For more than 18,000 aspiring Indian physicians—the most significant international contingent in Ukraine—the lure of affordable, quality medical education in Ukraine is quickly unraveling into a nightmare. Marooned by Russia’s invasion and a lack of med school space available for them in their home country, many now find their medical education journeys paused. Worse consequences may be on the way.

Until last week, Muhammad Qureshi’s dream of becoming a practising American doctor was on track. Yet by the time Match Day itself rolled around, Qureshi was one of more than 4000 who applied for a first-year residency spot in America, and missed out. Those who studied internationally were statistically far more likely to count amongst that number in 2021.

Though few of this year’s medical residency applicants were even alive in 1992, it is emerging as an increasingly pivotal year in recent history. Though not as well recognized by pop culture—or even recent medical history—the year also marked the end of an old era in American residency matching, and the start of a new one.

Medical education was in the news in Australia recently, with more than 1000 international med students allowed through a stringent …

Early last March, Elif Yakut, a 29-year-old medical graduate from Turkey, traveled to Philadelphia to complete her United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Skills assessment.