Information About Programs for International Scholars

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) assesses the readiness of graduates of foreign medical schools to enter residency or fellowship programs in the United States that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). ECFMG defines a foreign medical graduate as a "physician whose basic medical degree was conferred by a medical school located outside the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico". Citizens of the United States who have completed their medical education in schools outside the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico are considered "foreign medical graduates" while foreign nationals who have graduated from medical schools in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico are not.

National Residency MatchingProgram
2450 N. Street NW, Suite 201
Washington, DC 20037-1141
Telephone: (202) 828-0566

Requests for applications to residency training positions in any of the teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School must also be submitted to the individual Program Directors at the hospital. The request should include a curriculum vitae and a letter stating the applicant's long-term professional goals. Harvard affiliated training programs are listed in the materials provided by the NRMP, and in the Directory of Graduate Medical Education Programs, which may be available in medical libraries, or in the United States Consulates or Embassies. This information may also be available through Harvard Medical Center sites.

Foreign medical graduates who have not obtained ECFMG certification can be admitted to the United States for the purpose of observation, consultation, teaching, and for research not involving responsibility for patient care. These applicants should identify an area of research in the discipline in which they wish to work, then identify scientists working in that field in a number of medical schools and hospitals in the United States (possibly through papers published in medical journals). At Harvard, each basic and social science department and each clinical department recruits its own researchers, so applicants should apply directly to the scientist with whom they would like to work, informing him or her of their qualifications and enclosing a copy of their curriculum vitae and an overview of their longterm professional goals.

Applicants should also identify funds to support themselves and their research projects while they are in the United States. These funds might be available from home institutions, from governments, or from international fellowship sources. Applicants who have identified sources of support have a better chance of acceptance. Once the scientist has been accepted by a United States educational institution, a certificate of eligibility for a J-1 research visa, good for three years can be issued by this institution. Applications for a J-1 clinical visa cannot be made while a foreign medical graduate is on s J-1 research visa.

Connect to the Harvard University International Office for International Student Information