August 2019 President’s Message

International medical graduates in Wichita create rich diversity

by Michael Lievens, MD

The Wichita community has been richly blessed for many decades by the hard work, intelligence and compassionate care provided by graduates of international medical schools. On Oct. 1 at Botanica, the MSSC general membership meeting will celebrate our IMGs.

Two local restaurants will provide food representing some of the home cultures of our physicians. There also will be a panel discussion in which several physicians share their medical school experiences.

This fun event provides a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about our colleagues and become better connected. And I suspect the food will be delicious! I encourage you to treat yourself to a great evening. Get away from the EHR for a couple hours for some actual human interaction with peers.

It is difficult to contemplate what this community would look like without the presence of immigrant physicians and their families. They are us. We are all one.

There is a lot of political debate in this country about immigration. I don’t pretend to know all the issues, especially at our southern border. But whenever I contemplate immigrant physicians, I can’t comprehend why we would ever wish to make it difficult for such talented, good people to move to the U.S. We are a better, richer, more-interesting country with them here.

MSSC currently has 182 active members who attended medical schools in 39 diff erent countries – 39! And if you include retired MSSC members who are IMGs, the country count increases to 49.