SCAI Leads the Way for Interventional Cardiology to Join “The Match”

December 8, 2022 — The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI), a leading nonprofit medical society representing interventional cardiology (IC) is excited to formally announce that the subspecialty will join the NRMP’s Medical Specialties Matching Program (“the Match”) in 2025. The Match process is a uniform system where specialty candidates and training programs simultaneously “match” to fill medical specialty training positions accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).  

In early 2022, SCAI developed an Interventional Cardiology Match Task Force comprised of cardiovascular and interventional cardiology program directors, SCAI leaders, and Fellows who advocated not only for interventional cardiology to join the formal process, but also to shift the application deadline so that trainees would apply upon completion of their second year of general cardiology training, giving them more time to decide which subspeciality is a best fit for their professional endeavors. 

“This effort would not have been possible without the overwhelming support from fellows, programs, and physicians in interventional cardiology,” said J. Dawn Abbott, MD, FSCAI, co-chair of the SCAI Interventional Cardiology Match Task Force. “Interventional cardiology’s ability to participate in the Match will help support fairness and diversity in recruiting, and we are excited to see the positive impact this will have on future generations.”  

“We are thrilled that IC programs across the country have shown overwhelming support for interventional cardiology joining the Match in 2025,” adds Douglas Drachman, MD, FSCAI, co-chair of the SCAI Interventional Cardiology Match Task Force. “Our profession is evolving, and the overall landscape of healthcare is changing. Interventional cardiology joining the Match will allow for us to recruit top talent who have received appropriate training and are also committed to elevating the profession.” 

The incoming IC Fellows applications will begin this month without the Match, and applications will not open in December 2023. Instead, the Match and applications will re-open in summer 2024 for IC Fellows to start in July 2025. 

For more information: www.scai.org/match