Last Updated: 02 October 2026

Awardees

Maria Vittoria Teso

I am a gastroenterology trainee with a clinical and research interest in luminal gastroenterology and clinical nutrition. Thanks to the ESPEN Educational Grant, I undertook a 4-month clinical attachment at the Intestinal Failure Unit of Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester under the supervision of Professor Simon Lal. During my stay, I was involved in inpatient and outpatient activities, gaining direct experience in the management of acute and chronic intestinal failure, home parenteral nutrition and advanced nutritional strategies. I also had the opportunity to experience the multidisciplinary organisation of the Nutrition Support Team and to participate in research activities within the Unit, leading to the presentation of our results at the 47th ESPEN Congress. I am deeply grateful to ESPEN and Professor Lal for this valuable educational opportunity, which broadened my clinical and research perspective and provided me with a model of multidisciplinary care that I hope to apply in my future practice.

Pantelis Papanastasiou

My name is Pantelis Papanastasiou, and I am a Registered Dietitian based in Greece. In October 2025, I undertook a clinical observership at St Mark’s Hospital in London, supported by the ESPEN Educational Grant. During this period, I gained experience in the management of intestinal failure and intestinal rehabilitation through participation in ward rounds and outpatient clinics, with exposure to complex clinical cases and long-term patient care. I learned extensively from the highly experienced multidisciplinary team, as well as from patients themselves, which enhanced my understanding of patient-centred care in this field. The observership also provided important insight into the healthcare environment and clinical pathways within the UK health system. It was a pleasure to work closely with Alison Culkin and Dr Gabe, whose support and expertise greatly enriched the experience. I also had the opportunity to attend the Horizons in Intestinal Failure, Rehabilitation & Home Parenteral Nutrition, 2025 meeting. I felt very welcomed throughout my stay and would strongly encourage other ESPEN members to apply for this rewarding educational opportunity.

Saowaluk Noon Srikajornlarp

My name is Saowaluk Noon Srikajornlarp, a recently graduated geriatrician from Thailand. I have finished my ESPEN training at UZ Leuven in Belgium during 30^th April - 8^th May, 2025. I am grateful for the ESPEN Educational Grant, which provided an invaluable opportunity for a short training at UZ Leuven, Belgium, where I gained significant insights into advanced clinical nutrition practices. My deep gratitude goes to Professor Christophe Matthys and his clinical and research teams for thoughtfully sharing their expertise across various domains. I experienced their practical approach to managing conditions like dysphagia, IBD, and intestinal failure, alongside their detailed patient education strategies in nutrition consultancy. I also valued the crucial role of their integrated care teams within various comprehensive pathways, such as the geriatric wards or bariatric surgery care. The nutritional research team further deepened my understanding of their evidence-based approach, significantly broadening my perspective on patient-centered nutritional care and inspiring me to pursue a research project back at my hospital. I truly hope to foster these meaningful connections with the teams into the future.

Konstantina Nikolakopoulou

My name is Konstantina Nikolakopoulou and I am a Dietitian – Nutritionist in Athens, Greece. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Harokopio University and a Master's degree in Applied Nutrition and Health Promotion, with a specialization in Clinical – Medical Nutrition, from the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Clinical Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Kalliopi Anna (Liana) Poulia.

As an awardee of the ESPEN Educational Grant, I had the opportunity to participate in a three-week clinical observership programme at the Intestinal Failure Unit of the Northern Care Alliance, Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. During my stay, I observed the nutritional care of patients with intestinal failure, including screening, assessment, and various therapeutic interventions such as enteral and parenteral nutrition, distal feeding and chyme reinfusion therapy. This was an incredibly enriching experience, especially thanks to Consultant Dietitian Kirstine Farrer and Lead Nurse Cathy Cawley, who helped me understand the vital role of the multidisciplinary team in the management of complex clinical cases.

I am deeply grateful to ESPEN for providing me with this invaluable educational opportunity!

Alona Mikitina

My name is Alona Mikitina, and I am a dietitian from Riga, Latvia, currently working at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital. I am the Vice Chair of the Latvian Association of Dietetics and Nutrition and a member of the Latvian Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (LaSPEN) and ESPEN.

I had the opportunity to complete a Clinical attachment on the Intestinal Failure Unit at Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, closely observing the work of a highly skilled multidisciplinary team. I am grateful to the entire welcoming and supportive staff, and I would like to express special thanks to Kirstine Farrer, Fiona Mitchell, and Cathy Cawley for their guidance and support throughout my stay. I am sincerely grateful to ESPEN for making this valuable opportunity possible.

