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Article

When Personal Identity Meets Professional Identity: A Qualitative Study of Professional Identity Formation of International Medical Graduate Resident Physicians in the United States

by
Mohamad Nasser Elsouri
1,
Victor Cox
2,
Vinayak Jain
3 and
Ming-Jung Ho
4,*
1
Department of Radiation Oncology, Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA
2
Department of Internal Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA
3
Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK 73117, USA
4
Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. Med. Educ. 2025, 4(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/ime4010001
Submission received: 28 November 2024 / Revised: 14 January 2025 / Accepted: 16 January 2025 / Published: 22 January 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Professions Education Advancements and Innovations—International Perspectives)
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
International medical graduates (IMGs) account for 25% of the physician workforce in the United States, yet little is known about their professional identity formation (PIF). This qualitative study explores the process of PIF in IMG residents with special attention to how they integrate their intersectional marginalized personal identities. Method: Using a social constructivist approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 15 IMG resident physicians in the United States. The authors analyzed the data using a constant comparison approach and identified themes by consensus. Results: Participants described their PIF journey beginning before starting residencies in the US. Their PIF was challenging due to structural barriers associated with their immigrant status. Furthermore, participants reported more difficulties with PIF if they did not look white. When their pre-existing professional and personal identities clashed with the American professional norm, the residents suppressed or compartmentalized these pre-existing identities. However, participants also reported that their diverse personal identities could be assets to the provision of care for diverse patient populations. Conclusions: This study reveals the identity tension experienced by IMGs in their PIF journey and the different strategies they employed to navigate the conflicts with American professional norms. This study suggests reimagining PIF frameworks to cultivate a more diverse physician workforce.

1. Introduction

International medical graduates (IMGs) play an important role in American healthcare [1]. IMGs are defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education as individuals that have completed medical school outside the United States and Canada. They can be either U.S. citizens who studied abroad or foreign nationals permitted entry into the country by the U.S. immigration authorities [2]. IMGs make up one-quarter of residency program trainees and practicing physicians in the United States [1], and this percentage is even higher in other economically advanced countries like the United Kingdom, where they account for 43% [3,4,5,6]. Not only do they play a role in filling the general physician shortage in the US, but they also work in primary care specialties and underserved areas of greatest need [7,8]. Furthermore, IMGs bring cultural sensitivity to serve the increasingly diverse patient population of the US [9,10,11,12]. However, little is known about their professional identity formation (PIF)
In addition to the development of measurable competencies, PIF has gained attention in medical education [13,14,15,16]. PIF in medical education is commonly defined as “a representation of self, achieved in stages over time during which the characteristics, values, and norms of the medical profession are internalized, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, and feeling like a physician” [14]. This definition puts emphasis on conformity to the values and norms of the medical profession. These values and norms are related to professionalism, defined in medical education as the behaviors, attitudes, and values that are expected of medical professionals. In other words, professionalism provides the behavioral norms expected of medical practitioners, while professional identity formation is the process through which individuals internalize these norms and integrate them into their personal and professional selves. However, emerging research in the last decade has shown that the idea of professionalism and professional identity is highly influenced by culture and context [17,18]. Since different societies conceptualize medical professionalism in ways that support their unique cultural values and societal contracts with the medical profession, there are significant variations between diverse populations [19,20].
Moreover, social scientists have articulated the importance of integrating existing personal identities in professional identity formation [21,22,23]. Dissonance between personal and professional identities has negative consequences on academic performance and mental health in graduate students in various professional schools, including law school and social work school [21]. More recent studies of medical education also touch upon the issue of identity dissonance and suggest that personal identities in non-majority populations are suppressed when they conflict with expectations of professional identity based on the norms of the majority population [9,24,25]. Researchers are increasingly highlighting the neglect of marginalized, intersectional personal identities in medical education and are questioning whether diverse personal identities are adequately included in PIF [26,27,28].
Previous studies have identified several cultural, linguistic, and logistical barriers faced by IMGs during residency [4,5,12]. However, it is not clear how IMGs integrate their diverse personal and professional identities in their identity formation during residency. The goal of this study was to better understand professional identity formation in IMG residents. The findings can assist medical educators improve the PIF development of IMG residents.
Our research questions are as follows:
(1)
What is the experience of PIF in IMG residents?
(2)
How do IMG residents integrate personal identities with professional identities?
(3)
What are the challenges and barriers IMGs face while integrating their personal and professional identities in American residency programs?

