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Journeys in Medicine: An ECFMG Blog

Category: Cross-cultural Experience

Author Journeys User4Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, Host Institution, Well-being GrantsTags , , , ,

Building the Map We Wanted to Leave Behind

By Dr. Youmna Faheem

Recipient of the 2025 Intealth Well-being Grant Opportunity: Projects Supporting IMG Physician Wellness

I still remember landing at JFK for the first time: contract signed, residency starting in days. No idea how to get a Social Security number or what a DS-2019 renewal even looked like. I had trained in the United Arab Emirates and matched into a pediatric residency program in the Bronx, a place as far from anything familiar as I could have imagined. I was excited. I was also, quietly, terrified.

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Author Journeys User4Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, Host Institution, Well-being GrantsTags , , , ,

The Wellness Passport: Where Cultures Meet and Hearts Connect

By Dr. Arushee Bhatnagar

Recipient of the 2025 Intealth Well-being Grant Opportunity: Projects Supporting IMG Physician Wellness

When I boarded a flight from India to pursue residency training in the United States, I carried the hopes and aspirations shared by countless other international medical graduates (IMGs). I saw myself growing as a physician within a new healthcare system, while continuing to serve patients with compassion and purpose. I knew the road ahead would not be easy. What I did not fully anticipate was the emotional and practical transition that followed.

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Author Journeys User4Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, Host InstitutionTags , , , ,

Celebrating IMG Well-being Day: Building Belonging in Residency

By Dr. Belinda Kwartemaa Nti

Being an international medical graduate (IMG) is both an honor and a challenge. We carry the richness of our home countries—our languages, traditions, and training—while simultaneously learning to thrive in a completely new environment. Moving to the United States from Ghana for residency was my very first time traveling abroad. The excitement of beginning this new chapter was accompanied by deep uncertainty concerning the new systems, new expectations, and a healthcare structure vastly different from what I had known that I was about to encounter. Beyond the professional transition, there was the emotional weight of leaving family, friends, and everything familiar. Like many IMGs, I arrived with determination and gratitude, but also with moments of quiet self-doubt and homesickness that are rarely spoken about.

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Author Journeys User4Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, My StoryTags , , , ,

Bridging the Cultural Gap to Enhance Patient Care

By Dr. Sushania Pryce

“Out of Many, One People.”

That is the motto of my home country, Jamaica. Growing up, I did not fully understand the phrase; I thought it just meant “many people in one place.” However, as I got older, I started to understand and appreciate the deeper meaning of the phrase: out of many different people from various backgrounds, we are one.

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Author Journeys User4Posted on Categories Clinical Training Experience, Cross-cultural Experience, My Story, Words of WisdomTags , , ,

From Boardrooms to Bedside: An IMG’s Unconventional Path to Emergency Medicine in D.C.

By Dr. Bonaventure Ahaisibwe

If anyone had told me fifteen years ago—fresh out of medical school in Uganda—that I’d one day be starting a U.S. emergency medicine (EM) residency at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., I would have laughed and gone back to revising for my MPH course work. Yet, here I am, rounding on trauma patients, deciphering EKGs, and juggling IV pumps like a seasoned pro (on a good day). My journey here has been anything but linear—and that, perhaps, is its richest blessing.

You see, I didn’t take the traditional highway into U.S. residency. Instead, I came in via the scenic route: a fifteen-year detour through public health, where I built a fulfilling career in global health administration, rising to a senior executive position at an international nonprofit. I navigated policies, programs, partnerships, and plenty of PowerPoint. But life, as it often does, had a few plot twists in store.

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