Author: Tom@heartresearch.org.uk

Heart Research UK and the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) are delighted to announce the successful applicants for their clinical fellowship opportunities in 2026. The scheme offers the potential for clinical top-up training, allowing candidates across the NHS workforce to gain new clinical skills or experience in a global centre of excellence.

Kalaivani Mahadevan, a consultant interventional cardiologist at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, has been awarded the Individual Clinical Placement for up to two months.

During her placement Kalaivani will spend time with experts at the Osaka University Hospital, Japan, Barts Heart Centre, London and Lahr Heart Centre, Germany and will contribute towards innovative training concepts in complex and chronic occlusion PCI whilst enhancing her knowledge base and procedural skillsets, including the understanding of techniques not yet widely adopted in the UK.

During her placement Kalaivani will spend time with experts at the Osaka University Hospital, Japan, Barts Heart Centre, London and Lahr Heart Centre, Germany and will contribute towards innovative training concepts in complex and chronic occlusion PCI whilst enhancing her knowledge base and procedural skillsets, including the understanding of techniques not yet widely adopted in the UK.

During her placement Kalaivani will spend time with experts at the Osaka University Hospital, Japan, Barts Heart Centre, London and Lahr Heart Centre, Germany and will contribute towards innovative training concepts in complex and chronic occlusion PCI whilst enhancing her knowledge base and procedural skillsets, including the understanding of techniques not yet widely adopted in the UK.

Kalaivani said “I’m honoured and grateful to have been selected for this national grant. I look forward to helping to develop innovative training techniques and advancing my cognitive and procedural skills in complex PCI, learning from leading experts in the field.

I hope these experiences will help me become a better physician and operator for my patients and a better teacher and mentor for my trainees, allowing me to more meaningfully give back to the interventional community”.

Ryan McNally, a hypertension pharmacist and clinical research fellow at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, has been awarded the Individual Clinical Placement for a Healthcare Professional for up to one month.

During his fellowship, Ryan will spend three weeks at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Insitute/Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He will gain targeted clinical and implementation experience from the multidisciplinary hypertension services whose system is internationally recognised for embedding biomarkers of drug response, digital decision-support tools, and pharmacist-delivered adherence interventions within routine hypertensions care.

During his fellowship, Ryan will spend three weeks at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute/Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He will gain targeted clinical and implementation experience from the multidisciplinary hypertension services whose system is internationally recognised for embedding biomarkers of drug response, digital decision-support tools, and pharmacist-delivered adherence interventions within routine hypertensions care.

Ryan said “I’m absolutely delighted to receive this fellowship and can’t wait to get started. I’ll be using it to learn from leading hypertension and cardiovascular prevention teams in Melbourne at The Alfred Hospital and the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, particularly how they manage complex or resistant hypertension and deliver consistent, evidence-based care at scale.

With hypertension still one of the biggest drivers of preventable cardiovascular disease – and so often complicated by multimorbidity and polypharmacy – I’m excited to bring back practical ideas that can strengthen real-world management and outcomes”.

Natali Chung, consultant cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, has been awarded the Team Placement for a Team of up to six people for one week.

During the placement, Natali and her team – Dr Anita Banerjee, Dr Hannah Douglas, Dr Jess Webb, Dr Lindsay Arrandale, and Dr Spyros Bakalis – will visit Stanford Medical Center, California, USA. They hope the fellowship will allow their team to learn from a center that is already a world leader in post-partum preventative medicine and aim to use their experience and learnings to develop new pathways and a cardiovascular hub that can deliver long-term personalised care to all women identified through the cardiac obstetric service.

Natali said “The St Thomas’ Pregnancy Heart Team and I were delighted to hear the news of our successful application for a BCS HRUK Team Fellowship.

We are looking forward to collaborating with our colleagues in the Standford Maternal Heart Program focusing on women’s health, learning and developing innovative models and embedding personalised care for women through a life course approach; from preparation for pregnancy to the postpartum period and beyond”.

For all awards, the funding is used to contribute towards travel, accommodation, salary and any local medical regulatory/certification costs.

Successful candidates will be expected to provide a full report of their experience within one month of completion and a short video clip detailing their experience which will be used to promote the scheme. All fellowships must be completed by the end of May 2026. The individuals and team will each provide a short talk on their experience at the BCS Conference in June 2026.