2. Methods

We employed a constructivist grounded theory approach in this study because this methodology is suitable for exploring unknown social phenomena to generate meaningful theoretical explanations [29]. We recruited IMG residents in three hospitals in an academic medical system in a metropolitan city with a vibrant international communities in the United States between August 2020 and July 2021 [30]. The residency programs persisted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We used maximum variation sampling, a method that intentionally seeks a broad range of diverse cases to capture variations in experiences, to explore PIF across a wide variety of IMG experiences. Specifically, we sought residents from diverse specialties, countries of origins, and international medical schools. We sent email invitations, targeting residency programs known to include IMGs in their system. The study received exemption approval from the Georgetown University IRB (STUDY00002737). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Our study consisted of 15 participants across four specialties (Table 1). Internal medicine residents made up the largest portion of our sample, with nine participants. Eight participants identified as men and seven as women. Twelve participants were immigrants to the US (non-US-born IMGs), from nine different countries across all continents. The largest portion of immigrants came from India, with a total of four participants. The interviewees had attended medical schools across 12 countries; medical schools in India and the Caribbean islands made up the majority, with four participants from each region. Additionally, four participants were underrepresented in medicine (URM), defined by the American Association of Medical Colleges as “racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population” [31]. To protect the participants’ identities, we do not provide cross-referenced detailed demographics. Furthermore, the characteristics showed no significant correlations.
We chose to conduct individual interviews with volunteer participants because of the sensitive nature of the questions. Our interview guide (see Appendix A) was informed by social identity theory, which posits that individuals derive a sense of identity based on their group memberships, influencing their behaviors and attitudes toward in-group and out-group members [32]. In medical education, social identity theory explains professional identity formation by highlighting how medical students internalize the values, norms, and behaviors of the medical community [14,22]. Thus, our interview guides contained questions about the norm of a good doctor in different social contexts and conflicts between personal and professional identities [33]. Consistent with constructivist grounded theory, data collection and analysis were iterative to support the theoretical sampling. We continued sampling until we reached data sufficiency, defined as the point when we had enough data to construct a conceptual understanding of the phenomena we were studying and determined by a pattern of repetition in our interviews [34].
Interviews were conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews ranged from 23 min to 83 min (average of 37 min) and were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Using the software Dedoose Version 9.0.17, we analyzed the transcripts using a constant comparison approach following the grounded theory approach [35]. Elsouri, M. and Cox, V. carried out the iterative coding process to organize data into themes. Themes identified in the initial transcripts were explored in more depth in subsequent interviews. Throughout the analysis process, the entire team held regular zoom meetings to discuss the evolving coding scheme until we reached consensus on the final analysis.
Following the constructivist tradition, we were cognizant of how our experiences and perspectives shape our data collection and analysis. Reflexivity is a crucial element in our approach. Our research team included an African-American medical student (URM), a medical student with an IMG physician parent from the Middle East, one IMG resident from Southeast Asia, and an East Asian faculty member who is a US medical graduate/PhD anthropologist. The anthropologist on the team conducted the interviews due to her expertise in qualitative research and etic (outsider) perspective [36]. The etic perspective was balanced by the emic (insider) perspectives of the IMG residents and medical students. During the iterative data collection and analysis process, the research team critically examined each other’s assumptions and collectively explored alternative explanations to ensure the authors were not imposing their own perspectives.

3. Results

Residents in our study who were non-US-born IMGs described experiencing identity tension due to the dissonance between their pre-existing professional and personal identities and perceived notions of American professional identity, as well as the values and norms that permeate professional identity in the US. This identity tension, experienced by most of our participants, and the coping mechanisms utilized by them are reported here.

