How Do I Get a Sleep Medicine Fellowship?

In order to get a sleep medicine fellowship, a doctor needs to have completed a residency and will need to have passed an examination at the end of this residency. After this training period, during which time the doctor practices medicine under the supervision of more experienced doctors, he or she may apply to a fellowship program. These programs give doctors the opportunity to continue their education, conduct research, and further develop a specialty. A sleep medicine fellowship can further the careers of doctors from a variety of different disciplines.

There are sleep medicine fellowship programs in Canada and the United States that qualified doctors can apply to. The application period for these programs differs between different institutions, so an applicant needs to pay close attention to the deadlines in order to make sure all the application materials arrive on time. Most of these programs will require the applicant’s transcript, exam scores, curriculum vitae, letters of recommendation, and personal statement describing the doctor’s reasons for wanting to specialize in sleep medicine.

After the application is sent in, the programs will review the candidates and select a few to call in for interviews. A doctor hoping to get a sleep medicine fellowship will need to be interviewed in order to get into the program. Though the exact questions change with each interview, doctors can expect to be asked why they wish to pursue this line of medicine and to have their knowledge of medicine assessed during the interview. Preparing well for this interview is key in order for a doctor to get a sleep medicine fellowship.

Unlike many areas of medicine, sleep medicine may be a part of a number of different medical specialties. There are sleep medicine fellowship programs in psychiatry, neurology, and pulmonary medicine. Many programs require that the applying doctor have completed a residency in one of these fields, though some programs may indicate a specific field that they are looking for doctors from. Doctors who have completed the residency portion of their training in some other field may not be qualified for a seek a sleep medicine fellowship.