If you're coming from an EM or other non-anesthesiology background, you should apply to all 80 or 90 programs (however many there currently are) including those in the match and those not in the match. Because some will have outdated websites that say, "Anesthesia only" but they interview multiple specialties. Plus, these preferences change year to year. Overwhelm the longer odds with volume and apply everywhere. However:
Stanford had an EM physician in their
2019-2020 class.
Harvard has a notable EM/Pain person on faculty and has for years (go straight to
"Bio")
MD Anderson has taken EM applicants and has a notable Pain fellowship trained EM doc on staff.
Dartmouth even has an Family Medicine physician in their
2020-2021 class.
I also happen to personally know EM people who either did fellowships at, or got interviews at, the following places:
UC Davis, University of Pittsburgh (UPMC), University of Iowa, Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel (NYC), Mass General, Beth Israel (Boston), UT San Antonio. I'm sure there are others. If anyone knows of any others, please post.
But as laborious as it is, apply to every program (100+), in the Match and outside the match. You may even have higher odds at non-match programs, since these programs tend to have fewer applicants.
Regardless, people are doing it. There's not reason not to, if you're interested, since Pain is an official subspecialty of EM (
see ABEM). The biggest deterrent I see among EM people is a confidence gap, not a knowledge or skills gap.
List of all ACGME Pain fellowships, below: