Australia Awards Fellowship for Dr Celia Santos

ANZGITA, Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares (Dili) & two Canberra hospitals team for a rapid uplift in Timor-Leste gastroenterology skills

ANZGITAhassecuredAustraliaAwardsFellowshipfundingforDrCeliaSantosfromTimor-Leste’snationalhospitaltoundertakethreemonthsintensivetrainingatCanberraHospitalandCalvaryHospital.Thiswillhelpsecurethesustainabilityoftherecentlyestablishedendoscopyunit.

ANZGITA has been successful in its application for funding in the highly-competitiveAustraliaAwardsprogramof theAustralianGovernment. DrCelia Santos, fromHospitalNacionalGuidoValadares (HNGV),Timor-Leste’snationalhospital,will undertakeathreemonth intensive gastroenterology fellowship at Canberra and Calvary Hospitals in 2018.This,andafollow-upvisitbyanANZGITAteamtoDili,willhelpsecurethesustainabilityoftheHNGVEndoscopyUnit.Theunitwasestablishedinearly2016,withANZGITA’ssupport.

DrSantosisahighlyregardedInternalMedicinespecialistatHNGV.Whilststillinthefirstfew years since the completion of her specialist training, Dr Santos has recently beenappointedtheHeadofDepartmentofInternalMedicine.ShedevelopedakeeninterestingastroenterologyafterattendinganANZGITAFiji TrainingProgram.DrSantoshasgainedcompetence in therapeutic gastroscopy under the guidance of Australian consultantgastroenterologistDrChrisKiely.Hercolonoscopyskillsarerapidlyimproving.

Duringthefellowship,whichstartsinJune,DrSantoswillundertakesupervisedtrainingintherapeutic endoscopy. A model developed during two previous ANZGITA-supportedfellowshipswillbefollowed.This includes immersion intwoworld-classendoscopyunits,frequentpeer-learningopportunities,participationingovernanceprocessesamongstotheractivities. At the conclusion of the fellowship, Dr Santos will attend the AustralianGastroenterologyWeekconferenceinBrisbane.Thetrainingfellowshipwillequipherwiththeskillstocontinuetheunit’sworkandtotrainfutureTimoreseendoscopists.

WeareverythankfultoCanberraandCalvaryHospitalsforagreeingtoengageCeliaoverthe three months of her fellowship. The support of Dr Jose ‘Zeto’ Guterres, DirectorGeneral, HNGV, in allowing Dr Santos to avail herself of this opportunity is gratefullyacknowledged.OurthanksalsotoRACSGlobalHealthfortheirsupportofourapplication.

Following on from a preparatory and training visit by Ms Di Jones, ANZGITA Directorresponsiblefornursing,in2016,theANZGITABoardapprovedanengagementplan.TwoANZGITAtrainingprogramshavebeenconductedin2017,includingAustraliandoctorsandnurses.Twomoreprogramsareplannedfor2018,eithersideofDrSantos’fellowship.

ThiswasthefirsttimeANZGITAhadappliedtobeahostorganisationfortheprestigiousAustralia Awards Fellowships.We secured for Dr Santos one of the 1,100 fellowships incompetitionwithmanyuniversities, industrybodiesandotherorganisations.Weseeoursuccessasasignofourcontinuingdevelopmentwhereweseekoutfurtherwaystoassistour in-countrypartnersandmakeuseofabroaderbaseofprospective funding sources.TheAustraliaAwardssupportourmissionofbuildingcapacitythroughstrongpartnershipsthathelpretainexpandingskillsindevelopingcountries.Byprovidingshort-termstudyandprofessional development opportunities in Australia, mid-career professionals andemergingleaderscantapintoAustralianexpertise,gainingvaluableskillsandknowledge.

MoreaboutANZGITA:www.anzgita.orgMoreaboutAustraliaAwardsFellowships:www.australiaawards.gov.au

L to R: Dr Chris Kiely, Consultant Gastroenterologist, HNGV; Dr Celia Santos, Head of Internal Medicine, HNGV; and Dr Jose ‘Zeto’ Guterres, Director General, HNGV