Five RSM members awarded prestigious Ellison-Cliffe Travelling Fellowships

The names of five successful applicants for Ellison-Cliffe Travelling Fellowships have been announced. These prestigious awards are open to senior registrars and early career consultants who are members of the Royal Society of Medicine undertaking specialist training overseas.

Gastroenterologists Dr James Kang and Dr Phoebe Hodges will each be spending a year in the USA and Zambia respectively. Australia beckons for oral and maxillofacial surgeon Mr Daniel Van Gijn who will be spending a year in Sydney. Head and neck surgeon Mr Mark Wilkie and urology surgeon Mr Veerappan Kasivisvanathan will also travel to Australia where they will be based for a year in Adelaide and Melbourne respectively.

Dr Melita Irving, RSM Trustee and Chair of the Ellison-Cliffe Charitable Trust which awards the fellowships, said: “We were delighted to meet and interview all of the candidates for these awards. They were, without exception, of a particularly high calibre. We look forward with great anticipation to hearing from our travelling fellows when they report back on what they have learned during their time away and the impact this will have on patient care when they resume their careers in the UK.”

The Ellison-Cliffe Travelling Fellowships were set up in 2004 by the late Dr Carice Ellison-Cliffe and her husband Dr Percy Cliffe through their charitable foundation, which also supports an eponymous lecture given each year at the RSM which explores science at the coalface of medicine.

The travelling fellowships are designed to cover expenses for travel abroad to one or two centres, for a period of no less than six months, in pursuit of further study, research or clinical training. The latest candidates bring the number of fellowships awarded since inception of the awards to 47.