The C. Ehrnrooth Foundation established the C. Ehrnrooth Helsinki Vascular & Skull-base Fellowship with the purpose of granting scholarships to international fellows engaged in post-doctoral studies in neurosurgery or young neurosurgeons interested in pursuing further specialization courses in microsurgery.

The C. Ehrnrooth Helsinki Vascular & Skull-base Fellowship’ is applicable for EU board-certified neurosurgeons aged 35-40 for a period of 12 months starting January 1st each year. The selection of the fellows is CV- and interview-based, after an announcement in the European Journal of Neurosurgery (Acta Neurochirurgica) and EANS (European Association of Neurosurgical Societies) website.

The following fellows have been supported so far: 
 

• Dr. Sajjad Muhammad (2018) from Germany trained in performing vascular and skull-base procedures and learnt how to clip anterior vascular aneurysms and remove skull-base tumors. He also made several publications on the topic during his fellowship.
   

• Dr. Christoph Schwartz (2019) from Austria participated in over 250 surgeries during his fellowship, allowing him to learn new techniques with regard to tumor surgery, aneurysm clipping, cervical spine surgery as well as experimental bypass surgery.
   

• Dr. Roel Haeren (2020) is from the Netherlands and his Ph.D. thesis on cerebral microvasculature in relation to drug-resistant epilepsy was awarded the best Dutch neurosurgical publication of 2018. During his fellowship, he will have the opportunity to be exposed to a high caseload of complex skull base and cerebrovascular pathologies. 
   

• Dr. João M Silva (2021) from Portugal is a board-certified and consultant neurosurgeon interested in neuroanatomy, vascular and skull-base surgery and the history of neurosurgery. Prior to his fellowship, he spent 6 years as a neurological surgeon in Porto performing tumour, vascular, trauma and spine surgery.
   

• Dr. Oriela Rustemi, MD (2021) from Albania has published in the areas of cerebrovascular diseases, neurosurgical techniques and general neurosurgery. Besides these specialties, she is interested in vascular neurosurgery, skull base and brain tumors. Prior to her fellowship, she completed post-doctoral trainings in Italy, France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and the US. Since 2016, she has been an attending neurosurgeon and consultant in Vicenza, Italy.

Discover the testimonials and experiences of past fellows here.

2022 Fellowship applications will be open from Aug 1-31st 2021.