The Francis Fontan Fund is proud to offer EACTS members exciting educational opportunities including Fellowships, Pre-Trainee Travel Electives and Pre-Trainee Annual Meeting Grants.
The Francis Fontan Fund offers recognised and respected fellowship opportunities for EACTS members, fostering professional development and developing your surgical skills with career-defining experiences at some of the most prestigious institutions around the world.
The 2026 Fellowships have been recategorised based on specialty. Please refer to the details below:
Application Period (1st March – 1st May 2025)
Acquired Cardiac Disease
Other Initiatives
Application Period (1st July – 1st September 2025)
Congenital Heart Disease
Thoracic Disease
Collaboration with other societies
International collaboration and knowledge exchange is vital to advance education and professional expertise, so it is a great honour to be a recipient of this fellowship. I have a strong interest in off-pump CABG surgery and a desire to establish an off-pump CABG programme at my institution in North Macedonia. The opportunity to spend time with outstanding experts in the field will help to progress this ambition and enable me to build relationships within our cardiac community.
I also observed how other cardiac centers worked, as well as their organisation and structure. I saw patients with excellent postoperative recovery and their expectation with the treatment. This kind of experience always contributes to my professional and personal growth.
Taking part in the Francis Fontan Fund Fellowship in Barcelona under the supervision of Eduard Quintana, has been invaluable, providing high-quality speciality training as well as introducing me to new technologies, like robotic surgery. For a trainee resident like me, it’s a perfect setting to see the whole of cardiac surgery whilst being mentored and trained by specialists.
