Can IMGs find research opportunities?

[NeuralNetwork]

A friend of mine is an IMG (MD) who was practicing for a couple years in another country, but has now been in the US for the past year and has been studying for/taking board exams. While he does have clinical experience, as well as some research experience from his medical school, he is looking for an opportunity to do volunteer research so that he may enhance his resume for application to residencies.

I was wondering if anyone knows how easy it is for an IMG to obtain a research position (paid or unpaid) and how one would go about doing so. Would the faculty at your school be keen to having a person like my friend cold e-mail them asking for opportunities (not asking specifically about the schools you go to, just wondering in general if that would be a good or bad idea)? Thanks for your help!

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[TAWS]

A friend of mine is an IMG (MD) who was practicing for a couple years in another country, but has now been in the US for the past year and has been studying for/taking board exams. While he does have clinical experience, as well as some research experience from his medical school, he is looking for an opportunity to do volunteer research so that he may enhance his resume for application to residencies.

I was wondering if anyone knows how easy it is for an IMG to obtain a research position (paid or unpaid) and how one would go about doing so. Would the faculty at your school be keen to having a person like my friend cold e-mail them asking for opportunities (not asking specifically about the schools you go to, just wondering in general if that would be a good or bad idea)? Thanks for your help!

It should be easy to get a lab assistant position at a research institution. You might not be able to do your own research right away but its a great starting point to building up connections and you also get paid.

 

[mmmcdowe]

A friend of mine is an IMG (MD) who was practicing for a couple years in another country, but has now been in the US for the past year and has been studying for/taking board exams. While he does have clinical experience, as well as some research experience from his medical school, he is looking for an opportunity to do volunteer research so that he may enhance his resume for application to residencies.

I was wondering if anyone knows how easy it is for an IMG to obtain a research position (paid or unpaid) and how one would go about doing so. Would the faculty at your school be keen to having a person like my friend cold e-mail them asking for opportunities (not asking specifically about the schools you go to, just wondering in general if that would be a good or bad idea)? Thanks for your help!

Free labor is hard to turn down. Email relevant departments/labs directly.

 

[CatFactorial]

When I was a technician I'd routinely get emails from IMGs who wanted to do the same thing. While I wanted to help them out, they invariably were overqualified for the volunteer positions we had (geared toward undergrads).

Your friend will likely eventually get a spot, but it may take quite a few tries.

 

[RedSox10]

I don't see why your friend shouldn't first apply for paid positions. As stated above, he might be overqualified for unpaid positions and based on his experience would be a great asset to any clinician.

If they are willing to pay me and tons of other premeds for research, I dont see why they wouldn't pay an IMG. Tell him to not sell himself short.

 

[CatFactorial]

I don't see why your friend shouldn't first apply for paid positions. As stated above, he might be overqualified for unpaid positions and based on his experience would be a great asset to any clinician.

If they are willing to pay me and tons of other premeds for research, I dont see why they wouldn't pay an IMG. Tell him to not sell himself short.

That's inherently the problem of the IMG. Too qualified for unpaid positions, unfairly perceived as unqualified for paid ones. It'll be tougher than you describe.

 

[Morsetlis]

A friend of mine is an IMG (MD) who was practicing for a couple years in another country, but has now been in the US for the past year and has been studying for/taking board exams. While he does have clinical experience, as well as some research experience from his medical school, he is looking for an opportunity to do volunteer research so that he may enhance his resume for application to residencies.

I was wondering if anyone knows how easy it is for an IMG to obtain a research position (paid or unpaid) and how one would go about doing so. Would the faculty at your school be keen to having a person like my friend cold e-mail them asking for opportunities (not asking specifically about the schools you go to, just wondering in general if that would be a good or bad idea)? Thanks for your help!

It depends on your connections.

SGU has in-house research on cadavers, public health stuff, and some other things I don't know about, on the island.

A lot of people had good connection and research experience / pubs from undergrad. My friend literally "published" 3 papers for doing nothing while attending med school at SGU because of his prior contributions.

However, I wouldn't say that these experiences are typical, and the typical IMG would probably have a hard time finding good, medical research. As for basic science research, I think the opportunities are still the same as in undergrad or after graduation. That is to say, you can either go the official route and send a storm of resumes, or you can make some connections / revive up old connections and get a sweet research job / volunteer job at the local Whatever Institute like I did.

The key here, of course, is to have connections at a local, US University.