Spyros Bakalis and the Pregnancy Heart Team awarded BCS/Heart Research UK fellowship 2026

Natali Chung, consultant cardiologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, has been awarded the Team Placement for a Team of up to six people for one week.

During the placement, Natali and her team – Dr Anita Banerjee, Dr Hannah Douglas, Dr Jess Webb, Dr Lindsay Arrandale, and Dr Spyros Bakalis – will visit Stanford Medical Center, California, USA. They hope the fellowship will allow their team to learn from a centre that is already a world leader in post-partum preventative medicine and aim to use their experience and learnings to develop new pathways and a cardiovascular hub that can deliver long-term personalised care to all women identified through the cardiac obstetric service.

Natali said “The St Thomas’ Pregnancy Heart Team and I were delighted to hear the news of our successful application for a BCS HRUK Team Fellowship.

We are looking forward to collaborating with our colleagues in the Standford Maternal Heart Program focusing on women’s health, learning and developing innovative models and embedding personalised care for women through a life course approach; from preparation for pregnancy to the postpartum period and beyond”.

For all awards, the funding is used to contribute towards travel, accommodation, salary and any local medical regulatory/certification costs. 

Successful candidates will be expected to provide a full report of their experience within one month of completion and a short video clip detailing their experience which will be used to promote the scheme. All fellowships must be completed by the end of May 2026. The individuals and team will each provide a short talk on their experience at the BCS Conference in June 2026.