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Board denies foreign-trained cardiac surgeon's request for waiver of three-year ACGME postgraduate requirement
Summary
The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure executive committee denied Dr. Fatoke's request for an exemption to the board's three-year ACGME postgraduate training requirement, citing the absence of a legislative alternative pathway for foreign-trained physicians.
The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure's executive committee denied a request by Dr. Fatoke, a cardiac surgeon trained in the United Kingdom and recently having completed a one-year fellowship at the Yale Aortic Institute, to waive the board's three-year ACGME postgraduate training requirement.
The committee considered Fatoke's application during a virtual meeting. He told members he completed a 12-month aortic fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital from July 2024 to June 2025 and is practicing cardiac surgery in Nigeria. He said he had applied for a position in Meridian but had not previously applied for Mississippi licensure.
Why it matters: Mississippi's licensure rules require three years of ACGME-accredited postgraduate training for full licensure. Fatoke requested a waiver of that requirement so he could practice in Mississippi despite having only one ACGME-recognized year of U.S. training.
Details and discussion: The committee and legal counsel discussed the status of legislative efforts to create an alternative licensure pathway for foreign-trained physicians. Board counsel and the committee's attorney, Mr. Barnes, noted that although advocacy efforts have occurred, an alternate pathway has not been enacted by the state legislature and therefore does not provide a statutory basis for an administrative waiver.
Procedure and outcome: After the committee recessed for executive-session consideration of the application, Board Secretary Dr. Givens reported upon return to open session: "The executive committee has met. The request for exemption to, rule, part 2605, 1.1 d is denied." The recorded action was a denial of the requested exemption; the transcript does not include a public roll-call tally for the decision.
What was not decided: The committee did not indicate an immediate alternate path to licensure for the applicant and noted any statutory alternative pathway would require legislative action. The committee did not record any follow-up conditions or an appeal timeline in the public portion of the meeting.
Next steps: The transcript records no administrative follow-up items for the applicant beyond the denial and counsel's summary of the legislative status of alternate pathways.