3.1. Incongruent Pre-Existing Professional Identities

The majority of participants described their PIF beginning in their home countries prior to starting their residency training in the United States. Many reported their PIF as being shaped by role models during their medical education internationally.
During my medical school training, you definitely meet a variety of different doctors, and you learn certain styles that you really like and admire—and you kind of feel like those are things that you want to learn for yourself […] I did go abroad for one year to Budapest, Hungary. So, I kind of got to know their system. I went to South Africa, went to India and so you see different styles and different ways in different cultures […] a doctor has a different role or different reputation in different countries and different cultures. [P12]
Some described differences in societal expectations for physicians between their home countries and the United States. Many of our participants described that physicians in their home countries were held in higher regard than they are in the US, one participant describing how doctors were nearly deified in certain situations.
In India, I think physicians are viewed more like gods. There’s a lot of respect given to physicians in India. […] I actually had an experience where I was working with a very senior physician in charge of an HIV clinic in India. And one of his patients was coming for a follow-up visit. […] He told me that “I have a picture of this doctor on my wall at home and I worship him” and I’m like, wow, that is way overboard. But that is how some people view doctors in India and you come here and you just hear about lawsuits, and people just don’t respect you. [P15]
Several of the residents in our study who were non-US-born IMGs described the role of the physician as being more paternalistic and family-centered than individualistic in their home countries compared to in the US. For example, as one resident stated, “I think back home […], it was more of a family-based concept where we knew the patient’s family and there was a connection. So, it was very professional, but at the same time, we had a family connection, which made it very personable” [P7]. Another resident explained, “[My home country] still has a paternalistic emphasis […] however here I try to do shared decision making for most of my patients” [P9].
In summary, participants in this study reported that they came to residency programs in the United States with pre-existing professional identities based on the professional norms of their countries of origin or countries they have lived in. Many noticed differences in societal expectations for doctors.

3.2. Challenges to Integrating Professional and Personal Identities

In addition to pre-existing professional identity conflicts, the resident physicians in our study shared experiences of identity dissonance brought on by how others perceived and treated their personal identities. For example, several of the IMGs in our study who identified as non-white immigrants described having difficulties with their identity formation in residency, while others who were non-immigrants, white, and male described a “privilege” that shielded them from the xenophobia and racism often experienced by their immigrant peers.
Three participants in our study were US-born IMGs. These resident physicians experienced stigma against foreign medical graduates, in line with the idea that American medical school is the gold standard.
I grew up in America, so I didn’t have any accent. And so what I found was that I I’m judged that I’m, you know, a Caribbean graduate, a foreign medical graduate, and among physicians, that’s clear who’s Caribbean, who is a foreign grad and who is an American grad. And then the American grad is kind of like, um, like untouchable, like they’re so smart. They’re the smartest of us all. Uh, and, and so, but then the foreign grad is kind of like taking the back seat sometimes. [P4]
US-born-IMGs mentioned that despite the stigma against attending a foreign medical school, acclimating to an US residency program was easier to them than their IMG counterparts who were immigrants (non-US IMGs). One IMG who was born and grew up in the US shared, “another barrier that I thankfully don’t particularly see in myself, but with other IMGs is that if they’re not necessarily from the United States, they are not [as] experienced with US culture. I feel like the culture is very tied in with medicine as well” [P14].
Additionally, among our study participants, IMGs from Asian countries describe more instances of xenophobia and racism when it comes to their cultural background than those from Euro-American countries. A resident physician from a country in Asia reflected, “sometimes I encounter people who don’t appreciate my background and try to ignore or just to, you know, look down on me. Honestly, I tried not to cry, but I feel like emotionally it’s difficult to manage”. [P10] Moreover, even among IMGs who are immigrants and either identified as white or described themselves as “white passing”, acknowledged that others were less likely to treat them as foreign, which at times contrasted with these resident physicians’ own views of their personal identities.
The impact of appearing white was also described by US-born-IMGs. Although some of these participants described coming from culturally diverse backgrounds, they describe scenarios in which their race as perceived by others ultimately dictated how they were viewed externally, even if it contradicted with how they viewed themselves. A participant who was born and raised in the US with strong ties to his Arabic heritage shared the following:
Even though my family is all Arabs, we come from a region of the Arab world, where our skin is more fair. And so I look like one of them [white American], even though they don’t realize that at home, I’m speaking Arabic, I’m eating Arabic food, I’m doing everything in Arabic. My wife is Arab. Like everything in my life is Arab except I’m an American in the hospital. So I guess I’m a chameleon. It’s very interesting. [P4]
Non-US IMGs face additional burdens navigating American immigration compared to US IMGs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many experienced increased anxiety about visiting home due to visa uncertainties. Though logistical, these challenges were seen as systematic discriminations against their immigrant identities, significantly hindering their professional identity formation (PIF).
I wasn’t able to see my family for a long time—it was nine months since I finally [went] home and even then it was like, I had to beg [the residency program] … The email from GME was that, you know, go at your own risk. And if you can’t make it back, for whatever reason, we can’t necessarily say you’ll have your residency spot, which is a scary thing. […] I’m supposed to pick between my family or my job. [P3]

