IMG Masterclass

Dr. Eric Castellucci has a career that spans 40 years of medical practice in the USA, and as an IMG he speaks about his personal path and life experience. He is an example and role model to follow and continues to work full time as a senior attending in Emergency Medicine at my current hospital.

An international medical graduate (IMG), is a physician who has graduated from a medical school outside of the country where he or she intends to practice. The term non-local medical graduate may be similarly used in countries with distinct licensing regions within them.

Generally, the medical school of graduation is one listed in the International Medical Education Directory (IMED) as accredited by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research or the World Health Organization.

Medical schools around the world vary in education standards, curricula, and evaluation methods. Many countries have their own certification program, equivalent to the ECFMG in the United States. The purpose of ECFMG Certification is to assess the readiness of international medical graduates to enter clinical speciality training programs as resident physicians and fellowship programs in the United States.

Dr. Ferney Paez-Olmos in here as a guest on his second episode, he speaks about the current resources available for USMLE / ECFMG preparation and test-taking that he has been using. He will briefly describe in his personal experience the most common and useful options to study and get ready for this process. The large amount of information can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate. We will try to simplify it to make it easy for everyone! – His resources are an option, but not the only way to get it done. We all have different learning styles and study habits, and that is why feedback will be appreciated.

This is part one of two in which Dr. Paez-Olmos is a Medical Doctor from Bucaramanga, Colombia, and graduated from Universidad Industrial de Santander. He will be coming to the show every so often to tell us about his progress with the process of ECFMG certification, licensing and test-taking. We will listen to his evolution and what he has accomplished this far and where to go from now. His experiences, his struggles, his financial commitments and family sacrifices are one of many examples in which Foreign and International Medical Graduates must face on a regular basis.

Dr. Alonso J. Osorio-Giraldo, M.D. was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia. He has been in medical practice now for 18.5 successful years.  He is a graduate of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, and immigrated to the USA more than 18 years ago with the dream of becoming a physician trained in North America.

Initially, he trained at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Family Medicine from 2003-2006, was in private practice for 2 years, and went back for a second residency training in Emergency Medicine from 2008-2011 at the University of South Florida / Tampa General Hospital.

He currently holds the credentials of Board Certification in Emergency Medicine (ABEM), Board Certification in Family Medicine (ABFM), and is proudly a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, The American Academy of Family Physicians, and The American Academy of Emergency Medicine.

He currently resides in Tampa, Florida & practices 100% clinical Emergency Medicine, and has a special passion for quality medical documentation and medical scribing, and mostly a deep understanding of the hard work required to immigrate into the United States and navigate Graduate Medical Education (GME) as a Foreign Medical Graduate (FMG). Please join the show!