An interdisciplinary clinical NEuroscience eXcellence training program to foster and support young clinicians in Switzerland

 

Task force: Iliya Peyneshki, Lukas Sveikata and Indrit Begue

 

Introduction
Current clinical medicine specialization or super-specialization drives scientific and medical progress. However, such superspecialization raises the risk of disciplinary silos, which may impair the care of complex and difficult patients whose conditions typically require a holistic interdisciplinary approach. During current neuro-specialties training programs, there are insufficient opportunities to acquire knowledge in neuro-disciplines outside of our field of training. Thus, greater effort should be dedicated to interdisciplinary integration during clinical training. The promotion of interdisciplinary integration is even more important in the linguistic context of Switzerland. Programs that promote young clinicians’ knowledge across the clinical neuroscience spectrum are needed.

 

To this end, the SFCNS-YouCliN network created NEXUS, a scholarship to support young clinicians exchange across neuro-disciplines.

 

Goals and objectives: Breaking down silos by supporting and fostering young clinicians’ interdisciplinary expertise in Switzerland.

 

Public: Early stage career clinicians affiliated to a Swiss institution toward the end or within the first 3 years after specialty training (after accounting for “academic age”) wanting to a) acquire a clinical skill/technique outside of their discipline or b) a skill/technique within their discipline but in another Swiss institution, with more priority, for extra-regional institutions in Switzerland.

 

Length: one month

 

Timeline:

• Applications for the fellowship will open from August 1st to September 30th 2023.
• Only completed dossiers will be evaluated.
• The winner will be announced on December 1st 2023.

 

Professional status: The applicant would benefit from a working status in line with similar positions in the hosting clinic (paid vacation, etc.)

 

Application requirements:

• Curriculum vitae (max 4 pages)
• Letter of Recommendation from a clinical supervisor from the original department attesting the feasibility and suitability of the project of the applicant.
• Motivation letter (1 page max) from the applicant, describing briefly the motivation for the program, how it aligns with the applicant’s career goals and what specific techniques/procedures they would like to learn during the training.
• Acceptance letter from the host institution supervisor attesting that they will support and mentor the applicant and provide the necessary resources for the training.
• Language knowledge of the host institution is mandatory if the proposed fellowship requires interactions with patients.
• Applications should be sent in one pdf to: sfcns@imk.ch

 

Selection of applicants: The selection is carried out by a selection committee consisting of 5 members: YouCliN executive board, one member from YouCliN steering committee, and one SFCNS board member.  The following selection criteria apply:

• The quality and innovative approach of the training pursued;
• Interdisciplinary pertinence of the training
• Previous achievements of the applicant;
• Suitability of the applicant for a clinical and/or academic medicine career;
• Quality of the proposed host institution;
• Quality of the institution of origin;
• Applications for exchanges over language boundaries would be preferably funded

 

Evaluation of the project & impact

• The applicant should provide YouCliN and the SFCNS executive board with a short report at the end of the training (1 page max).
• The supervisor of the host institution should give a brief written feedback about the exchange experience that would serve us as a guidance for future applicants.
• In the long term, feedback from awardees and mentors may be used by the YouCliN social media group to advertise the fellowship.

 

Budget

• CHF 4’000 (cost of living) + 2'500 (travel/accommodation)
• Total: 6500 CHF