3.3. Navigating Conflicting Identities Through Conformity

The majority of the participants described conforming to an “American norm” of professional identity, suppressing their pre-existing professional identities in the process. One participant shared the following:
Residents that want to practice here need to follow the American rules so they cannot let their culture or their religion get in the way of the kind of service they provide to individuals if they want to succeed here as physicians. I believe most people that’s where they come to in their mind. [P1].
Another participant shared similar thoughts about conforming to American ideals of professional identity as follows:
You just got to accept it and start to think like an American doctor, they do things differently. You’ll get used to it […] It is different, but I sort of have learned to kind of put an American hat on, in a sense and kind of like okay this is how the people I’m with will think, and this is how. [P5]
Another participant described compartmentalization of personal and professional identities as an “on and off switch”, and they expressed their concern with regard to how this conflicting personal identity is at danger of being truncated.
I can switch on and off. The only thing that is a conflict in personal identity is that I take life as like being present in the moment and just focusing on the current interaction that I’m in. And, but sometimes in professional life, it’s just got to go, go. Gotta go, gotta get the job done. Gotta move, gotta keep going. And so I have to turn off sometimes my personal instincts of wanting to give more time and more listening and more energy to the conversation… the only feedback I get is gotta be faster, gotta be faster, gotta be faster, you know? And so it’s like, they’re trying to beat it out of me. [P4]
Although there are identity conflicts and pressure to conform to American majority norms and truncate personal identities, some participants described leveraging their personal identity as an asset when caring for minority patients. A resident from Latin America shared the following:
At [hospital name], we have a very big Hispanic population there and I recognize how they also sometimes don’t understand everything that’s going on… a lot is lost in translation. I found a lot of times when I do finally explain things to them in their language, I see their faces when they actually understand what’s going on…there is definitely that sense when I’m caring for like Hispanic population or Latino populations where like, I do feel like there’s a deeper sense of communication. [P9]

