Frequently Asked Questions
Clinical & Research Fellowships
1. How do Fellows obtain a CPSO licence and hospital privileges?
2. Do Fellows need to enroll at the University of Toronto?
3. How soon does a Fellow need to submit an application?
4. What is the PEAP?
5. How do Fellows register with the University?
6. How can Fellows access the hospital library, labs and EPR?
7. Do Fellows need a Work Permit to do lab work and clinics?
8. What is the difference between a Clinical Fellowship and a Research Fellowship?
9. What are the minimum eligibility requirements for a Fellow?
10. Does a Fellow need to have the TOEFL/TSE or TOEFL iBT?
11. When can my Fellow begin training?
12. Do Fellows qualify for OHIP while here?
13. How are Fellows paid?
14. Does the University pay salary & benefits for Fellows?
15. How can I evaluate a Fellow’s training performance?
16. Do Fellows evaluate their training programs and their Supervisors?
17. How can I dismiss a Fellow who is not performing well?
18. Does the University issue Certificates of Training?
1. How do applicants for clinical fellowships obtain a CPSO licence and hospital privileges?
Trainees who will have patient contact must have a CPSO Certificate of Registration for Postgraduate Education (educational licence), or a CPSO Independent Practice licence. To obtain the Certificate of Registration, trainees must be accepted to a clinical fellowship training program and appointed to the University of Toronto. Trainees must apply directly to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for the licence. Applications can be downloaded from the CPSO website.
Trainees who have a CPSO Independent Practice licence do not need to apply for an educational licence to train at the University of Toronto.
Fellows can obtain hospital privileges after registering with the University of Toronto through the Medical Education Office of the hospital in which they will be training.
2. Do fellows need to enroll at the University of Toronto?
When you have decided to take a clinical or a research fellow, s/he must formally apply to the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. Applications are available through the divisional Postgraduate Fellowship Directors' offices. An appointment and registration with the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, allows a fellow to apply for an educational licence and obtain hospital privileges, and for non-citizens to obtain a work permit.
3. How soon does a fellow need to submit an application?
Applicants who require a work permit/visa for clinical fellowship training should begin the application process a year in advance of the planned start date provided that all eligibility requirements will be met by the time the application is submitted. Applications must be received by the Department of Medicine 6 months prior to the start date of training to allow sufficient time for finalization of the work permit. The work permit application process takes from 5 to 6 months to complete.
Canadian medical school graduates applying for a clinical or research fellowship should submit their application 10 to 12 weeks prior to the planned start date of training. Canadian IMGs should apply earlier (e.g., 4 to 5 months) to allow sufficient time for the CPSO application process, which includes a lengthy credentials verification by the Physician Credentials Registry of Canada (PCRC). The process takes a minimum of 3 months and should be factored in to determining the training start date for the Fellow.
Some sample submission time frames are provided in the description of the application process.
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4. What is the PEAP?
The PEAP (Pre-Entry Assessment Program) is a 4 to 12 week period of observation and assessment for candidates to clinical fellowship training who are international medical graduates with specialty certification from a medical authority other than the RCPSC or an American Board such as the ABIM. The University of Toronto Postgraduate Medical Education Office enrolls candidates in the PEAP at the time of application. Fellows are issued a PEAP licence by the CPSO and register with the University to obtain hospital privileges for the duration of the assessment period. Upon successful completion of the PEAP and submission of assessment reports, the CPSO converts the PEAP licence to a full educational licence.
The Department of Medicine provides the assessment forms and PEAP guide to the assessors via the appropriate fellowship director's office. PEAP Fellows must successfully complete the assessment period to continue into the training program.
5. How do fellows register with the University?
Fellows are automatically pre-registered with the University by the Faculty PGME Office on receipt and approval of their applications. Fellows must complete a number of steps before they can fully register, for example, they must sign and return the PGMEO Letter of Appointment (LOA), complete and return the PGMEO request for immunization data, register with the CPSO and CMPA, pay the U of T Faculty of Medicine registration fee, and if they are non-citizens, they must present their work permit and visa at the PGME office and purchase health coverage.
The PGME Office provides registration instructions directly to applicants on approval of their appointment to a training program. Fellows can register on-line using POWER or they can visit the PGME Office at 500 University Avenue, 6th Floor, Suite 602.
6. How can fellows access the hospital library, labs and EPR?
Fellows must complete their registration with the University of Toronto before they can register with the hospital. They should then report to the medical education office of the hospital in which they will be training. The hospital medical education office will assist them with obtaining the ID badge and access to various resources.
7. Do fellows need a work permit to do lab work and take clinics?
Fellows who are neither Canadian citizens nor Permanent Residents must have a work permit to work in a hospital as a clinician or a researcher. The Faculty of Medicine, PGME Office assists fellows in securing the appropriate work permit. Fellows should not apply for a work permit until their application has been approved by the Vice Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education and they have been contacted by the PGME Office’s visa-processing staff.
Work permits for clinical fellows and research fellows differ - work permits for the latter do not allow the physician to work as a clinician. Research fellows cannot have patient contact as a clinician.
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8. What is the difference between a clinical fellowship and a research fellowship?
A clinical fellowship is advanced top-up training for physicians who are certified specialists, or are in their final year of postgraduate training toward certification in a specialty. Training includes patient care and can include a research component. Clinical Fellows must be licenced by the CPSO.
