PAACS is glad to announce the first recipients of the new Alumni Travel Fellowship. Dr. Jean Faya Yaradouno in Guinea was selected as the first PAACS Alumni Travel Fellow which will be for 2021. For 2022, Dr. Jack Barasa in Kenya was selected to be the Fellow.
PAACS plans to offer this fellowship annually. The purpose of the fellowship is three-fold: to provide a career-boosting opportunity for graduates, to enhance PAACS fundraising efforts with the perspective of surgeons practicing in Africa, and to facilitate greater alumni involvement in all aspects of the PAACS organization.
The fellowship will entail three weeks of travel to the United States. The itinerary will consist of approximately three cities that have both supporters of PAACS and hospitals suitable for surgery-related learning experiences tailored to the graduate’s areas of interest. The graduate will participate in academic-related activities (operative shadowing, grand rounds lectures, conferences, etc.) as well as speaking at fundraising/awareness events for PAACS. For spiritual encouragement, the fellow also will be invited to lodge in the homes of interested supporters whenever possible along the itinerary. The travel dates will be scheduled around the time of a bi-annual meeting of the PAACS Board of Directors so that the graduate can fully participate there also.
A runner-up will be selected each year in case external constraints prevent the initial awardee from completing the fellowship. We anticipate that the runner-up will be slated as the Travel Fellow for the subsequent year. Nominations were accepted for PAACS alumni who have been in practice at least five years since the end of their training. All of the applicants were superb candidates, and the Alumni Liaison Committee considered each application carefully.
Despite scheduling challenges at this present time, if readers expect that their homes or their hospitals might serve as suitable locations in the itinerary of a future PAACS Alumni Travel Fellow, please email stevedoane@gmail.com and a list can be compiled for reference.
We congratulate Dr. Yaradouno, Dr. Barasa, and all of the applicants for their professional excellence in Jesus’ name!
