The World Hellenic Biomedical Association – WHBA has announced a new training program for top graduates from medical departments of Greek universities, entitled the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Research Training Program in Clinical & Experimental Medicine (RTP-CEM).

WHBA is organizing a press conference on May 13th at 12:00 at the central building of the University of Athens. Present at the press conference will be representatives of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the University of Athens.

The program supports the preparation of young Greek doctors and scientists for acquiring their medical specialties, in university hospitals and medical centers abroad. The program is designed to provide participants the necessary laboratory/clinical experience they need to become competitive in their efforts to secure clinical expertise positions, initially in the US and later in other countries.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is the exclusive supporter of the WHBA’s program. Funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation will support up to 10 program trainees over the two-year pilot phase of the program, as well as their participation in the WHBA summer program.

Positions are available in the following categories:

* 3-month Clinical Track

* 12-month Basic Science Track

* 15-month Translational Medicine Track (combined clinical and laboratory practice)

The program will be piloted in the US and, after its successful completion, is planned to expand to the European Union as well as other countries such as Canada and Australia, where the WHBA already has many members (a total of about 3,000 members in 40 countries).

The application process via the WHBA website (www.whba1990.org) will open on June 15, 2017, and the submission deadline is on September 15 of the same year.

WHBA is based in New York and during its more than 25-year-presence has organized 13 international conferences and five Summer Medical and Bioscientific Research and Management Schools, taking place in Mani, Lakonia in Greece. More than 200 Greek and foreign Medical and Bioscience students, trainee doctors and postdoctoral researchers from Greece and more than 15 other countries have participated in these programs. The WHBA Summer School has created a steadily growing network of excellence among young scientists of Greek and foreign universities and highlights Greece as a meeting place for institutions and representatives of educational and scientific excellence.

In May 2017, WHBA hosts the sixth consecutive Summer School with more than 20 distinguished Greek professors from universities, research institutes and pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Canada, England, Switzerland and Greece, who will participate, pro bono, as lecturers for students from more than 20 Greek and international universities. Participation and accommodation will be offered free of charge to the 40 students of the Summer School who have been selected out of 120 total candidates, based on their level of excellence in their respective fields.

The financial part of the Summer School is supported by Greek expatriates, Greek scientific associations and pharmaceutical companies abroad.

Furthermore, as part of this year’s Summer School, the following satellite events have been scheduled, open to the general public:

– May 12, 2017 (6:00 – 9:00 pm): Public Dialogue on “Loss of intellectual capital in Greece” (Hellenic Pasteur Institute)

– May 21, 2017 (9:00 am – 6:00 pm): 14th Conference of the World Hellenic Biomedical Association on how to “Protect and fund discoveries in Medical & Biosciences Research” (From “Omics” to Drug discovery; From Drug Discovery to establishment of a company; Panel Discussion on “How your scientific discovery can make you a billionaire”). (Biomedical Research Foundation Academy of Athens). The conference will take place in English.

About the World Hellenic Biomedical Association:

The World Hellenic Biomedical Association was founded in London in 1990, with the aim of bringing together, in terms of communication and operations, Greek medical and Bioscientific associations that operate outside Greece. After 20 years of presence in Europe, it was agreed to move its headquarters to the United States with the purpose of consolidating its universal presence and the nature of its actions. During its 25-year history, WHBA has developed a network of approximately 3,000 Greek doctors and bioscientists in 40 countries spread across the 5 continents.