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 Health & Beauty | August 2006 
Recruiting Doctors from Abroad
 Abigail Palmer - Daily Bruin
| | UCLA program that helps Latin American physicians pass U.S. exam gets $100,000 donation from Molina Healthcare. |
Gilberto Cota practiced medicine in Mexicali, Mexico for three years before coming to the United States.
But when he arrived in the country, the 32-year-old was unable to become a licensed doctor without completing the United States Medical Licensing Exam, so instead he worked as a diabetes care coordinator.
That is, until he joined a UCLA program that would train him to practice in the United States. In 2005, Cota enrolled in the UCLA International Medical Graduates program, which recruits physicians who have graduated from medical schools in Latin American countries and helps them compete for primary care residency training positions.
Now, with the help of a combined $100,000 donation from Molina Healthcare, Cota and 13 other currently enrolled students will be able to receive some form of stipend that will allow them to temporarily stop working and focus instead on studying for the United States Medical Licensing Exams.
Michelle Bholat, co-founder of the International Medical Graduates program, said the donation money will be used to pay for stipends for the students and for educational costs, such as hiring faculty to teach in the program.
"I'm very thankful for this opportunity and the donation, because I know there are a lot of doctors who can't practice because they can't pass the exams," Cota said.
The newly created program is one year old and the first cohort of students will graduate next summer.
Molina Healthcare and UCLA's program both aim at providing health care to some of California's most underserved communities, specifically focusing on Hispanic areas and training doctors from Latin American countries.
In California, 20 percent of people live in medically underrepresented areas – 3.8 million Hispanics make up 31 percent of the state's population, but only represent four percent of the state's physicians, according to recent data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
The program aims for most of its graduates to work in Hispanic or other underrepresented minority communities once they have secured residencies,
"There is no (other) program in Los Angeles or in the country that takes physicians from Latin American countries and brings them to the U.S. to become residents," Bholat said.
Dr. J. Mario Molina, an alumnus of the UCLA Anderson School of Business who donated $50,000 to the program, pointed to some benefits he sees in providing Hispanic communities with Hispanic doctors.
"With the growing changes in demographics throughout California and the United States, it is important for patients to feel comfortable with their doctors," Molina said. "We understand that cultural competency and linguistics are an important aspect of health care."
Molina Healthcare is a company that helps patients who have faced problems in receiving quality health care, including those covered under Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Healthy Families Program.
The company and Molina, its chief executive officer, each donated $50,000 to the International Medical Graduates program to help provide funding for those currently enrolled in the International Medical Graduates program and to encourage other Hispanic and minority leaders to support the fledgling program.
Bholat said Molina Healthcare's most recent donation is part of its history of support for UCLA community medical programs that help recruit minority students in the field of health care. Molina Healthcare did not put any parameters on how the donation should be used, giving it to be used "as they see fit to support the program," Molina said.
Because Molina is a top Hispanic business leader in Los Angeles, Bholat said she hopes his support will tell other companies that the International Medical Graduates program is worth their support and the investment of their time and money.
apalmer@media.ucla.edu |
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