The Fellowship Council

Membership Requirements and Application

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Program Criteria

The 2025 New Member application cycle is closed.

The 2026 New Member application cycle will open early spring of 2026.

To be a member of the Fellowship Council, a program must meet the following minimal requirements:

  • Each program must be a clinical fellowship of at least one year in duration and must include a research component.
  • Each program must adhere to the application and matching process deadlines and guidelines.
  • Each program must pay its membership dues by the designated date.
  • Each program must participate in the accreditation process following the initial new member site visit.
  • Each program must integrate an articulated curriculum with goals and objectives.
  • There must be a written quarterly evaluation of the fellow (Fellowship Council assessments are required).
  • There must be a quarterly operative assessment of the fellow (Fellowship Council assessments are required).
  • There must be a written quarterly evaluation of the faculty (Fellowship Council assessments are required).
  • There must be evidence of scholarly activity. Fellows must submit at least one research study or quality improvement project during the fellowship to a National, International or Regional Society meeting or journal. The research project need not be accepted for presentation by the conference or for publication in the journal to which it was submitted. Documentation of these activities needs to be provided with all membership or accreditation applications.
  • The fellowship program should be designed such that transition to independent practice is emphasized.
  • The fellowship Program Director must have been at the applying institution for at least one year and must be at minimum 3 years out of fellowship training at the time of the application.
  • The program is required to have both an Associate Program Director and Designated Institutional Official (DIO).
  • The program must have adequate faculty (minimum 2 faculty) to ensure stability of the clinical volume and teaching activity.
  • The FC recommends that the ideal teaching environment is one in which the fellow operates with different faculty and is exposed to different techniques. The operative experience should be balanced across the faculty and should not be predominately with one faculty member (ideally no more than 70% with one individual).
  • The program must provide evidence for salary support including fringe benefits, malpractice coverage, and health insurance for the fellow and dependents.
  • A site visit or virtual site visit for all new member applicants is required as part of the application process. A Membership Committee member will conduct a physical or virtual site visit and will expect to interview the Program Director, Associate Program Director, Program Director of the General Surgery Residency at the same institution (if applicable), Chair or Chief of Surgery, DIO (Designated Institutional Official) if different than Chair of Surgery, Representatives of the teaching faculty of the fellowship, a chief resident(s) in Surgery of the associated surgical training program at the institution (if applicable), and a Current fellow(s) (if applicable). A tour of the facility should also be planned. The site review should take no less than four hours and no more than one day.

Prior to applying, Program Directors must review the following to ensure that they will be able to meet Fellowship Council criteria for the type of fellowship for which they are applying:

New programs applicants are also strongly encouraged to review the following:

New member applications are reviewed by the Fellowship Council Membership Committee and the Board of Directors. If approved, first-year membership dues are $2,500, with subsequent annual dues set at $1,500. Programs will be invoiced only upon membership approval.

For questions, please email your name, institution, email address, and phone number to info@fellowshipcouncil.org.