Despite its clinical relevance, many medical students graduate with a limited understanding of interventional radiology (IR)’s scope, indications, and procedural principles. Islam Elhelf, MBCHB, an associate professor and program director of IR/diagnostic radiology residency from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, is working to change that. A little more than a year ago, he launched IR Pathway— an open-source educational platform aimed at teaching IR to medical students, residents, fellows, and early career interventional radiologists in an easy, structured, and practical way.
Elhelf was trained in Egypt, and “when I came to the United States, I realized there are lots of chances and opportunities that are available here that are not available to many trainees in other parts of the world,” he says. He wanted to level the playing field while also drawing on his own knowledge of IR education, which meant he originally focused on Arabic-speaking countries.
“There is no official fellowship program in IR in many countries in the Middle East and Africa,” Elhelf says. “It’s basically, if you are interested in IR, you start as a diagnostic radiology resident, and then you find your way there. Resources are very rare.”
Elhelf started posting videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com/@ IRPathway) in Arabic with English subtitles because his main goal was to reach the Middle East, but he received numerous requests to post videos in English, as well.
“It seems like [the lack of IR education resources] is a problem in other parts of the world, too,” he says. “I wanted to have this friendly resource that can be used by medical students or residents or whoever is interested, wherever they live.”
According to viewing data, most of Elhelf’s followers come from Egypt, with the United States in second place, then Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya, Germany, and England. He continues to refine his videos and topics based on feedback from viewers. Now, the videos have an illustration section with animation to simplify concepts such as the Seldinger technique and gaining soft tissue access. A medical student from Egypt volunteered her time to create the animations, and another medical student volunteered to create notes for the YouTube videos that have been turned into a “flipbook.” The flipbook is an accompaniment and not meant to be a textbook.
Elhelf doesn’t want to create a textbook because numerous textbooks already exist. “I think there are enough textbooks out there, so I don’t think I’m adding anything as a textbook,” he says. Rather, he’s interested in the simpler, basic concepts, such as what students can expect on the first day of their IR rotation. “It’s basically like a one-to-one tutorial of what we do with residents and how we teach them IR,” he says.
That also means he shows how to use the IR tools step by step. “Having this on camera, I think, makes people very comfortable when they go into the IR room,” Elhelf says. “Under the camera, I open the tool kits and show students the different components. I explain what each tool is used for and demonstrate how we use them in practice.”
Audience Engagement
Elhelf’s primary concern is connecting with his audience, and that means taking into account economic factors, meaning many of the students will do basic, low-cost procedures rather than high-end interventions. “We try to balance things, but I think this way of doing it makes sure IR Pathway is connected to the audience,” he says.
There are basic tutorials, but IR Pathway also has case studies and quizzes. The case studies come from Elhelf’s work and personal archive. And the quizzes test concepts in the videos, with a reference to which episode the material comes from. He uses these resources to create an IR curriculum for people who don’t have a curriculum.
“It could be easily used in parts of the world that do not have access to relevant educational resources,” he says. “Even in the United States, there are some places that do not have an IR curriculum.”
In addition to a YouTube presence, IR Pathway also has Facebook, Instagram, and X pages where Elhelf posts CME courses, scholarship information, and more. Regarding scholarship information, he likes to mentor people when he can and support them in applying. So far, he’s helped several people land scholarships to attend prestigious scholarships in the US and Canada, such as the Society of Interventional Radiology annual meeting.
IR Pathway is completely volunteer- run and free because Elhelf wants to keep it accessible. “I think if I put any subscriptions on it, that will limit the spread of IR Pathway,” he says. “But in the future, maybe if we come to the point where we have specialized courses or workshops, this could be something that can be done for a fee. For now, I keep everything open and accessible.”
He admits that keeping it free and volunteer-run is a lot of work. Elhelf is open to more collaboration with other people, but for now, he’s doing the video editing and recording by himself, which doesn’t come naturally to him. “I have to learn all these things, so it takes a lot to get one episode out,” he says. “From the script writing, and then the recording, and the editing, it can take one and a half months.”
Despite the slower pace, IR Pathway is gaining traction. Selected episodes have appeared on Vumedi, a video education platform for doctors with more than 450,000 users. “So far, the feedback from them is pretty good,” he says.
On YouTube, user @ahmadashraf2939 wrote, “Amazing, great effort! Waiting for the next lesson.” User @Empty_73 wrote, “I’m in my final year of medical school. God willing, I’ll specialize in IR. Thank you, Doctor, for the valuable information.”
In the next year, Elhelf wants more recognition for IR Pathway. “I am trying not to go into the commercial part,” he says. “I just want to get some recognition from societies and from medical organizations so that this could be used as a trusted source for education.”
Rebekah Moan is a freelance journalist and ghostwriter based in Oakland. Her specialties are health care and profiles.