Review Committees Approve Accreditation of Programs, including Firsts in Two Sponsoring Institutions
During the January 2024 meeting of the Review Committees-International, a total of 12 graduate medical education (GME) programs received positive accreditation decisions – including the first programs at two accredited Sponsoring Institutions to achieve Initial Accreditation status.
The volunteer peer review body approved the accreditation of the first residency programs at the International Medical Center (IMC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and at VinUniversity College of Health Sciences in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“Congratulations to the GME teams at IMC and VinUniversity for obtaining accreditation of their first programs,” said ACGME-I President and Chief Executive Officer James A. Arrighi, MD. “We are happy to have them join our expanding international community and look forward to our partnership with them on the journey to continue improving GME.”
IMC has been an ACGME-I-accredited Sponsoring Institution since 2022; its internal medicine residency program has now also become accredited.
VinUniversity achieved ACGME-I accreditation in the summer of 2023 and now its internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery residency programs are also accredited.
“Our goal at VinUniversity is to deliver a world class education at the very highest international standards to an international student body of aspiring leaders,” said VinUniversity Provost and Dean of the College of Health Sciences David Bangsberg, MD, MPH. “ACGME-I accreditation is an important validation of this goal.”
Additionally, eight programs based at two long-standing accredited Sponsoring Institutions in Qatar also achieved Initial Accreditation:
- Hamad Medical Corporation’s preventive medicine residency
- Sidra Medicine’s fellowships in developmental behavioral pediatrics; medical genetics; pediatric endocrinology; pediatric hematology oncology; pediatric hospital medicine; pediatric rheumatology; and reproductive endocrinology and infertility
Eight other previously accredited programs moved from Initial to Continued Accreditation status.
At the same meeting, the Review Committees-International also approved the accreditation application of Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital as a new Sponsoring Institution.
All accreditation decisions are effective 1 July 2023, the beginning of the current academic year. ACGME-I now accredits 200 residency and fellowship programs at 23 Sponsoring Institutions in 12 countries.
The Review Committees-International also began discussions regarding flexibility in interpretation of requirements and identified the need for several focused revisions to the Foundational Requirements. These proposed revisions will be posted on ACGME-I’s website for public comment later this spring.
Incoming members of the Review Committees who will begin their terms in July 2024 participated as observers during the two-day meeting. Learn more about the Review Committees-International here.