The Academy team is leading a national collaborative venture to establish a prestigious fellowship programme designed to promote excellence in breast imaging. The aims of the programme are to:
- Establish a gold-standard fellowship programme to raise the profile and prestige of breast imaging
- Provide enhanced training in breast imaging above and beyond RCR higher breast training
- Equip talented trainees to become the leaders, educators and researchers of the future
- Use the pooled expertise and experience of the breast imaging community to deliver world-class training.
Applicants will undergo a centralised competitive recruitment process and will be placed in eligible breast units across England for one year’s duration, where they will be supervised and mentored and will undergo the majority of their training. This training will be supplemented by bespoke study blocks and training courses where the fellowship cohort will meet to receive expert teaching, learn specific skills and benefit from networking opportunities.
These are post-CCT posts and are therefore open to radiologists who have achieved their CCT (or equivalent) or will do so before the start of the fellowship. The first cohort of ten national fellows are expected to commence in post in September 2019, following a centralised interview and recruitment process in spring this year.
Following the National Breast Imaging Academy business case submission, funding has been awarded by Health Education England (HEE) to support employment and training. Breast units wishing to host a fellow will need to secure the remaining funding from their hospital trust. The NBIA has developed a template business case to assist interested breast centres with the process.
The NBIA team is also working to promote high-quality experience in breast imaging during undergraduate medical training and core radiology training and is developing resources to support this.