TY - JOUR T1 - ERS clinical fellowship report JF - Breathe JO - Breathe SP - 5 LP - 6 DO - 10.1183/20734735.017516 VL - 13 IS - 1 AU - Aleksandar Yankulov Y1 - 2017/03/01 UR - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/13/1/5.abstract N2 - My name is Aleksandar Yankulov and I am a thoracic surgeon from UMBAL “St George” Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I have had the unique opportunity to be part of one of the first European Respiratory Society (ERS) clinical fellowships. When I first saw the announcement for this fellowship, I had a clear idea of what I could use it for. Our country is one of the few where patients in the terminal stages of lung disease cannot be treated adequately due to the lack of a lung-transplant programme. As a young surgeon I have read a lot of papers concerning this procedure and it was my intention to spend time as a visiting fellow at the Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover and their transplant unit (the highest volume transplant center in Europe and the second highest in the world).An ERS clinical fellowship is an excellent opportunity to discover and develop a new field in your medical career http://ow.ly/WmiY306uzUMI want to say a big thank you to the ERS for the excellent opportunity to stay so long in such an experienced center in the field of lung transplantation as the Klinik für Herz-, Thorax-, Transplantations- und Gefäßchirurgie (HTTG). I am grateful to all my mentors in the field of lung transplantation: A. Haverich, G. Warnecke, I. Tudorache, C. Kuhn, M. Avsar, N. Koigeldiyev, T. Kaufeld, W. Sommer, F. Lus, M. Roumieh, J. Salman, T. Simeni, D. Bobylev, S. Rojas, A. Molgadea, S. Rumke, T. Goecke, and R. Poyanmehr (for the steady nerves in allowing me to follow him and ask questions every morning during visitation). I am also grateful to R. Machunze and I. Kuhne (for the best cookies during ambulatory meetings) and to all the staff of the department (other colleagues, ward and operative nurses) for their hospitality. I hope we are able to collaborate with each other in the near future! ER -