This action was submitted through the GFMD Mayors Mechanism Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees.
In a direct effort to address racial and economic disparities in the healthcare field, this pilot program placed 10 talented, diverse, and multilingual professionals with local hospitals for a three-month paid fellowship. Foreign-trained professionals face various challenges to work in healthcare in the United States. Many have previous education and experience in their home countries, however, due to regulatory and degree validation barriers and lack of US work experience, they are unable to work in their same careers here. Often these individuals are unemployed or underemployed. The longer they work in unrelated industries, the more difficult it becomes for them to break into the US healthcare industry.
At the same time, the healthcare industry needs the skills and diversity of immigrant professionals to reduce racial disparities and improve care. In Boston, the healthcare industry has shown active interest in improving their workforce's ability to respond to the multicultural needs of its growing diverse patient population. Attracting highly qualified immigrant candidates with healthcare experience who can not only bring their training and knowledge, but also their cultural and linguistic competencies will improve the world class standard of care for which Boston is renowned.