The IMG Roadmap Podcast

Are you interested in taking your IMG journey to the next level? The IMG Roadmap Course is back again to help you reach your full potential! In this episode, you will learn the details about the upcoming IMG Roadmap Course hosted by Dr. Lum. It is carded to begin on April 5th 2021 and seats are getting filled already!  To get answers to your frequently asked questions, read this article here:...

What if you had dreamt of being a surgeon, but somewhere along your medical journey your passions and interests changed? Dr. Morakinyo represents a very important part of many of our lives - the reality that things may not always go according to plan and the fact that we always have the power to make the best of every situation. Keep listening to find out how this IMG navigated SOAP and landed his...

Nigerian-born family medicine physician Dr. Ayo Omole proves to us that having a distinct plan, learning from one's mistakes and being adaptable are the keys to success. Keep listening to learn more about how his unique medical journey started in the Ukraine and continues as he practices in California! Admittedly never the "best" student, Dr. Ayo never gave up throughout his medical school journey...

Serving as a family medicine physician with a sports medicine specialty, and as a successful entrepreneur, Cameroonian-American Dr. George Tabi proves that IMGs can do it all! Born and raised in New York City to Cameroonian parents, Dr. Tabi grew up seeing the challenges that the people in his area faced. After his father moved back to Cameroon because of work, he witnessed his mother working hard...

Dr. Ima Ebong is a native of the Bahamas who is practicing on a J-1 visa.  Though she went to medical school in the US, that process wasn't straightforward as she was still considered an IMG. Listen to her perspective on getting into US medical training as an international student. You can read more about her here . Dr. Ima Ebong forms part of the expert team at the Kentucky Neuroscience Inst...

Though is well known that it can be especially challenging for an IMG to land a residency position in orthopedic surgery, Dr. Adrian Huang defied the odds which seemed to be stacked against him, and still manages to serve with a smile today. He joins us on this episode to tell us exactly how he did it! After completing his undergraduate degree, Canadian-born Dr. Adrian decided to diversify his app...

Interested in landing the residency of your dreams despite being a non-traditional IMG? Dr. Eva Beaulieu is not only dedicated to saving lives, but is also determined to inspire, lead and guide prospective doctors all over the world to achieve their goals.  Tune in this week to hear more about her unique journey and to nab some of her priceless inspirational gems, some of which were published...

Have you ever considered becoming an ENT resident?  In this week’s episode, Dr. Noor Sajjadi, a newly minted intern in the highly competitive field of otolaryngology and a non-traditional US-IMG, inspires us with her story of resilience, dedication and most importantly, intentionality. Having been born and raised in the United States, Dr. Noor, despite being three months into her undergraduat...

This week’s show features the dynamic Dr. Sarpoma Sefa-Boakye, a family medicine physician from the US, with Ghanian roots. Dr. Sarpoma attended the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana,Cuba. Contrary to popular belief, it was always her dream to attend an international medical school, despite her being a US citizen. From a young age, she was passionate about international art and cu...

This week’s show is an interview with Dr. Ash Soni, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon from the UK. Dr. Soni attended Imperial Medical School in London. While in school he began electives in the US to get a feel for whether he would pursue residency in the US. He started with a match into a research fellowship at Cornel leading to a match into general surgery at Johns Hopkins. His time in the US...

You can still do the things you did not get done in 2020. But in order to do those, you need a plan, a roadmap and a vision. In this episode, I help you make this your best year yet with vision planning.  The 4 components of vision planning : - With vision planning, begin by reassessing failed plans from the last year - Ask introspective questions to determine root causes - Writing helps crea...

This week’s podcast is an interview with Dr. Wafa Qulikhan. Dr. Qulikhan is an IMG from Saudi Arabia who attended medical school in China. After graduation in 2016, she came to the United States with the intentions of applying to residency. Instead she found herself in an observership in family medicine doing standard tasks and documentation. This led her into the world of clinical research as a r...

What if you could sign into a portal and be immediately redirected to browse clinicians and hospitals willing to have you rotate with them? A system where you are in control of picking whom and where to go to enrich your CV? Well, there is another IMG out there who has created a platform like this to help other international medical students find rotations. Oh, do not be alarmed, even graduates ca...

