Update from Leadership
Dear Colleagues,
The holiday season is upon us, and before we know it, 2025 will be in full swing. Our teams are lining up travel plans and are eager to engage with members of the undergraduate and graduate medical education communities. I’m excited to get your feedback about our progress to this point, and to share more about what we are providing you, including:
- Cortex, Thalamus’s technology-assisted holistic review platform, will be available to all ERAS residency and fellowship programs on a complimentary basis beginning with the 2026 ERAS season.
- Dean’s Office WorkStation (DWS) Analytics for Schools updates with new data tools for advisors, including useful interview data from Thalamus, and new AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) away rotation data.
- The Residency Explorer™ tool’s increased data and functionality. In our most recent survey, more than 70% of respondents chose it as a valuable tool for use in completing their MyERAS applications.
I hope that you can rest and rejuvenate with family and friends before we all gear up for the new year. All of us at the AAMC look forward to working with you in 2025.
Happy holidays!
Patrick Fritz
AAMC Senior Director for Residency and Fellowship Services
ERAS Analytics for Institutions Replaced with Thalamus Cerebellum
The Cerebellum Data & Analytics Dashboard provides insights that help institutions and/or programs meet recruitment goals and allows leaders to benchmark recruitment outcomes year over year. Cerebellum includes the ERAS Analytics data you’ve accessed in recent years – and more.
All ERAS users who have designated institutional official (DIO), institutional super user (ISU), or alternate institutional super user (AISU) roles (from institutions that have opted in to Thalamus) can log in to Cerebellum using their AAMC username and password through single sign-on (SSO) or using their Thalamus-specific credentials. Please review the Thalamus Overview of Cerebellum Data user guide for a summary of Cerebellum data.
Need help with access to Cerebellum? Email Thalamus at customercare@thalamusgme.com with “Cerebellum Institutional Access” in the subject line and request to be connected with your institution’s account manager.
Thalamus University Online Academy Prize Drawings
Thalamus is proud to announce quarterly and monthly prize drawings for participating in the Thalamus University Online Academy.
To participate, simply register for the academy and start learning. For every five courses completed, you’ll earn one entry into a drawing for an exclusive Thalamus prize.
Learning modules may be used as education credits that can count toward the National Board of Certification for Training Administrators of Graduate Medical Education Programs (TAGME) certification and recertification requirements. Learn more about the drawings.
Thalamus Video Update
With many residency programs in the heart of the recruitment season and the December fellowship cycle now underway, Thalamus has provided an update on how applicants and programs can maximize their interview experience with Thalamus Video.
Read the full update from Dec. 2 to see the advantages of using Thalamus Video, including tips for optimization and troubleshooting.
ERAS Application and Research Data Coming in Early 2025
The AAMC is currently reviewing and analyzing 2025 ERAS residency season data related to program signaling, geographic preferences, and interview invitations. Results from this research, along with updated application data, will be distributed and shared on the ERAS Statistics page in late January.
National Collaborative to Improve the Transition to Residency
The AAMC has formed a new virtual national medical education collaborative to accelerate improvements in the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education. The goals of this virtual collaborative include identifying and raising the visibility of complex challenges, outstanding gaps, and ongoing needs that require a collective response and accelerating progress on sharing priorities and solutions while avoiding unnecessary duplication of efforts. Visit the webpage to learn more or email TTR@aamc.org with any questions.
New AAMC Resource Supports Students Along Their Medical School Journey
The AAMC recently surveyed a group of medical students, including the Organization of Student Representatives and the Learner Feedback Panel, about their experiences using the resources for students and residents on the AAMC website. Findings show that students want easy-to-use, practical, and actionable tools to track their progress throughout medical school. With this information, the AAMC developed a new resource, Thriving in Medical School: Checklists for Medical Students. This collection of checklists and resources from the AAMC is designed to help students feel more prepared before and during medical school. Read more.
Notice: Clinical and Research Opportunities Database programs moved from Careers in Medicine® Website
The Clinical and Research Opportunities database that historically has been maintained on the Careers in Medicine® (CiM) website has been retired; opportunities are moving to the Visiting Scholars Resources Database maintained by the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) program.
This shift optimizes student and program user experience by:
- Streamlining opportunities to one central location.
- Removing potential barriers to access with no login required.
- Providing a more formal structure and proactive process for adding/removing programs and maintaining accurate program information;
- Adopting a more secure platform.
Please bookmark the Visiting Scholars Resources Database for future reference and contact the CiM team with any questions.
Save the Date! 2025 AAMC Virtual Specialty Forum
The Careers in Medicine program will host its free, annual Virtual Specialty Forum on Thursday, April 3, from 6 to 9 p.m. ET. to provide equitable access to specialty exposure. Medical students early in their specialty exploration (Year 1, Year 2) can view resources, chat with specialty representatives (e.g., program directors, residents) and AAMC staff, as well as attend a live presentation with Q&A. Add this event to your calendar and watch for more details coming soon.