How To Apply

Applications to the fellowship program require the following:

• ERAS Common Application Form including CV
• USMLE (steps 1, 2, and 3) or COMLEX scores
• Medical school transcript with ECFMG Status Report if applicable
• Personal statement
• 1 letter from your Residency Program Director in Internal Medicine  
• 2 or more additional letters of recommendation 

We consider all applications, including those with H1-B and J1 visas.

To align with national AAMC and local Duke recommendations, all interviews in 2023 will be virtual. We participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Each applicant will meet with many faculty and current fellows. If you have a particular area of interest, please let us know before your visit so we can try to arrange interviews with appropriate faculty members. 
 
All applicants interested in training at Duke University Medical Center in the Rheumatology Fellowship Program will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Our fellowship program has implemented strategies to reduce conscious and unconscious bias in the fellow selection process. We thoroughly review every application to our program, no matter how many there are, without any standardized cut-offs for test scores or medical school performance. Instead, we perform holistic review, appreciating each applicant's unique background and talents, especially those that may be different from our own. We never review applicant pictures prior to sending out interview invitations.

During interviews, we ask every faculty member who interviews candidates to reflect on their own academic experiences and acknowledge common areas of implicit bias, such as race, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, weight, personality traits, training experience, etc. Faculty are also instructed not to focus on whether a candidate will "fit" with the program. Instead, we define objective and measurable attributes of our "ideal" applicant: clinically excellent, self-driven, a change-agent, and a finisher. Faculty are prompted to reflect on implicit bias and our "ideal" applicant in the evaluation form that they complete after each interview.

In addition to these activities, our faculty are regularly engaged in faculty development activities organized by the Duke Department of Internal Medicine focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Four of our faculty members, including the Program Director (David Leverenz) and an Associate Program Director (Lisa Criscione-Schreiber) are Civility Champions within the Department of Medicine.
 
Additional Duke policies and requirements regarding recruitment can be found on the Duke Graduate Medical Education's Web site.

Nyasia Lloyd
Fellowship Coordinator
nyasia.lloyd@dm.duke.edu
919-684-2287