This Observership provided a comprehensive insight into both the clinical and organizational aspects of managing intestinal failure. I participated in ward and board rounds, supra-regional MDT meetings, and quality improvement discussions.

I observed the development of individualized parenteral nutrition regimens, fluid and electrolyte management, distal enteral tube feeding, chyme replacement therapy and line care. Additionally, I had the opportunity to take part in pharmacy discussions, complex case reviews, and nutrition consultations for both inpatients and outpatients.

This experience has significantly deepened my understanding of intestinal failure and home parenteral nutrition (HPN), and it will meaningfully contribute to both my clinical practice and continued professional development.

Feyzanur EKSI Feyzanur Ekşi

I am Feyzanur Ekşi. I have been a dietitian with a master's degree at Marmara University Education and Research Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey for 6 years. I have been dealing with oncology patients in particular. I am an active member of the Turkish Clinical Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition Society and ESPEN. I regularly follow the events and take part in the activities. I won the ESPEN education scholarship and had a great opportunity for my development. I worked with the oncology team as a guest researcher at the Slovenia/Ljubljana Oncology Institute. Observing the evaluation of oncology patients with a different discipline in a different country allowed me to create new perspectives. I had the opportunity to evaluate the approach to oncology patients during the visits made with the multidisciplinary team here. The doctors and dietitians here are very eager to share information with you. This training has been beneficial for me to develop projects, create innovative approaches and establish collaborations in my own center. I am very grateful to the ESPEN committee for providing such a valuable touch in my career.

Federica SEBASTIANI Ariadna del Carmen Díaz Torrese

My name is Ariadna del Carmen Díaz Torres. I am a clinical nutritionist at the medical Center “Lic. Adolfo López Mateos” in the city of Toluca in Mexico. I am a professor of Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition at UAEMex. Member of the Mexican college of clinical nutrition enteral and parenteral nutritional therapy in Mexico. I am very pleased and proud to have been part of the ESPEN Educational grant.

Having rotated at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón (ESPEN training) allowed me to meet experts in clinical nutrition, update my professional practice and have the experience of doing what I love in a different country.

Getting to know new nutritional assessment practices, getting involved in the hospital processes and having the chance to interact with the patients was the most rewarding experience for me as a health professional.

I am proud to be able to contribute in my professional development to the recovery and health of the patients.

I finish my stay happy and full of satisfaction. Thanks to Dr. Cristina Cuerda for all her support and trust. To all the endocrinology and nutrition staff and all my colleagues and nutritionists that were involved during my time.

Federica Sebastiani

I assisted the activities of the gastroenterologists of the Pancreas and Clinical Nutrition Clinic (head: Pr. Marianna Arvanitaki) of the Medical Gastroenterology and Digestive Oncology service of Erasme Hospital, Bruxelles (Belgium) (head: Pr. Christophe Moreno) participating in the artificial nutrition consultations for inpatients and outpatients.

I also participated in the activities of doctors and dieticians for the nutritional support of:

patients with pancreatic and gastrointestinal diseases
patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease
oncology patients
nephrology patients
geriatric patients
internal medicine patients
patients with eating disorders
Intensive Care Unit patients.

Finally, I participated in the activities of the Integrated Obesity Center for obese and bariatric patients.

Rana Elcin SEZER Rana Elçin

My name is Rana Elçin Sezer and I am a nurse who graduated from the from Hacettepe University Nursing Faculty. I completed Master of Science and Ph.D in the Surgical Nursing Department at Hacettepe University Institute of Health Sciences. I am a member of The Turkish Society of Clinical Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition. I continue my academic studies in this field with patients receiving nutritional support, their caregivers and nurses. I was awarded ESPEN Educational Grant and who has been in University of Lorraine CHRU Hospital, Transversal Unit of Nutrition for 4 monhts as a visiting researcher. My supervisor Prof. Didier Quilliot and my competent nutrition nurse Clemence Mercier the rest of the team, nurses, dietitians, doctors. The team is eager to impart all of their knowledge on clinical nutrition to you. I learned the special techniques for nutritional care and nutritional assessment, and also participated in the clinical visits and collaborated on research projects. This training also gave me an innovative and developer approach in planning new nutritional research projects at my own center. I am very grateful to ESPEN for giving me this opportunity.

