The SCMR Training Fellowship

SCMR Pediatric/Congenital Heart Disease Early/Mid-Career Visiting Fellowship Program

Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Imaging is becoming more widely available and has an increasing number of clinical guideline indications in pediatric and congenital heart disease (PCHD). However, there is a shortage of physicians trained to supervise and report independently in order to meet the current and future increase in the demand in CMR in PCHD. Training of physicians in CMR is an essential first step in setting up CMR services. One of the key challenges to achieving equitable access to CMR across the globe is the limited provision of training opportunities in some countries. While training abroad can overcome this challenge, it can be prohibitively expensive, especially for practitioners from middle-lower- or lower-income countries (as based on the World Bank classification).

The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) is pleased to announce the Pediatric/Congenital Junior Early/Mid Career Visiting Fellowship Program. This fellowship is designed to support early- and mid-career members in accessing unique clinical or research opportunities abroad. Pediatric cardiologists or radiologists are encouraged to apply. The duration of the visiting fellowship program is at least one month and should not exceed 6 months. The fellowship aims at fostering collaboration among congenital cardiology centers worldwide, and advancing research in pediatric and congenital heart disease imaging. The research project will generate pilot data and allow further research and collaborations.

Objective

The primary objectives of this fellowship are to:

• Provide members in training with access to clinical and research experiences not readily available at their home institutions for a period of 1-6 months.
• Support collaboration across global congenital cardiology centers.
• Stimulate high-quality research in pediatric and congenital heart disease (PCHD) imaging.

Financial provision

The SCMR visiting fellowship will offer financial support up to USD $5,000 for the fellow in the form of an educational or research grant. Details on the actual costs will need to be provided to SCMR. Those may include airfare, accommodation and reasonable living expenses for the duration of the visiting fellowship. Four grants will be provided in the 2025-2026 cycle and can be used worldwide, but it is the fellow’s own responsibility to comply with taxation rules according to the local fiscal regulations. The grant will be paid once the fellowship is started. SCMR will hold no liability for any activities taken out by the grant recipient during the fellowship. The host institution should confirm its agreement in writing on this process and a copy of the acceptance letter should be provided to the SCMR as part of the application. Without prejudice to the SCMR’s other rights and remedies, the SCMR may withhold or suspend payment of any grant funding due to the Grant recipient and/or require the Grant recipient to repay all or part of the grant in case the fellowship grant period ends before the planned date, whatever the reason for such termination.

Method of Application

Eligibility

To qualify for this fellowship, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be a current SCMR member in good standing for at least one year (thus joined SCMR in 2024 or earlier).
• Obtain written agreement from the proposed host institution prior to application submission.
• Obtain written agreement from the home institution.
• In the cover letter, please state the motivation for the fellowship, whether training or research. If research, please propose a 1-page project focused on CHD imaging hosted at a center other than their home institution.
• Fellowship length will be at least 1 month and should not exceed 6 months. For those seeking more than 6 months of training, please refer to the SCMR Training Fellowship page (The SCMR Training Fellowship | Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance).
• Early Career applicants: senior fellows or 1-5 years since end of last training.
• Mid Career applicants: > 5 years and less than 10 years since end of last training. Previous pediatric and or congenital CMR experience is preferred. Those pursuing advanced training in imaging techniques at high-volume centers, or those who are developing new techniques, are encouraged to apply.

Location

Applicants are advised to identify an appropriate host institution (see requirements below) and obtain the signed approval of the host institution for the training.

Potential fellows should prepare the application jointly with the proposed host institution.

Applicants are expected to obtain signed approval of the home and host institution before submitting their application to the SCMR.  

Host institution requirements

The host institution is expected to fulfil the following requirements:

• Offer an active clinical CMR program covering all aspects of congenital CMR practice.
• Led by at least one Level 3 certified CMR expert (SCMR or equivalent certification).
• Offer an active training and teaching programme in PCHD CMR.
• Is located in a different country or state to the applicant.
• Have not hosted another SCMR funded fellow in the past 2 years.

Fellowship Award

• Four (4) fellowships will be awarded, each valued at USD $5,000.
• The funds may be used to support subsistence, accommodation, and travel costs.
• The fellowship does not cover salary or other expenses.
• Projects must be completed within 1 year of the fellowship program being awarded.
• A written summary report must be submitted to SCMR within 3 months of fellowship completion.
• The grant funding will be released on first day of training.

