Yale Radiology Global Outreach Program

In collaboration with the Road2IR initiative, Muhimbili University of Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Tanzania, Emory University in Atlanta, and several other partner institutions throughout Africa, Europe, and the Americas, Yale Radiology helped establish the first accredited IR training program in East Africa at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam in 2018.

This program is based on high frequency short term teaching trips, coordinated by Road2IR. This new model for global outreach allows for a high-impact, flexible, and site-specific training model. Every month, we help coordinate deployment of at least one IR teaching team to East Africa. Each team typically consists of 3-5 individuals, including IR faculty, trainees, nurses, and technologists. These teams spend two weeks in East Africa, providing hands-on training for local IR trainees, nurses, and technologists.

Since October 2018, more than ten Road2IR teaching teams have traveled to East Africa per year (for a total of over 60 teams by 2023), resulting in graduation of three or more IR fellows in Tanzania per year (for a total of 13 graduates by 2023). Furthermore, the program has trained several IR nurses and technologists. Yale is among the institutions that contribute the largest number of teaching faculty to this program and is widely considered a leading institution in IR global outreach.

Since 2018, Tanzania has progressed from zero to 11 interventional radiologists. An additional two graduates of the Tanzania training program returned to their homelands Rwanda and Nigeria. Of course, the lack of IR services extends far beyond Tanzania, and includes most of sub-Saharan Africa. Yale, Road2IR, and our other partner institutions are now expanding these efforts to neighboring countries in East Africa. New training programs, following the same model as the Tanzania program have been initiated in Rwanda and Uganda in 2023. Much work remains to be done!

In addition to the many amazing faculty, nurses, technologists, trainees, and medical students that have invested countless hours, weeks, and months of hard work into this program, we rely on grants and donations to finance flights and housing for our volunteers. The need to expand IR services in sub-Saharan Africa is immense. Every dollar counts and we appreciate every contribution!