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The AAMC-Thalamus Strategic Collaboration

The AAMC and Thalamus are accelerating innovation across the transition to residency and fellowship.

Thanks to the AAMC-Thalamus collaboration, Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) programs have access to Thalamus Core for real-time interview scheduling and management, Itinerary Wizard™ for itinerary building, and Cerebellum™ for data and analytics to measure recruitment outcomes. 

Together, the AAMC and Thalamus leverage their data, technology, and expertise to transform the medical residency and fellowship recruitment processes for applicants and programs by increasing transparency, supporting equity through holistic review, and improving the learner experience by consolidating the fragmented interview management process.  

Some of our recent successes include: 

  • More than 90% of ERAS-participating programs used Thalamus to manage the interview process in the 2025 ERAS season. This improved the interview management experience for applicants and generated population-level data about the interview process which historically was not possible. This is enabling new research and expanding broader understanding of the interview process. 
  • We launched a new application programming interface (API) integration in July 2024 that streamlines data transfer between the ERAS Program Director’s WorkStation (PDWS) and Thalamus products. 
  • Thanks to the AAMC-Thalamus collaboration there is greater support for applicants with more robust data that further improve applicant resources such as the Residency Explorer™ tool and the Careers in Medicine® program. These tools help applicants make thoughtful, data-driven choices that can reduce the number of applications and associated costs. 

On This Page

Thalamus Products Available to ERAS® Programs

All ERAS residency and fellowship programs receive complimentary access to:  

  • Cortex, a tech-assisted holistic application review platform, is complimentary for all ERAS programs and specialties beginning in July 2025 for the 2026 ERAS season. You can use it to manage and streamline your Graduate Medical Education application screening process using advanced tools and insights. 
  • Thalamus Core, offers unparalleled interview management, combining advanced technology with user-friendly features to streamline the entire process. 
  • Itinerary Wizard, reduces the program coordinator’s scheduling workload by streamlining and automating the creation of faculty and applicant interview schedules, including generating virtual interview links and building interviews based on faculty availability, as well as applicant and program preferences.
  • Cerebellum, a dashboard that leverages comprehensive data and analytics to enhance your program’s recruitment performance. Thalamus Cerebellum’s improved data visualization, streamlined analysis, and use of holistic recruitment allows programs and institutions to compare recruitment outcomes.

For an additional fee, programs may also elect to purchase Thalamus Video, the Thalamus virtual interview platform 

Helpful Tips for the 2026 ERAS Application Season

For Programs 

When residency and fellowship programs register for the 2026 ERAS season, they are automatically provided access to Thalamus. Bulk onboarding to Thalamus begins on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, when the 2026 ERAS season opens. Programs do not need to take any additional action.  

  • Following the June 4 ERAS season opening, the program will receive an onboarding email. Review the onboarding email to begin the set-up process. Sign in to Thalamus to set up your Program Profile, users, and calendar. 
  • Review the Thalamus User Guides and Thalamus Training resources for additional support. 

For Applicants and Advisors 

Most programs extend interview invitations using Thalamus products.  
You can be prepared to respond to these invitations by setting up a Thalamus account and downloading the Thalamus mobile app (available in the Apple iOS and Google Play stores). This will allow you to easily view and respond to invitations. Applicants will begin receiving emails to create their Thalamus account when they register their ERAS token for the 2026 season beginning in June 2025.

Thalamus offers several helpful resources:    

FAQs for the AAMC-Thalamus Strategic Collaboration

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