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. 2023 Feb;75(2):145-148.
doi: 10.1002/art.42373. Epub 2022 Dec 15.

Supporting International Medical Graduates in Rheumatology: A Call to Action

Ruth Fernandez-Ruiz  1 , Alí Duarte-García  2 , Noelle A Rolle  3 , Sebastian E Sattui  4 , Didem Saygin  4 , Sharon Dowell  5 , Swetha A Alexander  6 , Bharat Kumar  7 , Maria I Danila  8 , Namrata Singh  9
Affiliations

Supporting International Medical Graduates in Rheumatology: A Call to Action

Ruth Fernandez-Ruiz et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2023 Feb.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures (COI) and Funding:

RFR: No COI. Dr. Fernandez-Ruiz is supported by the Lupus Research Alliance Postdoctoral Award to support diversity in lupus research outside of the submitted work.

ADG: No COI. In the past three years, Dr. Duarte-Garcia has received unrelated grant funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Rheumatology Research Foundation Career Development Award, and Mayo Clinic.

NAR: No COI.

SES: No COI. Dr. Sattui has received research support from AstraZeneca, and funding from Rheumatology Research Foundation RISE Pilot Award and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Winn Career Development Award outside of the submitted work.

DS: No COI.

SD: No COI. Grant support from BMS and Pfizer, Speakers Bureau- Aurinia, Horizon Pharma outside of the submitted work.

SAA: No COI.

BK: No COI. Grant support from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine outside of the submitted work.

MID: Grant support from the National Institutes of Health, Rheumatology Research Foundation, Pfizer Inc., Horizon, and Allena outside the submitted work. MID served as consultant for UCB and Amgen outside the submitted work.

NS: No COI. Dr. Singh is supported by the National Institute Of Arthritis And Musculoskeletal And Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AR079588 and the Investigator Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation outside of the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The “Leaky” pipeline of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in academic rheumatology, challenges faced, and potential strategies to overcome barriers. International medical graduates (IMGs) face various challenges along their academic trajectories in the United States, from application to residency to career advancement in academic medicine. Early on, these barriers are related to visa requirements, biases in the process of reviewing their applications, and fewer interactions with US physicians, including rheumatologists, as IMGs have limited opportunities for clinical rotations in the US before residency and often complete residency training in community programs or small University-affiliated medical centers without their own rheumatology divisions or with limited access to research opportunities. IMGs on visas are also faced with limited funding options, which may impact their career development as physician-scientists or clinician educators. Certain commonly used training visas require rheumatology graduates to either return to their home country for two years or limit their job search to underserved areas, non-academic settings, or job options with limited opportunities to advance their academic careers. However, there are multiple potential solutions to address these barriers at different levels, including better education of rheumatology leadership, promoting a focus on transparency and holistic review of residency and fellowship applications, and advocacy efforts to facilitate paths to visa sponsorship, pathways to citizenship, and expand grant funding eligibility. * For J-1 physicians only. IMG, International Medical Graduates; LoR, Letter of Recommendation; US, United States.
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References

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