I remember being evicted from my first apartment in Lexington, Kentucky. With no credit as a non-US IMG, I subleased an apartment from a friend… Sounded like a good idea at first, right? Talk about shame ... Well, money problems happen to all of us, but as IMG’s, finding funding for personal expenses is almost unheard of. So today on the podcast I introduce to you a PHYSICIAN LOAN for physicians b...

Do you ever feel like becoming a surgeon is impossible just because you went to a Caribbean medical school? Or maybe that your need for visa sponsorship for residency makes it unheard of? If you have any desire to become a surgeon ... then listen on. Dr. Okoye is à Canadian- American who graduated from Ross University. She categorizes herself as a student who struggled through undergraduate educat...

On this episode of IMG Roadmap, Dr. Jessica shares with us her journey to becoming a neurology specialist. Despite the common misconceptions, neurology is actually an IMG friendly specialty with a broad spectrum of fellowship opportunities available. For Jessica, her interest in neurology began before she ever made it to medical school. Through her graduate degree Jessica participated in research...

In this episode, I interview Chase Di Marco an international medical graduate with a slightly different yet impressive path. He is still in the process of seeking out the residency position for himself, but in the process he has created resources for others who have faced similar challenges like him. Chase has a background in educational psychology and he used his challenges with taking the USMLE...

Join me this week as we hear from Dr. Chinenye Onyemaechi. Dr. Chi is a board-certified psychiatrist. She earned her medical degree from the University of Sint Eustatius SOM in 2013 and completed training in both general and forensic psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical Center/Sheppard Pratt Health System. She is an avid solo traveler and adventurer, who merges her career in medicine w...

In this episode of the IMG Roadmap podcast, I speak with Dr. Joanna Schirtz, an IMG who specializes in Pediatric GI care. Dr. Schirtz shares with us her experience as a US IMG and the importance of building intentional relationships throughout every stage of her journey. Regardless of experiences or the pathway of your journey, there are some valuable takeaways from my conversation with Joanna to...

This doctor matched with only one interview! I know... interview season is upon us and many IMG's are worried about making a good impression. Some are concerned about the chances of even getting invited. Others are worried about how many programs to apply into? What if you have a visa? Today's episode, Dr. Nwaobi takes the time out to address some of these concerns. He also shares: - How he took a...

Today's podcast is a replay of the webinar I did with Truelearn last week. It was a 3 part series for IMG's with the final presentation focusing on frequently asked questions regarding residency application season. Listen to the entire webinar for more! You can catch the entire three part series on my blog: https://www.drninalum.com/the-encouraging-doc/truelearn

Is general surgery friendly to IMG’s? Let us look at some data. In 2020: US IMGs took up 98 categorical surgery positions Non US IMGs took up 80 categorical surgery positions US IMGs took up 82 preliminary surgery positions & Non US IMGs took up 160 preliminary surgery positions From India to China to Florida, today’s guest is a preliminary surgery resident who is now applying for a categorica...

 After getting a 19 on the MCAT... twice,  today's guest went through 2 rounds of rejections from US medical schools.  In the one interview she did get from a US medical school, she was told there was no way she would  pass STEP 1 with her low MCAT score. She was also told that and no school would accept her because she wouldn’t match into residency.  Despite the odds, in...

Being an “OLD IMG” is no longer a valid excuse. If you are still sitting down wondering if you should apply this September. This is for you! Do it. Go ahead and apply but do apply strategy. Today’s guest, applied 9 years after medical school graduation. She graduated in 2009 Yet, she matched in 2019. Failing an exam is no longer an excuse. Being an IMG is no longer an excuse. Being an "old IMG" is...

Building a portfolio that speaks to "clinical interest in the specialty" is extremely important for IMGs! Why? Programs are evaluating all your experiences in addition to your score! Did you know that program directors “proof of clinical interest in the specialty” as a highly determining factor as to who gets invited for interview? This US-IMG graduated from medical school in India in 2018 and mat...