Goodbye 2020: A Thank You to the GME Community

As we approach the end of 2020 and the start of the new year, we would like to express our immense gratitude to you all: The applicants, program coordinators and directors, faculty interviewers, residents, fellows, hospital leadership and others that have participated in this year’s GME recruitment processes. More than that, we want to thank you for your being part of the medical community. 

It’s an incredibly challenging time to be a medical student, resident, fellow, and attending physician, in a healthcare system tasked with providing care during a pandemic. And this also includes nurses, PAs, NPs, pharmacists, techs, occupational and physical therapists, and all of the other crucial roles in our medical system. GME has never been tasked with such a challenge, and seeing so many applicants committing themselves to medicine or coordinators risking their own safety to continue to help their programs run, knowing that the already challenging path ahead has even higher stakes, is truly inspiring. Despite the continued struggles, the release of the COVID-19 vaccine has created a bastion of hope that is perseverating throughout the US healthcare system. We wish everyone the best going forward.

We also want to thank you, our users, for making this a year of tremendous growth for Thalamus, which would not have been possible without your support. 

Since the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) mandated that the entire 2020-2021 residency and fellowship recruitment seasons be conducted virtually, we’ve:

  • Doubled-down on our commitment to providing the best solution for GME recruitment and interviewing. 
  • Launched a custom video interview feature, as well as an API integration with other top platforms, making us the only GME-specific platform that supports virtual interviews through a proprietary system.
  • Launched an AI and machine learning application review tool that is poised to promote transparency and holistic review, and assist in determining useful evaluation metrics for the UME to GME transition and beyond. 

Thalamus was founded by physicians and built specifically for you through a grassroots collaboration of applicants, program coordinators and directors, and other GME leadership to address the inefficiencies and high costs of GME interview management. 

If you’re a Thalamus user, you’re part of a community that has grown by 1,500 percent over the past year (daily active users). Together, you’ve conducted more than 9 million minutes of video interviews, and your applications were among the hundreds of thousands that were screened using our Cortex AI Application Screening Tool

Your feedback has helped us to problem solve and make rapid improvements to our platform. Because of your support, Team Thalamus has been able to forge ahead into uncharted territory and develop agile and innovative solutions for GME in the world of virtual recruitment. 

This innovation does come with its own growing pains, so while we continue to further expand and make updates to Thalamus, we ask that you continue to provide open communication, feedback and suggestions for how our organization can best support GME. Our commitment to you includes rapid response and technical problem-solving, enhanced educational and training opportunities, and a continuous software development cycle. Your satisfaction in using Thalamus is our highest priority. 

Again, thank you for trusting us as your virtual interview and recruitment solution for this year’s residency recruitment process. We wish everyone happy new year, a successful match and a prosperous new year for Graduate Medical Education overall. 

Stay safe and be well.

Jason Reminick, MD, MBA, MS

CEO and Founder, Thalamus