Nordic Invasive Electrophysiology Grant - Deadline for grant application is May 15

The purpose of the Nordic Invasive Electrophysiology Grant is to facilitate clinical EP training for Nordic cardiologists focused on invasive electrophysiology and catheter ablation.

Background

Activities in invasive electrophysiology and catheter ablation are rapidly increasing. Especially the development in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia necessitates increased educational efforts. This education is most efficiently given through a long lasting training in an experienced, high volume center.

Purpose

Traditionally, it has been difficult to get grant support for clinical training. The purpose of the Nordic Invasive Electrophysiology Grant is to facilitate clinical EP training for Nordic cardiologists focused on invasive electrophysiology and catheter ablation. The Grant is sponsored by Biosense Webster, Johnson & Johnson Nordic Inc. with a total amount of 100.000,00 USD per year. The Grant is primarily intended for supporting long lasting (e.g. one year) clinical training in- or outside Scandinavia, but it may also be applied for in support of shorter lasting, focused training visits. It is proposed that the home-institution commits to cover 25% of the total expenses for the applicant.

The Grant is mainly directed to clinical (“hands-on”) training. If applications are for “non-hands-on” visits, a maximum period of 3 months can be supported.

Qualifications

The applicant should be a certified cardiologist (or close to) with documented interest and clinical activities in invasive electrophysiology and catheter ablation. This should be documented in a letter of support from the director/chairman of the EP laboratory in which the applicant is currently working or will be working after the training. In addition a letter of acceptance from the receiving institution should be included in the application.

Board

The board for the Nordic Invasive Electrophysiology Educational Grant consists of one member from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark together with a representative from Biosense Webster (with no right to vote). The members of the board should be well known for their activities in the field of clinical EP. They will be selected for the board by the local society of cardiology in each country.

Application

There is a specific application form. Individual application letter and budget together with a letter of support from the director/chairman of the EP laboratory in which the applicant is currently working (or going to work) and a documentation of acceptance from the receiving institution should be submitted.

Applications should be mailed to the Board Secretary: pshansen@dadlnet.dk (Dr. Peter Steen Hansen, Chief Electrophysiologist, DMSci, Ph.D., Varde Heart Center, DK-6800 Varde, Denmark). Further informations can be obtained through the same mailing address or by phone: +45 7695 0102 (Secretary Lene Plauborg).

Deadline for grant application is May 15, for support covering educational activities initiated during the following year. This means that the applicant has to start her/his activities at latest by the end of the following year (i.e. application received before May 15, 2016, should be for activities starting during January - December 2017).

It is important to be aware, once application is received the process of each application can take up to 2 months to be handled.

In principle, one quarter of the available grant support per year (i.e. 25,000 USD/year) will be dedicated to each of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). However, should there be no relevant applicants from a specific country for the whole grant, the Board can transfer the rest of the grant to applicants from the other Nordic countries.