Phahol Sarojvisut

I am a second-year clinical nutrition physician fellow from Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. I come from the largest center of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) in Thailand. Due to our recent initiation, the HPN system is still in development. I received the fantastic opportunity through the ESPEN educational grant to participate in a clinical attachment program in the Intestinal Failure Unit at Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester. This referral center deals with complicated cases of intestinal failure and has a robust home parenteral system. During my month-long stay, I had the opportunity to observe how they manage patients in their specialized unit, their approach to patients with intestinal failure both enteral and parenteral-wise. I also had the opportunity to visit patient at home who were on parenteral nutrition support and learn about their system, including remote discharge in cooperation with nearby oncology hospital. I observed a lot of cooperation among multidisciplinary doctor, dietitian, nurses, pharmacist, outsourced home parenteral services, multi-center approach to intestinal failure patients, nutrition support team, aseptic unit and many more. This opened up a whole new world to me, and I am very grateful for this opportunity. I will bring what I have learned to develop a better system and treat patients more efficiently.

Maria Vithória Cordeiro

My name is Maria Vithória Cordeiro and I am a registered dietitian in Brazil, graduated by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná and especializated in Elderly’s Health.

I received the ESPEN Educational Grant and had the amazing opportunity to spent 3 months at the Cliniques universitaires de Bruxelles - Hôpital Érasme in 2023 in the Gastroenterology Unit, especially with the Nutritional Terapy team but I was also able to learn with the ICU Unit and Geriatrics Department of the hospital. Being surround of such great references in my area was professional and personal inspiring. I was able to see the practical approach of the ESPEN’s guideline and had great discussions about them, especially in pancreatitis, parenteral and enteral nutritional, short bowel syndrome/intestinal failure and ICU. During my training I also participate as the only Brazilian to the ESPEN ICU Expert Course in Brussels at that time, went to the 15th ACCN Course of Clinical Nutrition and participated to the 11th Annual Salford ESPEN-endorsed Workshop on Acute and Chronic Intestinal Failure.

I am very grateful for the opportunity of professional development that ESPEN provides to me.

Roxana-Elena Călescu

My name is Roxana-Elena Călescu and I am a Registered Dietitian in Romania, Bucharest. I have a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, plus two masters in the field of nutrition and food safety. My experience is based on clinical nutrition and practice in oncology, with a specific focus in malnutrition management.
With the help of the ESPEN Educational Grant, I had a wonderful 3 months training at the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece. I would highly recommend this center, my supervisor Dr. Dimitrios Karayiannis and the rest of the team, dietitians, doctors and nurses. The personnel is very well trained and willing to teach you everything you have to know about clinical nutrition. As a result, I consider I have filled my gaps and updated my knowledge with the latest guidelines, plus very good discussions of the clinical cases in the departaments of internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, hematology, nefrology, diabetology, surgery, intensive care unit and psychiatry.
I am more than thankful to ESPEN for this amazing experience that marked an important period in my professional life!

Magdalena Engler

My name is Magdalena Engler, and I am a dietitian who graduated from the Medical University of Gdansk. I am a member of The Polish Society for Parenteral, Enteral Nutrition and Metabolism (POLSPEN).
With the support of the ESPEN Educational Grant, I had an opportunity to undergo training at the University Hospital Zagreb in Croatia. I worked with a team managed by Professor Željko Krznarić, and I expanded my knowledge in the fields of nutrition & gastroenterology. I gained practical skills with a particular focus on enteral, parenteral nutrition and nutritional management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Furthermore, I was able to observe different diagnostic procedures for gastrointestinal disorders.
In addition, I completed the Summer School of Clinical Nutrition and Diet Therapy which took place in Zagreb. I participated in lectures and workshops given by experts from countries such as Croatia, Italy and the United Kingdom.
I am grateful to ESPEN for giving me a chance to broaden my horizons and gain new perspectives in clinical nutrition.

Aleksandra Mechlińska

My name is Aleksandra Mechlińska and I am a member of the Polish Association of Dietitians. I have attained a Bachelor’s degree at the Medical University of Warsaw and a Master’s degree in dietetics at the Gdańsk Medical University.
I was selected for ESPEN Educational Grant and I was fortunate to undergo a nutritional training at the Cliniques universitaires de Bruxelles - Hôpital Érasme in 2022 in the Gastroenterology Unit and Obesity Clinic. I was able to deepen my theoretical and practical knowledge on enteral and parental nutrition. I learned about nutritional care of the patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis, short bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. I acquired experience in the care of the patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Furthermore, I was able to experience the importance of a multidisciplinary team in the clinical practice.
I am very grateful to ESPEN for giving me this amazing opportunity, which has allowed me to improve my clinical skills as a dietitian.

