The rise of female physicians has provided care to the growing and evolving United States population. According to the 2014 FSMB Census of Licensed Physicians, 32% of actively licensed physicians are female. Less attention, however, has been given to the location of medical school graduation and its association with the growing population of female physicians. This study examines physicians who were issued their first license in the United States by gender and by where they graduated from medical school. Using data from the Federation of State Medical Boards' (FSMB) Physician Data Center, the authors measured the percentage of first-time licenses issued between 1990 and 2014 to females and by where they graduated from medical school — that is, either a United States medical graduate (USMG) or an international medical graduate (IMG). Key findings indicate that between 1990 and 2014, first-time licenses issued to IMG females have increased from 25% to 45% (31% to 47% for USMG females). Furthermore, the percentage of first-time licenses issued to female IMGs increased among international regions with the highest number of licensed physicians in the U.S. The findings support that a greater percentage of first-time licenses issued to IMGs have been to females over the past two and half decades. Analyzing the trend of first-time licenses issued to physicians by gender and location of medical school graduation adds to better understanding the physician pipeline and physicians' transition from medical school to the practicing medical community in the United States.
International Medical Graduate Physician Deaths From COVID-19 in the United States
