Member May 2026: No Fellowship, No Problem (On-Demand)-Session Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This session, “No Fellowship, No Problem,” featured early-career AAPM&R attendings who chose not to pursue fellowship and are thriving in general physiatry. The panelists described their current practices: one works in academic neurorehabilitation across inpatient rehab, trauma consults, and outpatient clinics; another serves as a VA service chief with a telehealth-based TBI clinic and substantial administrative duties; and the third practices mainly outpatient general/spasticity medicine with some consult work.<br /><br />Each speaker explained that the decision to skip fellowship was based on personal interests, lifestyle factors, and a desire to remain broad. They emphasized that residency provided enough training to succeed, especially when it included autonomy and graduated responsibility. Several noted that fellowship is most useful when someone wants a highly specific niche, such as spinal cord injury or pain, especially in saturated academic or urban markets.<br /><br />A major theme was job searching and practice-building without fellowship. The panel agreed that most PM&R jobs do not require fellowship, and that mentorship, strong residency training, and professionalism matter most. They repeatedly stressed the importance of being “nice,” building good relationships with referring clinicians, and proactively shaping one’s niche through outreach, grand rounds, committee work, and consistent communication.<br /><br />They also discussed pros and cons of going straight into practice: benefits include quicker independence, a paycheck, and broader clinical flexibility; challenges include less automatic subspecialty recognition and the need to intentionally build referrals. For residents unsure about fellowship, the advice was to be honest about goals, stay flexible, and remember that the first job is not necessarily the forever job.

Keywords

PM&R

physiatry

no fellowship

general practice

residency training

academic neurorehabilitation

VA telehealth

TBI clinic

job search

mentorship