Research Fellowship

Standards for Department of Medicine Research Fellowships

Purpose:

The purpose of a research fellowship is to provide the fellow with advanced graduate or postdoctoral training in an area of academic scholarship beyond that available in residency. The areas of academic scholarship include but are not limited to: health research, quality improvement and patient safety, medical education, ethics, leadership, and global health.

Research fellows can have no clinical responsibilities or patient contact.

Principles:

Overall Guiding Principles

  • A fellowship implies that the fellow is receiving research training at a postgraduate level.
  • Learning objectives for each fellowship must be clearly and accurately articulated in the description of the fellowship.

Numbers and Types of Fellowships and Approval of New Fellowships:

The numbers and types of research fellowships that each division intend to support are planned centrally by the departmental division director (DDD) and fellowship program director(s), and approved by the residency program director, and the Residency Program Committee (RPC). The fellowships are then reviewed for approval by the Department of Medicine (DoM) director of fellowships and DoM Vice-Chair, Research.


New fellowships need to be approved by the DDD, the fellowship program director, the residency program director with the division’s RPC, and the Departmental New Fellowship Committee to ensure that the proposed fellowship meets the standards outlined in this document.

Lengths of Fellowships:

  • Research fellowships should be a minimum of one year in duration.
  • Deadlines and start dates of fellowships should be in alignment with those required for any concurrent master’s or other graduate course.
  • Start dates may need to be flexible for foreign trainees.

Fellowships, Clinical Work and Relationship to Residency Programs:

Fellowships must not interfere with residency programs.

Selection Process:

The selection process for fellows must be transparent and equitable.

Payment:

  • Fellows must receive payment for their service.
  • In some cases, divisions may propose a self-funded fellowship, in which case the requirement for payment would need to be waived. Such exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the DoM Self-Funded Fellowship Committee. There are guidelines in place for transparency in decision-making. A clear rationale needs to be provided by the supervisor.

Assessment of Fellows and Evaluation of the Program:

  • Fellows must receive appropriate supervision and regular evaluation by their supervisor.
  • Fellowships must be monitored by the divisional executive and the DoM to ensure they adhere to these principles.

Descriptions of Fellowships:

Descriptions of fellowships must include each of the following:

  • The length of the fellowship
  • The nature of the fellowship (type of research)
  • The role of the supervisor. This needs to be well defined, including:
    • The number of supervisors/teachers and who they will be.
    • Who has the primary responsibility of overviewing the fellowship.
    • Supervisors must be full-time DoM faculty members.

Any expectations regarding advanced scholarship training during the fellowship, e.g.,

  • Completion of a degree program
  • Completion of a scholarly project
  • Presentation of a poster or completion of a paper

Selection Process: 

  • The fellowship opportunity should be posted on the departmental website in the divisional section, and may be posted elsewhere as appropriate
  • Postings should have firm deadlines.
  • The fellowship start and end dates should be specified. As noted above, these may need to be flexible for foreign trainees with different residency end dates and for fellowships with very small numbers of trainees, to ensure they fill their positions.
  • Additional documents required for the application must be clearly specified (DoM and the Postgradute Medical Education Office (PGME) require a CV, three letters of reference, MD certificate or graduate degree, subspecialty certificate, TOEFL if not trained in English or French; proof of citizenship)
  • There must be a formal selection process, consisting of:
    • A selection committee, which consists of at least two people, including the supervisor
    • A file review process
    • A formal interview
    • Well-defined criteria that are used determine who qualifies for an interview, and how candidates for the fellowship are ranked

Funding: 

  • Canadian labour laws require that all fellows completing the same fellowship must be paid the same amount. Therefore, Canadian and visa trainees must be paid equivalent amounts.
  • Funding sources include:
    • Sponsored visa trainee
    • Pharmaceutical company-funded fellowships. The program director must ensure that there is a process in place to ensure funding is provided at arms-length, and the process must adhere to section 7 of the Faculty of Medicine standards 
    • Grants
    • Hospital/practice plan funding or funding from hospital where the fellow will be practicing

Assessment of Fellows: 

  • Frequency of assessments
    • An in-training evaluation report (ITER) must be completed every six months until the fellowship concludes.
  • Face-to-face feedback with the supervisor should be provided regularly. 
    • Every three months throughout the fellowship, including at the time of each ITER.
  • The ITER developed for fellowships must be used.
  • Fellowships may also provide other forms of assessment as appropriate for the specific program being followed.

Evaluations of Fellowships: 

The following procedures should take place in order to ensure fellowships are effective:

  • Rotation evaluation scores (RES) and fellowship supervisor teaching (RATE) scores for the fellowship and supervisor should be reviewed at least annually by the fellowship program director and DDD
  • PGME or the DoM should survey fellows for their satisfaction at one-two years and five years after their fellowship
  • The outcomes of the fellowships in terms of: degrees, publications, career advancement should be monitored by the divisional executive

DoM will provide an independent ombudsperson so fellows have someone to approach if they have concerns that they do not feel comfortable addressing with their supervisor or program director.