A research fellowship is 100% research oriented. Research Fellows are not licenced and have no patient contact.
9. What are the minimum eligibility requirements for a fellow?
Applicants to clinical fellowship training programs in the Department of Medicine must have completed residency training in either the base specialty, base subspecialty, or a complimentary specialty (including Family Medicine if acceptable and if so indicated in the fellowship eligibility criteria for a given fellowship) prior to commencing fellowship training in the Department of Medicine. The individual need not be certified in any specialty prior to commencing the fellowship. IMGs who are Canadian citizens/Permanent Residents applying for a clinical fellowship must have specialist certification from the appropriate authority in the country where they last practiced medicine, or the university from which they graduated. Applicants for clinical fellowships must also be eligible for licensure, a work permit as required, and meet the Department's language proficiency requirements, and so on.
Research fellows must have a medical degree from an accredited medical school. Candidates who do not have a medical degree cannot be appointed to the Faculty of Medicine.
A complete list of eligibility requirements can be viewed on the Clinical and Research Fellowships page under Applying to our programs.
10. Does a Fellow need to have the TOEFL/TSE or TOEFL iBT?
Applicants to clinical fellowships whose first language and/or language of medical school and patient care was neither English nor French, must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the Test of Spoken English, or the TOEFL iBT, and meet acceptable standards - minimum acceptable scores are TOEFL 237 and TSE 50, or TOEFL iBT 93 with a minimum score of 24 on the Speaking section. Because the TOEFL does not include a test of spoken English, applicants who have taken it must also include test results for the TSE. The TOEFL iBT includes a spoken test component.
Descriptions of the performance indicators and score levels for the TOEFL iBT are available in pdf format through the ETS website. See pages 44-47, page 53, and pages 55-68.
In some cases an exemption from this requirement may be determined appropriate by the Fellowship Program Director or DOM Division Director. The waiver is to be included with the fellow's application documents when submitted to the Department of Medicine. The Department's waiver template must be used in this process.
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11. When can a Fellow begin training?
If the fellow requires a work permit, the start date of training (or of the Pre-entry Assessment Program if required), must be calculated to allow at least 5 months from the date a complete application package is ready to forward to the University of Toronto, Department of Medicine. A minimum 5 month period is necessary to secure and finalize the work permit: 6 months is preferred.
Where no work permit is required, it is advisable to allow 3 to 4 months from submission of the application to the first day of training, or more if the applicant is a Canadian IMG who will need to apply for his/her first CPSO educational licence. Applications can be processed by the University offices within 10 to 15 business days, however, delays can occur in the CPSO licencing process and it is advisable to allow sufficient time for applicants to meet CPSO requirements such as, for example, the PCRC credentials verification process.
The University’s academic year begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th, however, fellowship training can begin any time. Fellows must register with the Faculty of Medicine before training for the off-cycle start date and again on July 1st of each subsequent year of their training. There is an annual registration fee.
12. Do Fellows qualify for OHIP while here?
After a 3 month waiting period, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) will cover basic health expenses for fellows while here as a trainee. They are not covered for dental procedures and similar expenses. Fellows must purchase the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) from the Faculty PGME Office to cover basic health expenses during the first 3 months until OHIP takes effect. UHIP premiums are calculated based on number of dependents. Further information is available on the PGME Office website.
13. How are Fellows paid?
Fellows may be funded by various agencies and institutions, grants, etc. However, the Faculty of Medicine has agreements with a number of countries regarding sponsorship for their citizens. Applicants from these specific countries cannot be funded by sources other than their sponsoring agencies unless the additional funding is approved by the sponsor. Prior to accepting applications from this group of applicants, supervisors should check with the Department Fellowship Programs office, or the PGME Office, regarding sponsorship.
Applicants from countries with whom the Faculty does not have agreements can be funded by various sources, including pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, universities, their personal funds, etc. Applicants who are applying for a work permit are advised to have a minimum of CAD$50,000 per annum.
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14. Does the University pay salary & benefits for Fellows?
The University of Toronto does not provide salary nor benefits for Clinical Fellows nor Research Fellows. Salary and benefits are arranged between the Fellow and the funding agency.
15. How can I evaluate a Fellow’s training performance?
Supervising physicians automatically receive in-training evaluation report forms to complete for each of their Fellows through the POWER web-based evaluation system. Reports are assigned on a 6 month basis by the Department of Medicine central office.
16. Do Fellows evaluate their training programs and their supervisors?
Fellows are given the opportunity to complete confidential reports assessing the quality of the program and supervision using the POWER evaluation system.
17. How can I dismiss a Fellow who is not performing well?
The Director of Postgraduate Education for the Department of Medicine should be notified if a Fellow is having difficulty. Termination, if appropriate, will be reviewed at that time.
18. Does the University issue certificates of training?
The Postgraduate Medical Education Office issues certificates for Clinical Fellows. The Department of Medicine issues certificates for Research Fellows. All POWER in-training evaluation reports must be completed by supervising physicians before a certificate can be released.
Research Fellows should complete a Certificate Request form and submit it to the Department of Medicine office to advise the Department that s/he has completed training and to provide a forwarding mailing address.
<< Top >> Last updated:4/13/2012 9:47:59 AM
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