Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are very excited to now be recruiting for our second International Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology in the Brown Lab (http://kbrownlab.ca) at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Read below to hear from our first fellow, Dr. Lovro Lamot, a Pediatric Rheumatologist from Zagreb, Croatia, about the importance of the Cassie + Friends’ Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in improving global standards of care and worldwide cooperation to advance our vision of a pain-free future for kids.

“With increasing number of children suffering with chronic inflammatory diseases around the world, the need for joint action to tackle these diseases becomes of the highest importance. Unfortunately, even among developed countries there…

“…are still huge differences in everyday practice, education and research. As opposed to USA and Canada, many European countries still don’t have formalized education in the field of pediatric rheumatology, thus care for rheumatic diseases in children often falls on “experienced pediatricians”. Due to a heavy clinic load, very rarely do those pediatricians have a chance to be involved in any kind of scientific endeavor, leaving a huge gap between clinicians and scientist in the field. Besides, there is no formal education in any country for scientist in translational medicine and pediatric rheumatology. By providing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pediatric Rheumatology of British Columbia Children’s Hospital, Cassie and Friends society gives a unique opportunity for researchers and clinicians to learn how to overcome this gap, better understand the clinical needs and research possibilities and work closely for the benefit of children with rheumatic diseases.

Specifically, during my postdoctoral fellowship at the aforementioned department, I was involved in various research activities that often included state-of-the art methods I haven’t seen before. More importantly, I had a chance to be involved in patient care from “bed to bench” allowing me to look at each individual from perspective of both clinician and scientist. I strongly believe that this approach provides a best possible care for each patient, rarely seen in any of the other centers I visited both in Europe and USA. Fully aware of the challenges one has to face while establishing this kind of translational center, I will do my best to use gathered knowledge and experience as a foundation for development of similar practice in my own and neighboring countries. Therefore, with the support of Dr. Brown I already started to apply for research grants that could help me finance initial steps of the research projects in my own center. Hopefully, these activities will improve the standards of care and extend the global cooperation in the field of pediatric rheumatology.”

Lovro Lamot, MD,PhD

Cassie and Friends Postdoctoral Fellow from Zagreb, Croatia

Interested in applying for this opportunity? See photos for details on how to apply. Deadline for applications is 30th November.