Rosalba Maya

My name is Rosalba Maya, I'm a Dietitian with post degree on clinical nutrition, experience in different Mexican hospitals working on hospital nutrition and nutritional support.
Active member of ESPEN, ASPEN and Mexican PEN Society.
I'm currently working at the Hospital Español in Mexico City since 2019.
I had the opportunity to do my training at the Stanley Dudrick Memorial Hospital in Skawina, Poland. I was able to acquire practical and updated knowledge about the handling of patients with hospital nutritional support, oncological patients and intestinal failure patients.
It was a fulfilling experience to my professional path since I was guided by a team of experts in the matter.
I'm grateful with the opportunity I was given because now my clinical criteria and professional skills have been increased.

Virginia Duran Muñoz-Curzado

I am Virginia Duran Muñoz-Curzado (MD, PhD), General Surgeon specielist working in the Emergency Surgery Unit of the General Surgery and Digestive Surgery Division in the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital (Seville, Spain).
From my first years of training to general surgery, I have shown my growing interest in the management of complex abdominal situations associated with intestinal failure such as catastrophic abdomen and enteroatmospheric fistula, participating directly in the care and treatment of these patients. Since January 2021 our unit has been named as a Reference Regional Unit for the care of catastrophic abdomen and enteroatmospheric fistula in Andalucía. I have actively participated in the generation of knowledge about it with the publication of an article related to a closure system of complex abdomens with large abdominal defects and generating a patent on a device for the local control of intestinal effluvium in the management of enteroatmospheric fistulae of which we have also published our first results.
It was very interesting to complement and expand my training during three month in the Intestinal Failure Unit of the Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester. This Center use to perform complex bowel and abdominal wall reconstructions in patients with type II intestinal failure carrying out a number of annual interventions between 60-100. This educational stay has allowed me learn how these complex patients are managed in other hospitals, how is organized a specific Intestinal Failure Unit and what are its scientific projects.

Dizdar Oguzhan

I am medical doctor and internal medicine specialist in Department of Internal Medicine at University of Health Sciences Kayseri City Training and Research Hospital, Turkey. Furthermore, I am a PhD student in Medical Biology Department at Erciyes University Medical School. I've been the chief of the clinical nutrition unit of our hospital for 3 years. My research focuses on nutrition, especially in renal and liver disease, micronutrients, diabetes mellitus and obesity. I am an active member of Turkish national PEN society and participate in many national PEN society activities. I am also an ESPEN member and I have a Certificate of Teach the Teachers for Life Long Learning (T-LLL) programme of ESPEN.

I was selected for the ESPEN Educational Grant in 2021. I worked in Geneva University Hospital Clinical Nutrition Unit with this grant for 6 months. In this training, I learned the special techniques for nutritional assessment, participated in the clinical visits and the follow-up of patients with nutritional issues, and collaborated on research projects. I became familiar with providing a specialized nutritional management in various patient populations and disease states. This training in this experienced center has also given me an innovative approach in planning new nutritional research projects at my own center.

Konstantina Morogianni

My name is Konstantina Morogianni and I am a Registered Dietitian graduate of Harokopio University of Athens and postgraduate student in Food Nutrition and Microbiome at the Department of Medicine of the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. My experience as an undergraduate intern, supervised by Dr. Liana Poulia, at "Laiko" General Hospital of Athens, made me realize the essentiality of optimal nutritional care for ameliorating patients’ quality of life.

I applied for the ESPEN Educational training programme in order to deepen my knowledge and skills in clinical nutrition. As an awardee of the ESPEN Educational grant, I worked under the auspices of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Evaggelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece, for three months. I participated in the nutrition care process for inpatients hospitalized in a wide variety of the Hospital's departments. I am grateful that I had the chance to be part of a team of highly experienced professionals, managed by Dr. Karayiannis. The whole experience was extremely rewarding and insightful for me. I am thankful for this educational opportunity offered by ESPEN!

Julie Mareschal

Dietician by training, I have been working since September 2013 for the Clinical Nutrition Unit at Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. I have experience in clinical nutrition and clinical research with a particular interest in malnutrition management.

With the support of the ESPEN Educational Grant, I performed a 4-month training at the Lennard-Jones Intestinal Rehabilitation Unit, St Mark’s Hospital, UK. As a result, I gained expertise in the nutritional management of patients with intestinal failure and inflammatory bowel disease, especially in the field of parenteral nutrition. I also had the opportunity to help the nutritional team implement bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in clinical practice.
I am very grateful to ESPEN for giving me this opportunity to support the development of my career track in clinical nutrition!