SCTS Ionescu FY Fellowship Jason Trevis

Mr Anchal Jain, Trust appointed doctor, University Hospitals of North Midlands to visit Birmingham Heartlands Hospital under the supervision of Mr Maninder Kalkat, to gain advance VATS skills and thoracic surgical skills.

Ionescu small travel awards for FYs and CTs: 3 awards, £5,000 each Dr Ramanish Ravishankar, FY1 in Scarborough General Hospital for fellowships at Papworth Hospital under Mr Stephen Large in the field of cardiac transplantation and the Duke University Hospital under Dr Ryan Plichta in high-volume aortic surgery; and in the University of Washington under Dr Maziar Khorsandi in cardiothoracic transplantation.

Dr Savannah Gysling, Academic Foundation Doctor in Nottingham University Hospitals to visit the Aortic Institute of Yale New-Haven Hospital under Professor Elefteriades, to focus on cardiac surgery particularly in the field of thoracic aortic disease. Ms Shwe Yamin Oo, CT2 in Musgrove Park Hospital to complete a clinical immersion in Bristol Royal Infirmary, including a part time MD degree, with Mr H Vohra and Professor S Suleimann on biomarkers of cardiac injury and inflammation in minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Ionescu Nursing & Allied Health Professional Fellowships: 4 awards, £5,000 each Mrs Xiao Liu, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, University Hospital Southampton NHS foundation Trust to visit the University Hospital Mainz, Germany, to focus on an advanced Thoracic postoperative clinical pathway and Bristol to observe enhanced post thoracic operation recovery.

Ionescu Medical Student Fellowships: 6 awards, £500 each Miss Asmita Singhania, Medical student, University of Manchester to visit the Paediatric Cardiothoracic department at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, NYU Langone under Prof Susheel Kumar.

Mr Alexander Reynolds, Medical Student, Swansea University Medical School to visit Bristol Royal Infirmary, to gain insight into paediatrcic Cardiac Surgery under Professor Massimo Caputo.

Miss Kirstie Kirkley, Medical Student, University of Bristol Medical School to visit Middlesbrough, to gain experience in cardiac surgery under Mr Simon Kendall.

Mr Sean Pattinson, Medical Student, Newcastle University for clinical immersion in the Royal Papworth Hospital under Mr David Jenkins.

Mr Denis Ajdarpasic, Medical Student, University of Nottingham for clinical immersion in the Royal Papworth Hospital under Mr Samer Nashef.

Mr George Liu, Medical Student, Anglia Ruskin University School of Medicine for a clinical immersion in cardiac surgery in Basildon Hospital. n

My Ionescu foundation doctors fellowship saw me spend two weeks at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, with Mr Aman Coonar. As a dedicated cardiothoracic centre, the experience and learning I received exceeded all expectation.

My introduction to cardiothoracic surgery at Papworth opened up with quite a bang, with an aspect of the speciality I had not previous witnessed; a postoperative deterioration led to a patient requiring emergency extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

The team work was a true spectacle to behold; from recognition of the clinical need for ECMO to an entire dedicated team descending on the theatre. This set a precedence for the entirety of my time at Papworth, namely, exposure to uncommon/‘hard to reach’ areas of the speciality such as uniportal minimally invasive thoracic surgery, tracheal stenting for a rare carcinoma, mechanical circulatory support devices and pulmonary endarterectomy.

Under the supervision of Mr Coonar, I was able to experience the full breadth of the speciality, with multiple opportunities to broaden my skill set. The theatre team and registrars were fantastic in allowing me to scrub for the majority of procedures, as well as close most cases where appropriate.

I feel my time at Papworth has solidified my passion for speciality, developed my operative skills, clinical reasoning and laid foundations for future projects within thoracic surgery.

Finally, I would like to thank both SCTS and Mr Ionescu for their support, which enabled me encounter elements of the speciality seldom experienced. n