Month: July 2022

EACTS launches exciting Fellowship Programme for 2023

The Francis Fontan Fund is expanding its Fellowship programme to offer new opportunities for members to learn new skills and techniques from experts in their field and become part of the global cardiothoracic community.

Five exciting new Fellowship programmes will be launched this year including a fellowship that provides an excellent grounding in statistics for clinical trials and a programme to help master techniques in robotic surgery.

In addition, the Fund’s existing eight Fellowship schemes will also be available to EACTS members throughout the world. These include:

• Advanced Postoperative Care
• Aortic Root and Valve Repair
• Atrial Fibrillation Fellowship sponsored by Atricure
• Aortic TEVAR sponsored by Terumo
• OPCAB sponsored by Medtronic
• MiCS – CABG Europe/Canada sponsored by Medtronic
• TSF/FFF International Travelling
• Quality & Outcomes with MSTCVS

The Fellowship programme offers unique career opportunities across a range of cardio and thoracic surgical experiences, with access to world-class courses, residential training in both European and American centres of excellence and clinical proctorship with surgical leaders.

Professor Ruggero de Paulis, Chair of the Francis Fontan Fund, said, “The Francis Fontan Fellowship programme is devoted to supporting young cardiothoracic surgeons by giving them an opportunity to work closely with masters in their field. By taking part in the programme fellows learn new techniques and gain knowledge that they can take back to their home institution for the benefit of their patients.

“I am delighted that we are able to offer more opportunities for EACTS members by introducing a number of exciting new fellowships. I encourage anyone who is keen to further develop their career to apply to the scheme and become part of this wonderful global cardiothoracic community.”

Applications are open between 1 July – 1 September 2022 and successful Fellows will start their training in early 2023.

New fellowships for 2023

We are delighted to offer the following new Fellowships in 2023.

OPCAB Extended in partnership with Medtronic

The Fellowship goal is to enhance young cardiothoracic surgeons’ understanding of cardiothoracic surgical outcomes and to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in the surgical and anaesthesiologic management of patients with coronary artery disease, with special interest in off-pump (OPCABG) techniques.

Successful Fellows will have the opportunity to be tutored by experienced and high OPCABG-volume surgeons, in a high-volume centre (around 300 OPCABG procedures per year).

Robotic Surgery – Thoracic in partnership with Medtronic

This Fellowship programme will provide the successful Fellow with the opportunity to acquire both theoretical and practical skills in robotic thoracic surgery.

Aimed at young cardiothoracic surgeons, this fellowship includes simulations, integrated system training and live procedure-observation and offers a unique opportunity to visit Medical Research and Advanced Technological Institutes in Europe.

TSF-FFF International Traveling Fellowship in Association with LACES

Following the success of the Thoracic Surgery Foundation / Francis Fontan Fund International Traveling Fellowship, EACTS and STS are expanding to partner with the Latin American Association of Cardio and Endovascular Surgery (LACES).

This Fellowship provides an opportunity for members of LACES to learn from the highest standards of cardiothoracic care in Europe and North America, and gain knowledge of novel techniques and innovative technologies used by other institutes in either Europe or North America.

VATS Fellowship in General Thoracic Surgery

The VATS Fellowship in General Thoracic Surgery is an opportunity to receive appropriate training in VATS. This includes acquiring all necessary knowledge and competences to safely perform VATS Lobectomies.

In addition, this Fellowship will enable the successful fellow to compile the necessary training in all aspects of lung cancer surgery to be able to achieve the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Membership and General Thoracic subspecialty) during or after completion of fellowship.

Fellows will be involved with hands-on experience every day in a stepwise training process that will eventually allow them to safely perform VATS lobectomy in patients undergoing resection for early-stage lung cancer.

Clinical Trials & Statistics (applications now closed)

This exciting new Fellowship offers the opportunity to study statistics in the context of clinical trials. The selected Fellow will be funded to complete the online MSc Statistics for Clinical Trials at University College London.

Comprising a series of compelling modules, the online programme will provide an excellent grounding in both Frequentist and Bayesian statistics. EACTS – through the Francis Fontan Fund – will provide financial support to the successful Fellow, who will learn about all types of trials – from early to late phase trials
and simple to complex interventions.

The Fund’s mission is to create a global community by which to share and learn the highest standards of cardiothoracic care.

For more information about the Francis Fontan Fund for Education and to apply for a fellowship click here.

Closing date for applications – 1st September 2022

EACTS COUNCIL NOMINATIONS 2022

6 July 2022

Summary

The Council (also known as the Board of Trustees) is the governing, decision-making body of EACTS.  The Council is made up of up to 15 members who each serve for set terms, in different capacities, acting at all times in the best interests of the Association, our members and ultimately the patients that we serve. Council meets at least four times a year and some members of Council may also serve other Committees or Domains that meet more frequently.

Each Councillor will serve a set term (normally of up to three years) and each year a number of new Councillors are appointed as the terms of current Councillors come to an end. Councillors to be appointed must complete a process of Nomination (detailed below), selection and eventually, ‘election’ by the members at the General Assembly in October 2022.

Vacant Council Positions 2022

This year the following positions on Council are to be filled.  A job description for each position is available by clicking on the title;

Vice President

Acquired Cardiac Disease Domain Chair

The Process of Nomination and Selection

To ensure as fair and transparent a process as possible, the EACTS Nominations Committee will oversee the Nomination and Selection process.  This year, the Committee is made up as follows;

  • Senior Past President; Ruggero de Paulis (Chairman)
  • Past President: Peter Licht
  • Immediate Past President: Mark Hazekamp
  • President: Friedhelm Beyersdorf
  • Secretary General: Rafa Sádaba

 

Any EACTS member can nominate a fellow member for a specified role on Council (there is no limit to the number of nominations a member can make). For avoidance of doubt, current Councillors, Domain and Task Force members may nominate, but members of the Nominations Committee may not.

In making a nomination, the person making the nomination must write a letter of support that includes;

  • a summary of the contribution that the person being nominated has made to his/her professional field,
  • the contribution made to the work of EACTS more broadly by the person being nominated, and
  • the skills and experiences the person being nominated will bring to Council and the specific role under consideration.

The person making the nomination should send a digital form of this letter, with a brief Curriculum Vitae of the person being nominated, to the Chair of the Nominations Committee via the dedicated EACTS e-mail address [email protected]

The closing date for Nominations is 6pm (CET) Friday 5 August 2022.

The Nominations Committee will consider all applications before making a recommendation to the EACTS Council.  Council will make the final decision as to those to be formally presented for election at the EACTS General Assembly on 7 October 2022 (Milan).

Vice President

The Vice President will be elected in October 2022 with a view to becoming President in October 2023 and serving a final year on Council as Immediate Past President from October 2024.