The National Resident Matching Program will add interventional cardiology to its fellowship match system, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) announced Wednesday. SCAI has been a leading proponent of adding the interventional cardiology to the fellowship matching program. SCAI developed a task force earlier this year. In addition to creating an interventional cardiology fellowship match, the task force also called for the application deadline to be shifted to after would-be applicants complete the second year of the general cardiology fellowship. “This effort would not have been possible without the overwhelming support from fellows, programs, and physicians in interventional cardiology,” said J. Dawn Abbott, MD, co-chair of the SCAI Interventional Cardiology Match Task Force, in a SCAI news release. “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 [interventional cardiology] programs across the country have shown overwhelming support for interventional cardiology joining the Match in 2025,” added Douglas Drachman, MD, co-chair of the 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 announcement comes after more than three-fourths of interventional cardiology programs joined the match. The SCAI news release says that applications for interventional cardiology fellowship programs will proceed starting this month without the match for fellowships beginning in July 2024. Applications for programs beginning in July 2025 will open in summer 2024, the organization said. Image Credit: Flamingo Images – stock.adobe.com