In Reply: Predictors of Academic Neurosurgical Career Trajectory Among International Medical Graduates Training Within the United States.

Abstract

To the Editor: We thank Drs Azzam and Ghozy1 for their thoughtful response to our correspondence with Ozair et al2 regarding our recently published article “Predictors of Academic Neurosurgical Career Trajectory Among International Medical Graduates Training Within the United States.”3 In their response, the authors discuss initiatives by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery to offer academic pathways for international neurosurgeons to obtain board certification. The authors suggest these types of initiatives could be deployed by organized American neurosurgery to certify promising, high-achieving, internationally-trained neurosurgeons. We agree with the authors regarding the importance for pathways through which international neurosurgeons can obtain board certification within the United States, and we wish to highlight a recent American Board of Neurological Surgery (ABNS) initiative that may prove to be an early step toward reaching this goal. In a recent presentation to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Department of Neurological Surgery, ABNS secretary Dr Daniel Resnick4 discussed the implementation of a pilot program through which international medical graduates (IMGs) actively involved in the training of neurosurgery residents or fellows may apply for ABNS certification. IMGs seeking to apply for certification through the program must complete 5 years of academic service in an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) residency or Committee on Advanced Subspecialty Training (CAST)–approved fellowship program, have a high level of academic achievement, pass a written examination, submit a Practice and Outcomes of Surgical Therapies (POST) case log, and sit for an oral examination. We hope this pilot program will prove to be informative for developing ways to better integrate IMGs into organized American neurosurgery, and we look forward to seeing whether it will be implemented in a more permanent form in the future. We thank Drs Azzam and Ghozy for highlighting the important, ongoing efforts aimed at better integration of IMGs into the American neurosurgery board certification process.