Dr. Islam Ahmed Shehata

            Dr. Islam Ahmed Shehata is an Assistant Lecturer of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Cairo University, Egypt. Dr. Shehata earned his M.B.B.Ch. from the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University in 2004. In April 2006, he joined a Radiology residency at Cairo University. During his residency, he had the chance to pursue a Masters Degree of Radiology. He then decided to explore high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) as his research topic for his Masters Degree. In 2010, he traveled to China where he received clinical training on HIFU at the Chongqing Medical University. He then returned back to Egypt and wrote his research on the role of HIFU for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

            In March 2010, Dr. Shehata was appointed as a Clinical Demonstrator of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Cairo University. He then promoted to an Assistant Lecturer in March 2011. By that time, Dr. Shehata had taken the decision to pursue a career in HIFU, and decided to further investigate HIFU as his research topic towards his Doctorate degree in Radiology. This time, Dr. Shehata choose to travel to the other side of the world: The United States. In August 2011, he joined the research team led by Prof. Emad Ebbini at the University of Minnesota. Over a period of two years, Dr. Shehata had a unique opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary research team, including Interventional Radiologists and Electrical Engineers, to develop potential new medical applications of HIFU.

            Dr. Shehata worked with the team at Minnesota to introduce a new medical application of HIFU for ablation of atherosclerotic plaques in-vivo. In addition to this novel vascular application, he worked on research projects related to the field Oncology. The research team validated ablation strategies to reduce the ablation time by more than a half, overcoming one of the main limitations of HIFU. He participated also in research for targeted drug delivery. In addition, he had the passion to work on innovative ideas of his own. He successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using HIFU for a potential treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome, the most common cause of infertility among females. This research work was awarded the Young Investigator Award at the STM 2013 meeting in Aruba.

            Dr. Shehata is the author of several published articles in high impact journals in the field of Radiology. Currently, he has publications in press or under review for publication in prestigious journals in the fields of Interventional Radiology, Surgery and Gynecology. He won the 2013 Cairo University International Publication Award in recognition of his publications and research efforts. He presented in front of the most influential conferences in the fields of Interventional Radiology, thermal medicine and therapeutic ultrasound. He is also a member of several local and  international societies, and a reviewer for a number of medical journals.