Grants and Fellowships
Stefan Galeski Global Surgery Fellowship
Improving access to safe, affordable and essential surgical care
This fellowship scheme builds on the College’s invaluable international development work, which has been supported by the family of Anna and Stefan Galeski for almost 20 years through the provision of travel grants. The Stefan Galeski Global Surgery Fellowship provides opportunities for surgical trainees with a demonstrable commitment to global health to actively contribute, learn from and participate in global surgery outreach initiatives.
The College partners with a diverse range of organisations to advance and improve access to safe, high quality, accessible and affordable surgery through its Partnerships for Surgical Systems Strengthening (PaSSS) framework. Organisations include ministries of health, national and regional teaching hospitals, surgical societies and the wider surgical care team (nurses, midwives, anaesthetists and junior doctors).
Fellowships awarded by this scheme are unique in that they are aligned with the College’s global health partnership development goals, adding value to the College’s partnerships and ensuring that the impact of the fellowship is evaluated and sustained.
The Fellowship Award
Fellowships are awarded for a period of up to 12 months and are attached to a UK or overseas partner institution within the College’s network. The maximum award provided to each fellow is £5,000, which can be used to meet the costs of overseas travel, equipment or consumables associated with teaching, training, operating and/or research activities aimed at building local surgical capacity and improving access.
2025-2026 Fellowships
The College awarded four fellowships in 2025-26.
Fellow
Dr Isobel Marks, ENT Specialist Registrar
Partner institution
Refugee Crisis Foundation (RCF)
Fellowship
Establishing sustainable ear and hearing healthcare provision for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Overview
Over 1 million Rohingya refugees live in densely packed camps in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh—the world's largest refugee settlement. A needs assessment revealed that chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) affects nearly 15% of the camps’ population - the highest prevalence of the disease recorded in the world in recent decades. Dr Marks worked with RCF to equip local doctors working in the camps with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively prevent, identify, and manage hearing loss and common ear diseases, with a particular focus on CSOM.
Learn more about Dr Mark’s fellowship: watch the video and read the poster.
Fellow
Dr Babayemi Soile, Colorectal & General Surgery Registrar
Partner institution
Operation International UK (OIUK)
Fellowship
Supporting the development of Operation International UK’s second ‘base’ hospital in northern Ghana and coordinating its 2025 surgical mission.
Overview
OIUK is a UK-based surgical charity, founded in 2020 by RCS England Fellow, Dr Sala Abdalla, a Consultant General and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon. The charity’s mission is to impact and save lives by providing free surgical care to people in need. In 2020, OIUK established a base hospital in a rural part of north-western Ghana. The charity has supported three overseas trips to this base hospital, performing free lifesaving and function restoring surgeries on hundreds of patients. It continues to deliver training to local doctors, nurses, and operating room staff.
Learn more about Dr Soile’s fellowship: watch the video and view the poster.
Fellow
Dr Abdi Karim Yusuf, Urology Registrar
Partner Institution
Somali Health Exchange
Fellowship
Delivering high-quality Basic Surgical Skills (BSS) workshops tailored for medical students, early-career and resident doctors in Somaliland.
Overview
SHE is a charity comprised of healthcare professionals with Somali roots. The goal is to improve patient outcomes, safety, and experience through training and supporting the development of the healthcare workforce, thereby strengthening the personal, public, and global health needs of Somaliland. Dr Yusuf worked with SHE to develop and deliver high-quality Basic Surgical Skills workshops aimed at medical students, early career doctors and residents in multiple hospitals in Somaliland.
Learn more about Dr Yusuf’s fellowship: view the poster.
Fellow
Dr Tobi Ayorinde, Senior Registrar in General Surgery
Partner institution
West African College of Surgeons
Fellowship
Support West Africa College of Surgeons (WACS) to plan, implement and evaluate its 2026 surgical outreach programme in Ghana,
Overview
The WACS annual surgical outreach programme takes place 10 days before the AGM & Scientific Conference in February/March each year. During the outreach, multidisciplinary teams of surgical volunteers perform much-needed operations on patients who would otherwise not have access to such treatment. Local hospitals and surrounding clinics are also strengthened through on-site practical training and lectures. Dr Ayorinde worked with the WACS UK/Europe Forum to plan and deliver the 2026 surgical outreach in Accra, Ghana. Over 900 operations were performed across 11 hospitals, with patients ranging from 4 months to 100 years old.
Learn more about Dr Ayorinde’s fellowship: watch the video and view the poster.