Clinical Fellowships

Aim

Most community members find accessing health care for primary mitochondrial disease (mito) difficult and this significantly impacts their lives. By supporting the training of Australian clinicians, Mito Foundation aims to improve the health care available to people impacted by mito. The goals of the Clinical Fellowship program are:

support specialist training to provide quality care for people with mito
support clinicians to establish mito services in areas of Australia that currently don’t have access to this type of service
support the training of clinician-scientists who can lead Australian-based clinical research
facilitate a partnership between the fellow and Mito Foundation to address specific areas of need in the mito community and enhance the impact of the fellowship.

The Clinical Fellowship program is a key initiative of Mito Foundation’s 2025 clinical trial action plan, designed to strengthen clinical research capacity in Australia. To achieve this, the fellowship supports activities across 4 key areas: clinical care, clinical training, research, and partnership with Mito Foundation.

Here are examples of activities suitable for the Mito Foundation Clinical Fellowship.

Key components of the Clinical Fellowship plan.

Four rectangles reading, 'clinical care, clinical training, research, partnership with Mito Foundation.'

Key components of the Clinical Fellowship plan.

Funding information

Mito Foundation Clinical Fellowships are charitable grants of up to A$100,000 (pro-rata) for a period of 12 months. They contribute towards the salary of training health professionals during their mito clinical work. We encourage applications for partial funding of part-time training positions or for combined funding with another organisation.

Priority areas

We will consider all fellowship applications that align with the goals of the Clinical Fellowship. Some priority areas include:

proposals that present well-developed and feasible clinical research projects, achievable within the duration of the fellowship
applications from fellows based outside of Sydney and Melbourne.

Important dates

Fellowship applications open: 5 May 2025

Fellowship applications close: 16 June 2025 at 5pm AEST

Outcomes announcement: September 2025

Fellowship start date: January –⁠ February 2026

Who should apply? Eligibility Administering institute support Funding conditions Selection process Previous recipients

Who should apply?

Australian health professionals committed to providing quality care for people impacted by primary mitochondrial disease. The Clinical Fellowship is ideal for advanced trainees in the third year of advanced training; however, we encourage applications from health professionals in other career stages.

Eligibility

The Mito Foundation Clinical Fellowship is designed for clinical fellows who seek to establish their career involving any aspect of health care for mito. Applicants may undergo training in specialty areas relevant to mito care of both children and adults, including: metabolic medicine, clinical genetics, neurology, paediatrics, internal medicine, and ophthalmology. Applications from nursing and allied health practitioners are also welcome.

Clinical fellows may undergo part-time or dual training within the fellowship period, for example, training in both neurogenetics and mitochondrial medicine. Mito Foundation will only contribute funding towards the clinical fellow’s work on mitochondrial disease.

Applicants must have a clinical qualification (MBBS or equivalent) and/or AHPRA registration.
Applicants must have a position at an Australian hospital or institute and must provide a letter of support from the administering institute.
Clinical work and research must be focused on primary mitochondrial disease.

Clinical fellows may undergo part-time or dual training within the period, for example, training in both neurogenetics and mitochondrial medicine. Mito Foundation will only contribute funding towards the clinical fellow’s work on mitochondrial disease.

Administering institute support

Applicants need to have the explicit support of an appropriate administering institution, such as a hospital, during their fellowship. It is also essential that the applicant has a clinical supervisor arranged, under whose guidance the proposed fellowship will be conducted. The clinical supervisor will need to have demonstrated expertise in research and health care for mito.

The administering institute will be required to provide the clinical fellow with dedicated time for the research and partnering components of the fellowship, protected from clinical and administrative duties.

The administering institution is required to enter into a funding agreement with Mito Foundation.

Funding conditions

Mito Foundation partnering activities

As part of the fellowship, fellows will partner with Mito Foundation to address specific areas of need in the mito community and enhance the impact of the fellowship. Some examples of partnering activities include:

working with the Mito Foundation team to develop new information that enhances the knowledge of the mito community on a particular topic
developing new resources for health professionals that could be added to Mito Foundation's existing resources
leading or contributing to Mito Foundation advisory groups to support specific projects
resource development and information sharing e.g. via a webinar or team education session
connections to industry groups or networks to broaden the number of health professionals in the discipline who understand mito and are available for people with mito.

Please contact us to discuss potential partnership activities before submitting your application at grants@mito.org.au.

Reporting

Clinical fellows will need to demonstrate satisfactory progress on the fellowship via progress reports. A final report upon completion of the fellowship will need to demonstrate that the original aims of the fellowship were achieved.

Report templates

Selection process

All applications are reviewed by the Mito Foundation Clinical and Scientific Review Panel, a panel made up of experts from Australia and overseas. They are recognised for their contributions to research and health care for mito. Applications are also assessed by the Mito Foundation Strategic Alignment Review Panel, which includes mito community members. If the panels approve the application, it is progressed to the Mito Foundation Board of Directors for final approval.

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

Contribution to diagnosis, treatment and management of mitochondrial disease
Direct mito community benefit
Quality of fellowship environment
Track record of applicant and clinical supervisor

Mito Foundation reserves the right not to award the fellowship in any given year.

Previous recipients

2024: Dr Serge Geara, Neurologist | Neuroscience Research Australia

2023: Dr Isabelle Adant, Metabolic Fellow | Royal Children’s Hospital

2023: Jeremey Horne, Physiotherapist | Neuroscience Research Australia

2022: Dr David Manser, Neurologist | Royal North Shore Hospital

2021: Dr Carly Oboudiyat, Neurologist | Royal North Shore Hospital

2020: Dr Laura Rudaks, Neurologist | Royal North Shore Hospital

2019: Dr Carolyn Bursle, Paediatrician and clinical geneticist | Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

2019: Dr Bindu Parayil Sankaran, Neurologist | Westmead Children's Hospital

How to apply

To apply for the Mito Foundation Clinical Fellowship please prepare:

Completed Mito Foundation Clinical Fellowship Application Form
Applicant CV (maximum 2 pages)
Clinical supervisor CV (maximum 2 pages)
Letter of support from administering institute

Compile all documents in one PDF document and email to grants@mito.org.au.

Grant applications are closed. Outcomes will be announced in September 2025.

Report templates

Download progress report

Download final report

Please contact grants@mito.org.au if you require additional information regarding your existing grant reporting requirements.

Enquiries

Please email any enquiries to grants@mito.org.au.

Aim

Funding information

Priority areas

Important dates

How to apply

Report templates

Enquiries

1. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor knowledge, and 5 is all the knowledge you feel you need), how would you rate your knowledge?

2. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor confidence and 5 is all the confidence you feel you need), how would you rate your confidence?

3. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor wellbeing, and 5 is what you feel your wellbeing should be), how would you rate your wellbeing?

4. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor access to the services you need, and 5 is you have access to the services you feel you need), how would you rate your access to services:

Clinical Fellowships

Aim

Funding information

Priority areas

Important dates

How to apply

Report templates

Enquiries

Send us feedback about this resource

1. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor knowledge, and 5 is all the knowledge you feel you need), how would you rate your knowledge?

2. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor confidence and 5 is all the confidence you feel you need), how would you rate your confidence?

3. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor wellbeing, and 5 is what you feel your wellbeing should be), how would you rate your wellbeing?

4. On a scale from 0 to 5 (where 0 is very poor access to the services you need, and 5 is you have access to the services you feel you need), how would you rate your access to services: