Pediatr Radiol (2015) 45:298–299 DOI 10.1007/s00247-014-3114-x

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Reply to Dr. Walsh regarding curriculum design for pediatric radiology in Ethiopia Kassa Darge & Yocabel Gorfu & Daniel Zewdneh & Diego Jaramillo

Received: 13 June 2014 / Accepted: 2 July 2014 / Published online: 9 August 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Sir, The insightful comments made by Dr. Walsh [1] demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the challenges of undertaking a pediatric radiology fellowship in a country such as Ethiopia. Indeed, a curriculum of pediatric radiology is absolutely necessary to establish a well-founded program and lasting positive changes. To this effect, for the past 2 years we have been working to put together a well-thought-out, well-rounded and feasible pediatric radiology curriculum. Unfortunately, at the time of submission of our short article it was not yet fully ready and consequently we did not discuss it. Now it has been completed and is undergoing a second round of review by the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia for the purpose of formalization of the fellowship program. The development of the pediatric radiology curriculum for the Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, at Addis Ababa University was primarily initiated by two senior faculty members of the department. Drs. Daniel Zewdneh and Yocabel Gorfu committed themselves to undertake further training in pediatric radiology and sought collaboration with the Department of Radiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to create a fellowship program. Thus, with the active participation of CHOP faculty members Drs. Kassa Darge and Marc Keller and the support of the radiologist-in-chief, Dr. Diego Jaramillo, it was possible to produce a 42-page curriculum after multiple revisions. The curriculum has now been made available to the World Federation of Pediatric Imaging (WFPI) and can be fully K. Darge (*) : D. Jaramillo Department of Radiology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA e-mail: [email protected] Y. Gorfu : D. Zewdneh Department of Radiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

accessed on their website at http://www.pedrad.org/associations/ 5364/wfpi/EDUCATION/WorldwideEducationalInitiatives. aspx#Ethiopia. The pediatric radiology curriculum is based on the needs of the country and is geared toward fulfilling these necessities. It is planned to be a 2-year pediatric radiology fellowship incorporating a research component. At least in the coming years the focus would be on training senior consultant radiologists working at the different medical schools in the country and indirectly strengthening the pediatric radiology part of radiology residencies. At the end of the fellowship, a comprehensive examination will be conducted by external international pediatric radiology faculties. The graduates will be awarded a joint certification from CHOP and Addis Ababa University. The 2year duration is important as the local teaching will be carried out by visiting pediatric radiologists, who will be part of the international faculty, and via teleradiology. Furthermore, the research component is regarded as an integral part to advance the subspecialty locally and also to foster the academic path of the participants in their university career. The curriculum contains detailed background information about the country and the institution relevant to the pediatric radiology subspecialty. It also contains comprehensive description of the program including a list of the objectives, the educational content delivery methods, the curriculum module descriptors and intended learning outcomes. One can also find material about admission and graduation requirements and processes. The points of collaboration with CHOP are described, too. As part of our regular pediatric radiology educational program we have made it a point to already initiate some of the programs listed in the curriculum, while awaiting the formalization process by Addis Ababa University to go through. Such a curriculum for pediatric radiology is the first of its kind in Ethiopia. As such, we are prepared to make amendments as we gain more experience with its implementation. We hope that the curriculum will serve reliably as our GPS as we navigate this

Pediatr Radiol (2015) 45:298–299

unconventional and maybe novel type of training in pediatric radiology locally but through international collaborations. Conflicts of interest None

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Reference 1. Walsh K (2014) Curriculum design for pediatric radiology in Ethiopia. Pediatr Radiol. doi: 10.1007/s00247-014-3089-7

Reply to Dr. Walsh regarding curriculum design for pediatric radiology in Ethiopia.

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