The Geriatric Medicine Eligibility and Selection Policy is designed to ensure fair and consistent consideration and decision-making for all applicants to the fellowship training program. Recruitment and appointment of fellows to the Geriatric Medicine fellowship is performed by the Program Director, faculty and Division Head under the oversight of the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) and the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME).
Eligibility
Geriatric Medicine fellowship applicants have completed (or will complete by the time of appointment) an internal medicine or family medicine residency in one of the following types of programs:
- ACGME-accredited residency program,
- an AOA-approved residency program,
- an ACGME-International residency program
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC)-accredited or College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC)-accredited residency program located in Canada.
- or exceptionally qualified applicants (per ACGME Common Program Requirements 3.2.b) who completed three years of verified graduate medical education training in internal medicine outside the U.S. or Canada; qualify for potential consideration as an "exceptionally qualified candidate" for ACGME-accredited fellowship acceptance; and hold a valid ECFMG certificate, consistent with ABIM's Pilot Pathway E.
Candidates who meet the above eligibility criteria will be eligible to sit for the Geriatric Medicine Boards [either via the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) or American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), depending on residency pathway] upon successful completion of the fellowship.
If positions remain after the Match, the program may consider additional applicants who meet the above criteria and may also consider exceptionally qualified applicants who do not meet the above criteria in the event that they are 1) exceptionally qualified (https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pfassets/programrequirements/2025-reformatted-requirements/125_geriatric-medicine_2025_reformatted.pdf), 2) completed evaluation by the program director and fellowship selection committee of the applicant’s suitability to enter the program, based on prior training and review of the summative evaluations of training in the core specialty; and, 3) review and approval of the applicant’s exceptional qualifications by the GMEC; and verification of Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification. Such exceptions would be considered rarely, only for the most highly qualified applicants, and consideration of this is at the discretion of the Program Director. Applicants accepted through this exception must have an evaluation of their performance by the Clinical Competency Committee within 12 weeks of matriculation. Candidates in this pathway would not be eligible to sit for the Geriatric Medicine Board Exams (in either Internal Medicine or Family Medicine).
In addition, candidates must be eligible for a Washington (or other applicable) state provider license, be authorized to work in the United States at the time of appointment, and meet applicable essential abilities and requirements of the program.
application
The Geriatric Medicine fellowship training uses the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) to receive and accept applications to the program, though under rare exception post-Match applications may be accepted outside of ERAS.
interview
Applicants are interviewed by program faculty members and the Program Director and/or Associate Program Director.
Applicants invited to interview for a Geriatric Medicine fellowship position are informed in writing or by electronic means, of the terms, conditions, and benefits of their potential appointment to our program, as well as all institutional and program policies regarding eligibility and selection for appointment, either in effect at the time of the interview or that will be in effect at the time of their eventual appointment. Applicants are encouraged to review the Program Aims available on our website (https://geriatrics.uw.edu/education/fellowships). All of the above information regarding the terms, conditions, benefits, and institutional policies can be found under https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/prospective-residents-and-fellows/.
Accommodations: Applicants who require a disability accommodation for the interview may request an accommodation from the UW Disability Services Office. In the event that such an accommodation is requested, the UW Disability Services Office will inform the GME Office and the Program of the request in order to facilitate an appropriate accommodation, if indicated.
selection
Fellows are selected from eligible applicants by the Program Director and program selection committee. Fellows will be selected based on their application and interviews. The determination for selection is made via a fellowship selection committee, with final determination by the program director.
Fellows are selected through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) for geriatric medicine, and our program follows an “all in” policy, selecting all of our fellows via the Match. If there are circumstances requiring offering a position outside the Match (which is generally avoided by our Program), this would need to be done via a formal Match waiver process through GMEC. If positions are open after the Match, these will be filled on a rolling basis, and will still require an application and interviews. Any exceptions to these procedures (i.e. pre-match appointment offerings) are discouraged and would require formal approval of the Graduate Medical Education Committee.
This fellowship program does not discriminate with regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, veteran, or any other applicable legally protected status.
The Geriatric Medicine fellowship program must obtain verification of previous educational experiences and a summative competency-based performance evaluation prior to acceptance and verification of each entering fellow’s level of competency in the ACGME, ACGME-I, or CanMEDS Milestones assessments from each fellow’s core residency program prior to matriculation.