Integrated vascular surgery residency to thoracic surgery fellowship: A less-known training pathway for modern cardiothoracic surgery

The recent article by Ahmed and colleagues1 provides a comprehensive review of the various pathways available to achieve board certification in thoracic surgery. One such pathway highlighted is the integrated vascular surgery program followed by a traditional thoracic surgery fellowship, which represents a 7- to 8-year trajectory. This pathway, although less commonly pursued, has an advantage of providing dual board certification in vascular and cardiothoracic surgical subspecialities. The attainment of board certification in vascular surgery is a valuable asset, although it remains underrepresented in medical student advising.