Congratulations Katrina McGinty, MD, Associate Professor of Abdominal Imaging and Director of Global Radiology. Dr. McGinty was awarded a $20,000 Educational Grant from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Title: Virtual MRI Education in Low Resource Setting
Project Dates: 07/01/2024-06/30/2025
Budget: $20,000
Brief Project Summary:
The World Health Organization estimates that half to two-thirds of the world’s population has no or inadequate access to medical imaging. In addition to equipment shortages in low- and middle- income countries, there are workforces shortages, with an average of 1.9 versus 97.9 radiologists in low-income versus high-income countries. At present, access to radiology training programs in sub-Saharan Africa is severely limited. Only eighteen African countries have well-established diagnostic radiology residency programs and only five countries have programs for fellowship training following residency. These training programs often rely on international partners to support education and training. The University of North Carolina has such a partnership with the newly formed radiology residency in Malawi. With limited MRI scanners and essentially no subspecialty expertise in country, one of the areas of expressed need by the Malawian residency is education in acquisition and interpretation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Over the next two years, it is anticipated that two MRI scanners will be installed at residency training sites in Malawi. During their training, the residents are expected to become expert in both MRI image acquisition and interpretation. To prepare the Malawian residents to integrate MRI into their practice, this project will create a four-year, interactive curriculum administered by fellows and faculty from UNC Radiology with subspecialty expertise. This curriculum will cover practical aspects of MR image acquisition, including protocolling and controlling for image quality and MRI safety. It features interactive, case-based learning with mentored subspecialty review, focusing on anatomy and commonly encountered pathology. The curriculum format allows Malawian residents to simulate clinical reading and reviewing of cases with supportive didactics, while compiling cases from their own country as the curriculum advances. This graduated model will help fill a critical knowledge gap with a goal of self-sustainability at the completion of the four-year period.