Submission Deadline

• Applications are due: Friday, November 21, 2025 at 23:59 ET.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.
• Grant award notifications will be sent by December 29, 2025.

TO APPLY PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Application Guidelines

Applicants must submit the following materials consolidated into the submission system. Applications that are incomplete or do not meet the submission criteria may not be considered. All documents must be consolidated into one submission PDF file.

1. Detailed description of the proposed educational activity/research project. For research projects a summary of 1 page length.
2. Curriculum vitae of the applicant summarized in 1 page.
3. Letter of support from the applicant’s supervisor or head of department at their home institution, confirming the candidate’s skills and guaranteeing continued employment upon return.
4. Letter of support and acceptance from the proposed supervisor at the host institution.

Selection process

Applications will be reviewed by the SCMR Pediatric/Congenital Heart Disease Section. The selection committee will include the Chair and Vice-Chair of the PCHD steering committee and other members appointed for this committee.  Each panellist will rate each application according to the criteria below.

• Candidate profile 0-10 points, with scores reflecting

o Medical and imaging experience relative to grade of the candidate

o Achievements in imaging (accreditations, prizes)

o Motivation for applying for this fellowship

o Prior involvement in SCMR

• Host institution profile 0-10 points, with scores reflecting

o Cardiovascular imaging services in general

o Quality of CMR service (scan numbers, number of Level 2/3 CMR experts, scan indications, specialist CMR services provided)

o Track record of training CMR fellows

• Training plan 0-10 points, with scores reflecting

o Structure of the training fellowship

o Content of the training fellowship

o Research proposal for the research track

• Relevance to CMR development in applicant’s country 0-10 points, with scores reflecting

 o Reason for seeking an SCMR training fellowship

o Rationale for choosing the host institution

o Plans for how fellowship will advance CMR in applicant’s home country

Criteria to Evaluate the Research Project

• Criterion 1 – Applicant (30%)
• Academic accomplishments (publications, awards, grants)
• History with SCMR involvement
• Criterion 2 – Research Plan (70%)
• Significance
• Innovation
• Scientific rigor & study design
• Environment (equipment, patient volume, mentorship)

The five candidates receiving the highest average rating of all eligible applicants will be short-listed for the final round and more information may be requested or an interview may be arranged to identify the successful candidate.

Grant Award Process

• Fellowship recipients will be selected and notified by December 29, 2025.
• Successful candidates will be highlighted in SCMR newsletter.
• Awardees will be announced at SCMR2026 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Recipients are expected to complete their projects within one year from the award and submit a written report summarizing outcomes and impact.

STANDARD REGULATIONS

Tenure The visting fellowship is awarded for full-time clinical training or research and the recommended training period is 1-6 months. The training period must start in the year that is awarded and SCMR should be informed of this date. Awards for longer periods will not be considered nor granted. It will be a condition of any award that grant recipient does not engage in private practice for personal gain.

Holidays Visiting fellowship grant recipient may take holidays in accordance with the conditions of service of the host institution.

Sick leave Visting fellowship grant recipient will be subject to the normal conditions of service of the host institution, but the SCMR should be notified if the grant recipient is likely to be away through illness for more than a month. The grant recipient is obliged to have a health insurance either provided by the grant recipient’s own discretion.

Change of project or supervisor Any change in a grant recipient’s training program or supervisor from those originally approved by the SCMR will require prior consent from the SCMR.

Final report The grant recipient will provide a written report of their training within 28 days of the end of the training. This report should contain the following information:

• Aims of the fellowship
• Achievements
• Outputs

The grant recipient may also be asked to present their experience in future SCMR annual scientific sessions.

Publications The results of the grant recipient’s project may be published in the usual way at the discretion of the supervisor of the host institution. The SCMR expects that the award will be acknowledged in any publication pertaining to the work carried out during the tenure of the SCMR Training Grant with the following sentence: “The author acknowledges funding received from the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) in form of an SCMR Fellowship Grant”. One off print or electronic copy of each publication should be provided to the SCMR. Publication fees would have to be covered by the host institution.

Contact

For inquiries regarding the SCMR Pediatric/Congenital Heart Disease Early/Mid Career Visiting Fellowship, please contact Ms. Chelsea Smart at c.smart@scmr.org or Dr. Tarek Alsaied at tarek.alsaied@utsouthwestern.edu.