4. Discussion

Our findings reveal that IMGs experience professional identity formation (PIF) in US residencies as requiring conformity to American norms, some of which conflict with their pre-existing professional and personal identities. Participants describe their PIF journey beginning before coming to the US, shaped by their native cultures and international clinical experiences. Most suppress these identities when they clash with American norms, while a few compartmentalize them. However, their diverse backgrounds become a strength when caring for minority populations with similar cultural norms.
Competency-based medical education was designed to ensure minimal standards of knowledge and skills, rather than to create a uniform professional standard [37]. However, the emphasis on competency standards might be experienced as a normative ideology. Some scholars argue that medical professionalism and PIF have been historically shaped by white, male physicians, excluding and oppressing marginalized groups’ personal identities in training programs [38,39,40]. Emerging discourse calls for expanding or dismantling the notion of a singular medical professional identity, which precludes having individuals contribute their unique capabilities to the doctor–patient relationship [37,41,42]. However, these efforts have not yet reached IMG residency programs, where a quarter of the American medical workforce initiates their PIF journey.
Emerging literature questions whether identity formation processes within the medical profession have excluded physicians’ multiple identities, including race, nationality, religion, and socioeconomic status [26,27,28]. A recent study reported that medical students and residents, especially those underrepresented in medicine, viewed professionalism as “an oppressive, homogenizing force”, conflating difference with unprofessionalism and resulting in “deleterious consequences” on learning and mental health [40]. Similarly, our participants describe different conceptualizations of good doctors across different societies. While they strive to fit into what they perceive to be the American professional norm, leaving their personal identities behind, they also find their diverse personal backgrounds as a source of strength in their service to diverse patients. Several studies have highlighted that IMGs can connect more deeply with patients of similar backgrounds and can assist those with language barriers [43,44].
As PIF becomes a standard part of the formal medical education curriculum, we might consider how some aspects of standardization come at the cost of diversity when it does not address identity dissonance and consonance. Sociologist Carrie Yang Castello studied the professional identity formation of students at a law school and a social work school. She reported that the integration of new professional identities with prior personal identities can be traumatic for students from less privileged backgrounds, causing identity dissonance and leading learners to question their values, ambitions, abilities, and self-worth [21]. Similarly, our participants with multiple disadvantaged identities often cope by suppressing their personal identities in professional roles. Developing a strong bicultural identity might provide IMG physicians with a sense of belonging and heightened self-esteem while maintaining a valuable connection with their culture of origin [9]. Although studies report identity dissonance in medical education, PIF still gravitates toward standardization [24,25].
Our study also suggests that while being ’white passing’ may provide access to certain forms of privilege within the medical profession, it also comes with its own threats of identity dissonance. The participants in our study who acknowledged being assumed as American due to their lighter skin color faced challenges from not being recognized for their true, authentic identities. Indeed, these participants were subject to unique challenges due to belonging in “less visible” minority groups.
This study has some limitations. Although we interviewed IMG participants from six continents and were able to observe a diversity of perspectives, the data are taken from a single healthcare system in an immigrant-friendly metropolitan area in the US. We interviewed a small sample of 15 residents, even though the number was sufficient to reach data sufficiency. Participants were volunteers and may be different from those who did not volunteer. Participants were from four specialties which accept IMGs with little representation of surgical specialties. Future studies with more IMG residents trained in different regions and specialties may further our understanding of PIF in IMG trainees.
Notwithstanding the limitations, this study advances existing research by highlighting several distinctions from residents with marginalized identities in the United States [18,26,27,28,38]. First, IMGs possess pre-existing professional and personal identities. Second, they experience varying degrees of dissonance and discrimination, both personally and structurally, from the American majority. Third, having overcome additional barriers such as immigration hurdles, they often conform more eagerly to American norms, risking the truncation of their unique personal identities and the loss of their cultural wealth.
As the US faces a projected shortfall of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036, nuanced medical education could support the PIF of diverse trainees, helping them integrate into the workforce with their unique perspectives intact. Our findings have practical implications for medical educators at three levels [45,46]. At the personal level, medical educators can facilitate IMG residents’ reflection on integrating personal and professional identities. The approach to PIF addressing the consonance and dissonance among personal and professional identities has implications not only for IMG residents in the US, but also for medical trainees globally. At the interpersonal level, medical educators can enhance all stakeholders’ awareness of bias associated with marginalized intersectional identities. At the structural level, we could advocate for institutional and national policies and practices to support immigrant physicians.
In conclusion, this study reveals the identity tension experienced by IMGs in their PIF journey and the different strategies they employed to navigate the conflicts between their pre-existing professional and personal identities with American professional norms. To support IMGs more effectively, residency programs and policymakers could implement targeted initiatives, such as mentorship programs that address unique IMG challenges, cultural competence training for faculty and peers, and systemic changes to mitigate the effects of immigration-related stressors. These efforts should include fostering environments that validate and integrate diverse identities into the professional identity framework. Additionally, longitudinal research could provide deeper insights into how IMGs’ professional identities evolve over time and the long-term impact of residency program interventions. This study underscores the urgency of reimagining PIF frameworks to foster a more inclusive and diverse physician workforce, addressing personal, interpersonal, and structural dimensions of support.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.-J.H.; methodology, M.-J.H.; software, M.N.E. and V.C.; formal analysis, M.N.E., V.C., V.J. and M.-J.H.; writing—original draft preparation, M.N.E., V.C., V.J. and M.-J.H.; writing—review and editing, M.N.E., V.C., V.J. and M.-J.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was approved by the institutional review board of Georgetown University (STUDY00002737).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Data is unavailable due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the volunteer participants Tom Kariyil and Nadia Samaha for assisting with transcription and Nikita Deshpande for recruiting participants.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A. Interview Guide

