SICOT e-Newsletter
Issue No. 44 - May 2012
Editorial by Hatem Said - Editorial Secretary
.jpg)
SICOT Fellowships â Training Opportunities
In the last four years, SICOT has realised the significance of fellowship training and its benefits to SICOT members. Since the early Assiut University/SICOT Training Fellowships started in 2002, the impact on over 52 African fellows and their centres at home has been shown through their numerous reports.
In 2009, SICOT started the Travelling Fellowships, valued at EUR 4,000 each, which offer an opportunity to visit a centre in Germany, Denmark, or another International Centre, for three months. This opportunity provides a good experience for young surgeons to be exposed to a new working environment and potentially learn something new to bring back home.
Since the start of the SICOT Diploma Examination, the German SICOT section has also been offering a fellowship of 6 weeks to the two top-scoring candidates to tour the best German hospitals.
In 2011, the SICOT meets SICOT (SmS) short-term fellowship programme was created to offer numerous opportunities at new SICOT centres around the world. These last one to two months, and SICOT covers travel expenses (up to EUR 1,000), while the host centres try to provide accommodation. These are targeted more at SICOT members who are at the end of their training, or recently finished, so the age limit for them has been raised to 45 years. Many SICOT centres have volunteered to receive fellows from Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia, with the list increasing every month. In 2011, we offered 11 SmS fellowships, and in 2012 the budget has been boosted to offer 20 SmS fellowships. There are two application deadlines per year.
Two hospitals in Singapore also established fellowships in 2011: the NUHS/SICOT Trauma Fellowship Award, at the National University Hospital - Singapore, for members from the Asia Pacific region for six weeks, and the newer TTSH/SICOT Trauma & Hand Fellowship Award lasting six months at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital and open to all SICOT members (with a stipend of around USD 2,000 per month).
In 2012, we started our first United States long-term research fellowship, 6-12 months, the CHOP/SICOT Fellowship, at one of the top paediatric hospitals in the United States, the Childrenâs Hospital of Philadelphia. The candidate for 2012 has been chosen and the application deadline for July 2013 is 30 June 2012, with an interview scheduled at the SICOT Dubai meeting, in November 2012, for the top three applicants. The fellow is paid USD 20,000 for six months.
For the Education Centres, SICOT is continuing its support by providing three fellowships per year at the current five centres.
SICOT is again creating new ideas with the Regional SICOT Fellowships, which are planned to start soon. These aim at regional and intra-country training, which would remove any barriers of licensing and logistics, and allow more hands-on surgical experience. The idea is to have 3-6 months' specialised training to gain a specific new skill in an orthopaedic subspecialty.
The prerequisites differ from each fellowship to another, but they all share the requirement of being a SICOT member and under 40 years of age (except the SmS and the regional fellowships, where the age limit is 45). The long-term fellowships, such as the Travelling Fellowships and CHOP/SICOT Fellowship, require previous attendance at a SICOT meeting.
These vast fellowship opportunities for SICOT members complement the current educational activities such as the SICOT meetings and online SIGNEL to provide a comprehensive educational experience and contribute to SICOTâs vision of improving surgeon education in an attempt to eventually advance patient care.