Seventeen Polish doctors and scientists will go on fellowships to the best medical centres in the United States.

The Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) has announced the results of the second edition of the Walczak Programme. Polish scientists and doctors will go on fellowships to medical centres such as Harvard Medical School, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center or the National Cancer Institute – National Institutes of Health.

The fellowships will last between three and six months. During their stay in the US, the Walczak Programme beneficiaries will participate in scientific projects, but also have the opportunity to watch the daily work of local specialists, for instance as they diagnose patients or carry out therapeutic procedures.

The second edition of the programme was open to medical doctors and scientists in the areas of: cardiology, oncology, allergology and infectious diseases, as well as in areas that were added in this edition: cardiac surgery, diabetology and psychiatry.

Among the 17 winners, the largest number specialise in the field of oncology (12), two each in cardiology and psychiatry, and one in diabetology. They come from medical schools and other scientific institutions in Białystok, Gdańsk, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Rzeszów, Wrocław, Warsaw, and Zielona Góra.

The total amount of funding allocated for the fellowships in the second edition of the programme is PLN 1,190,000.

The same number of scholarships, i.e. 17, were awarded in the first edition of the programme. The beneficiaries appreciate the possibility to watch the work of scientists and doctors abroad. ‘A visit to the University of California, Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to carry out a specific research project and gain unique clinical experience. In addition, I was able to establish long-term cooperation with the world’s leading centre for cardiology imaging,’ said Dr. Mateusz Hołda of the Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Medicum, a winner in the first edition of the Walczak Programme, about his fellowship.

The Walczak Programme is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.

List of winners in the second edition of the Walczak Programme