususal. Those were the expectations when I did my fellowship.

 

[Fascia Lata]

Hi all
I'm a Canadian looking at the US for fellowship. Saw this message for Bascom:

Please note: You must have a Florida State Medical License before beginning your Fellowship. You must have passed all 3 parts of the USMLE for a Florida License and have spent 2 years training in the United States under direct physician supervision.

Am I understanding it correctly that BP fellowships would essentially be limited to US citizens in that case? I dont see how Canadians would ever qualify unless they either did residency in the US, or moved to the US after residency, and practiced comprehensive for 2 years before applying for a fellowship at BP.

Can anybody clarify?
Thanks!

Well, this can be difficult to explain. But these are “rules” that can often be worked around for the right candidate. There is a track record of excellent clinical fellows who have trained outside the US pretty much in all subspecialties at Bascom Palmer, including cornea, glaucoma, medical retina, surgical retina, uveitis, neuroophthalmology, oculoplastics, and ophthalmic pathology. An immediate past surgical retina fellow wbo just graduated fellowship a few weeks ago trained as a resident in Canada.

 

[RetinaDude]

Yeah I don't understand that either I've always thought the US and Canadian medical school/residencies were considered as equivalent and shared reciprocity (meaning if you trained at a US med school, you were eligible for residency in the US and/or Canada, and vice versa for training at a Canadian med school). It might be that because of government funding for certain positions, they have to make the writing mention "for US citizens" but, as someone else stated, there are definitely ways around it I'd call them and ask the program director