Before we start, can you tell me a little bit about your background.
  • Where did you grow up?
  • Where did you go to schools? What is/are your terminal degree(s)?
  • Is your racial/ethnic group underrepresented in medicine, including African-American and/or Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native American (American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians), Pacific Islander, and mainland Puerto Rican?
  • How long have you worked as a resident? In what department?
  • Have you done other residency programs? If yes, where and in which department were you trained?
  • What does a good physician mean to you? What are the traits, qualities, values, etc., of a good physician? Do you exhibit the qualities of a good physician you mentioned?
  • Where did your ideals of a good physician come from? Are your perspectives different from other residents?
  • How is a physician viewed where you grow up or go to school? How is this similar and different to how a physician is viewed in the United States? (How do you feel the US society views you as a physician? How do you view yourself as a physician in the US?)
  • How do your different personal identities (such as your ethnicity, cultural identity) interact and integrate with your professional identity as a physician? Are there times when your personal identities clash with your professional identity as a physician?
  • Have you ever noticed patients, staff, or other physicians treat you differently because you are underrepresented in medicine/international medical graduate?
  • How do residents become good physicians? What are the facilitators and barriers for residents to become good doctors?
  • Are there specific facilitators and barriers to becoming a physician for international medical graduate (IMG) residents?
  • Do you feel you face additional barriers to becoming a physician compared to non- IMG? If yes, how so?
  • During your residency, was there a time when you felt you didn’t belong to the profession of medicine? How did you overcome the challenge? Have you seen others dealing with similar challenges?
  • How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your development of becoming a good physician? Any challenges particular to IMG residents?
  • How can residency programs support residents like yourself throughout their residency training?
  • Other thoughts about IMG residents you would like to share?

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Table 1. Participant characteristics (n = 15).
Table 1. Participant characteristics (n = 15).
DemographicsNumber
Gender
Female 7
Male8
Specialty
Internal medicine9
Pediatrics3
Obstetrics and gynecology2
Physical medicine and rehabilitation1
Level of training
1st year resident 3
2nd year resident6
3rd year resident6
Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) Status
URM4
Non-URM11
County of Origin
India4
USA3
Australia1
Canada1
Germany1
Japan1
Nigeria1
Peru1
Venezuela 1
Syria1
Location of Medical School
India4
Caribbean4
Australia1
Germany1
Japan1
Nigeria1
Peru1
Venezuela 1
Syria1
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MDPI and ACS Style

Elsouri, M.N.; Cox, V.; Jain, V.; Ho, M.-J. When Personal Identity Meets Professional Identity: A Qualitative Study of Professional Identity Formation of International Medical Graduate Resident Physicians in the United States. Int. Med. Educ. 2025, 4, 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ime4010001

AMA Style

Elsouri MN, Cox V, Jain V, Ho M-J. When Personal Identity Meets Professional Identity: A Qualitative Study of Professional Identity Formation of International Medical Graduate Resident Physicians in the United States. International Medical Education. 2025; 4(1):1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ime4010001

Chicago/Turabian Style

Elsouri, Mohamad Nasser, Victor Cox, Vinayak Jain, and Ming-Jung Ho. 2025. "When Personal Identity Meets Professional Identity: A Qualitative Study of Professional Identity Formation of International Medical Graduate Resident Physicians in the United States" International Medical Education 4, no. 1: 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ime4010001

APA Style

Elsouri, M. N., Cox, V., Jain, V., & Ho, M.-J. (2025). When Personal Identity Meets Professional Identity: A Qualitative Study of Professional Identity Formation of International Medical Graduate Resident Physicians in the United States. International Medical Education, 4(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ime4010001

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