'Brain waste' thwarts immigrants' career dreams

[discocrisco01]

NEW YORK (AP) — After finishing medical school in Bogota, Colombia, Maria Anjelica Montenegro did it all — obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency medicine, even surgery. By her estimate, she worked with thousands of patients.

None of that prepared her for the jobs she's had since she moved to the United States: Sales clerk. Babysitter. Medical assistant.

That last one definitely rubbed raw at times.

"I know I was working in my field," the 34-year-old New York resident said. "But that is medical assistant. I'm a doctor."



Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Brain-waste-thwarts-immigrants-career-dreams-1308084.php#ixzz1HjDS91vr

[whistler162]

1. and?????

This has always been the case. Is she doing anything to gain the ability to practice in the US?

http://www.ailc.com/services/residency/PhysWaiver-1.htm

http://www.medzilla.com/allenladd-1.html

[no_hypocrisy]

2. The underutilizatioin of professionals is not limited to immigrants.

I have nine years of college and graduate studies.

I have a certificate to teach.
I am a certified attorney.

But there are no jobs at this time.

My two options in law right now are:
A) Start my own practice and wait a year and then some for a profit,
or
B) Return to working as a paralegal or legal secretary.

[jwirr]

3. I have a friend who is a chemist who worked to help shut down

Chernobyl - she has been having the same problem. She has been working as tutor of the Russian language.

[leveymg]

4. The Foreign Medical Graduate Board exams are killers. Not many pass them.

The AMA designed it that way.