As part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI), the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) supports a high-level training program in microsurgery for surgical students. The five-year program, implemented by Regeneration & Progress with exclusive support from SNF, aims to strengthen the skills of early-career surgeons in Greece.
Microsurgery is a technique involving complex operations in which a microscope is used to improve surgical precision and is applied by surgical specialties to treat injuries to vessels, nerves, and tendons, mainly in the extremities.
The grant supports the implementation of a three-week training program in microsurgery three times each year for five consecutive years. Five 12-hour days of intensive training will be provided for up to 10 residents during each week of the program. The program will take place in collaboration between two orthopedic surgery departments: the First Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Orthopedic Department at the University of Ioannina.
This grant builds on SNF's long support for the field of surgical training, including educational programs in collaboration with the Orthopedic Department at the University of Ioannina and the Microsurgery Training Weeks at the James R. Urbaniak Microsurgery Laboratory of the Panayiotis N. Soukakos Orthopedic Research and Education Center at Attikon University General Hospital.
The Microsurgery Training Weeks are designed for residents of all surgical specialties who are in their third year of training or beyond, with priority given to the specialties of orthopedic surgery and traumatology, general surgery, and vascular surgery.
The program will connect early career surgeons with the two microsurgery training centers in Greece and offer them the opportunity to deepen their specialized knowledge, helping upgrade the surgical services available to patients in Greece.