Medical imaging as a formal medical specialty was established at Addis Ababa University in the ‘90s and therefore a well-founded residency training program existed at AAU when TAAAC-MI began. The Department of Radiology and the Residency Program have been significantly expanding over the past decade. The Department was headed by Dr. Asfaw Atnafu for at least 15 years, followed by Dr. Tequam Debebe and Dr. Tesfaye Kebede, the current radiologist-in-chief in 2019.
TAAAC-Medical Imaging (TAAAC-MI) was formed in 2011 and has since been involved in establishing a formal fellowship program at AAU, resulting in the graduation of the first 6 fellowship-trained radiologists in the history of the country, in the subspecialty of Body Imaging, Cardiothoracic Imaging and Musculoskeletal Radiology. Additionally, TAAAC has been supporting AAU at establishing its own independent Abdominal Imaging Fellowship program which has been running since 2017, resulting in 3 graduating fellows. The University of Toronto contribution is being coordinated by Dr. Korosh Khalili and Dr. Josee Sarrazin. TAAAC Fellowship coordinators for Cardiothoracic Imaging are Dr. Laura Jimenez Juan and Dr. Mini Pakkal. Coordinators for MSK radiology are Dr. Linda Probyn and Dr. Ali Naraghi.
Over 30 TAAAC volunteers (staff radiologists, technologists and ultrasonographers) have made in excess of 50 visits to Ethiopia since 2011, contributing in the success of this program. Importantly, The Department of Medical Imaging at University of Toronto has been supporting this program since the very beginning, starting with the vision of Dr Patrice Bret (former Chair) and the continued leadership of its current chair, Dr Alan Moody.
