NEWS
■ EAPCI Fellows Course: Taking place from 9-11 June 2016 at the Heart House, Sophia Antipolis, France. This course is designed to aid the continued development of medical doctors who have started or have recently completed a programme of training in interventional cardiology in the core subjects of the syllabus. Register now to benefit from early fees!
■ A New EAPCI Initiative: Valve for Life! Recently launched (see the January EAPCI column for more details), the Valve for Life project aims to raise awareness on the importance of valvular heart disease in the general population, facilitate access to novel therapies such as transcatheter heart valve interventions, raise educational standards, reduce obstacles to therapy implementation and to diminish age and gender discrimination in the access to care. Poland and France are the first pilot countries. Find out more on the EAPCI website.
EAPCI Focus on the New Initiatives for Young Interventionalists Committee
Davide Capodanno, Chair
Davide Capodanno, Chair
The EAPCI Past President, Jean Fajadet, established the New Initiatives for Young Interventionalists (NIFYI) Committee in 2011. Today, under the presidency of Stephan Windecker, NIFYI continues in its efforts to anticipate and manage the unmet needs of the young generation of interventional cardiologists. Here are some recent initiatives:
Community. The creation of EAPCI Young, an open community of EAPCI members “less than 36 years old or at the early stage of their career” is a central and founding idea of our committee. Around 500 members already populate “EAPCI Young LinkedIn”, the official social network of the young community (https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=6579395). This acts as a lab where new ideas are continuously developed and is the source for updated information on the Committee initiatives. Here each member can openly interact directly with the NIFYI Committee.
Network. The principle of creating a strong network of young interventionalists in Europe and worldwide is witnessed by the recent launch of the “Ambassadors campaign” (http://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Communities/ESC-Young-Community/Young-interventionalists/eapci-young-nationalam
bassador), which is seeking Young EAPCI members willing to act as a direct “link” between the NIFYI Committee and young interventionalists from their home country.
Education. In 2016 (9 to 11 June), the Heart House will host the third edition of the EAPCI Fellows Course (http://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Communities/European-Association-of-Percutaneous-Car
diovascular-Interventions-EAPCI/Education/European-Interventional-Cardiology-Fellows-Courses). After the first two successful editions, the Course has now been extended to two full days, and its contents expanded to address the growing interest of young interventionalists. Education activities targeted to young interventionalists are also scattered over the PCR year, with a dedicated PCR Seminar (“Educational Journey for young fellows”) and a specific track of interactive sessions focusing on the basics of interventional cardiology (“The Essentials”) featuring eight topics at EuroPCR 2016. Education initiatives also continue on the web, with a collaboration with PCRonline to create a “virtual Journal Club” (http://www.pcronline.com/Journal-Club).
Career building. 2016 will be the year of CathGo 2.0, the revamped version of the existing platform for searching training opportunities (http://www.escardio.org/Guidelines-&-Education/Careerdevel
opment/Research-and-training/Research-and-training-directory-in-interventional-cardiology/Centres-offering-interventional-and-research-opportunities), with a new interface, and additional modules for “seek and offer” research and job opportunities.
All this is made possible by the full support of the EAPCI, and the efforts and enthusiasm of the NIFYI Committee: Maria Radu (Co-Chair), Salvatore Brugaletta, Patrick Calvert, Gregory Ducrocq, Philippe Kahlert, Lukasz Koltowski, Vijay Kunadian, Stylianos Pyxaras and Gabor Toth.
