A new global fellowship is bringing physicians to London, Ont. for advanced stroke training, with the goal of expanding access to specialized care in under-served regions around the world.
Dr. Gabriel Mantovani arrived at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in 2025 as one of the World Stroke Organization’s (WSO) inaugural International Neurointerventional Fellows. The program trains stroke specialists from under-served regions and equips them with the knowledge and experience to expand access to life-saving care at home.
For Mantovani, the opportunity is deeply personal. Trained in neurology and stroke care in Brazil, he has seen how geography and resources can determine patient outcomes. In many regions outside major urban centres, specialized stroke care, like thrombolytic therapies and endovascular treatments, remain unavailable.
“Stroke care around the world is very unequal,” he said. “In many countries, patients simply don’t have access to treatments that can save lives or prevent disability.”
By pairing world-leading training centres with talented physicians from these regions, the WSO fellowship aims to close that gap.
“The program is all about access and innovation,” he said. “Stroke treatment is the core of our work, but there are many other conditions we can treat with interventional techniques that haven’t fully reached Brazil yet.”
He also envisions building long-term academic and clinical partnerships between Brazil and Canada by creating opportunities for future trainees to learn at institutions like Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and LHSC.
Bridging the gap through education
The Charles Drake Clinical Fellowship in Neurovascular Therapy at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry was selected by the WSO as a host program for its new international fellowship, delivered in partnership with LHSC and supported by London Health Sciences Foundation. Through the fellowship, Mantovani has trained in a dramatically different clinical environment than where he began his education, gaining experience in a high-volume, highly integrated stroke centre serving patients from across the region. Under the leadership of Dr. Sachin Pandey and fellowship co-directors, Drs. Mel Boulton and Michael Mayich, the fellowship program brings together six interventional neuroradiologists, each with different training backgrounds and approaches, to offer exposure to multiple perspectives and techniques. Combined with advanced imaging technology and a coordinated regional stroke network, the environment provides an exceptional learning experience. “Being in a centre like this, where hundreds of complex procedures are done every year, completely changes your perspective,” Mantovani said. “You not only learn how to conduct the procedures, but how to think about the disease, the system, and the patient in many different ways.”Bringing knowledge home
When Mantovani completes the fellowship, he plans to return to Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he hopes to expand access to life-saving neurovascular procedures and introduce interventional techniques that are not yet widely available.Dr. Gabriel Mantovani (left) with Dr. Sachin Pandey (right) (London Health Sciences Centre)
