Rheumatologists in U.S. on J-1 Visas Face Challenges After Fellowship

After a frantic search for employment in a different country, I was fortunate to be accepted for the position of clinical research fellow at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at Oxford University. Although I won’t be an independent rheumatology practitioner yet, at least this opportunity will allow me to have one rheumatology clinic a week, with the remaining time for undertaking ultrasound-guided synovial biopsy as part of delivering clinical trials relating to rheumatoid arthritis.

The Wider Challenge

I have spoken to many rheumatology fellows also on J-1 visas as alien physicians. We bemoan the limited opportunities in less-than-ideal geographic regions available to us after fellowship, but we recognize that we knowingly signed up to be alien physicians. The process of obtaining a visa waiver is an uncertain and anxious one. Some of us have secured plans to return to our home countries and face having to explain to medical licensing authorities what training in the U.S. as a rheumatologist involves.

Like my fellow extraterrestrials, it is time to go home.

Shing Law, BM, BCh, is a second-year rheumatology fellow at Boston University Medical Center. Outside of work, he is head coxswain at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rowing Club and is social event organ­izer for OxCam10, an alumni group for recent graduates of Oxford University and Cambridge University in Boston.