It’s a devastating immigrant story. An internationally trained doctor arrives in Canada eager to start a new life, but after months of obstacles in relicensing and job searching, the doctor gets frustrated, depressed and ends up taking a survival job.
Dr. Shafi Bhuiyan was disheartened to hear about this fate that face so many internationally trained medical professionals. The Bangladesh-born doctor, who taught global public health graduate programs at Osaka University in Japan and the ASEAN Institute of Health Development at Mahidol University in Thailand, moved to Canada in 2010 and was shocked to learn that less than five per cent of internationally educated doctors are able to find jobs in their field in Canada.
In 2014, he was hired as a visiting professor at Ryerson University and became the academic co-ordinator and program manager of the Internationally Trained Medical Doctors (ITMD) Bridging Program, an innovative program in Ontario that helps internationally trained medical professionals prepare for an alternate career path in medical research and health care management.
The program consists of 13 weeks of in-class training and six to eight weeks of practicum placement in hospitals and health care organizations. The ITMD program officially launched in 2015 and has had students from 36 countries, mostly medical doctors with senior- or mid-level expertise. “They have an MD, MBA, PhD. They’re highly qualified back home. When they come here, they are optimistic that they will get a license, but they don’t have the money,” says Bhuiyan, about the health care professionals who attend the program.
By providing the opportunity to polish their research and communication skills, the program allows internationally trained medical professionals to use all of their training, experience and cultural insight into new careers as medical researchers and health care managers.
While the retraining allows these highly educated professionals to find work in Canada and provide for their families, Bhuiyan says it also allows them to feel empowered. Some enter the program years after arriving in Canada, feeling frustrated that all their years of medical training abroad have made them overqualified for other jobs, yet not qualified enough to practise medicine in Canada. The ITMD program is their beacon of light, Bhuiyan says, and has helped transform the careers and lives of many internationally trained medical professionals in Canada.
Bhuiyan says the programs receives more than 100 applications each year, and only has space for 50 students (25 students in each session). To date the ITMD program has trained 155 medical professionals, 85 per cent of whom have successfully found jobs upon completion of the program. Many have found jobs in Canada’s top hospitals.
Bhuiyan loves hearing about these successes from his students. “As a developed nation, we cannot put this brain into the drain. We have to show these highly skilled people to the light,” says Bhuiyan. Now going into its fifth year, Bhuiyan has plans to expand the ITMD program across Canada.
Bhuiyan encourages his students as well as any newcomer to Canada to maintain a positive mindset, continue to look forward, and invest in themselves by pursuing additional training, maintaining focus and finding alternative career paths.
(Courtesy: Canadian Immigrant)

By Yashmita Narine
The Three Rivers Kids Foundation held its 12th Annual Dinner & Dance on February 2, 2019 at the Croatia Banquet Hall in Kitchener, Ontario. Through the efforts of its volunteers and its network of supporters, the hefty sum of $58,467 was raised to continue the laudable charitable work of the Foundation spearheaded by its founder Jeanette Singh.
The charity helps sick children in Guyana who cannot get the medical attention they need locally. Jeanette dedicates her time to be with these children and helps them to receive life saving surgeries in India.
In fact, right now she is in India on one of her life saving missions with three kids along with their parents to get the medical help they need.
There are hundreds of sick and poor children in Guyana in desperate need of medical assistance. The country does not have pediatric cardiac surgeons and lacks many medical specialists and essential facilities. The affected children have to be taken overseas for treatment. Most of them suffer from life threatening conditions and will not survive if they do not receive the proper medical treatment.
Three Rivers Kids Foundation has attracted many volunteers who host fundraisers and participate in company-matching contributions. They spread the word and recruit other companies, individuals and businesses. These supporters donate as well as help to fundraise.
This most recent fundraiser in Kitchener was successful thanks to all sponsors including Kitchener Honda, Intact Renovations and Roop and Adette Persaud.
The committee in Kitchener extends thanks to them as well as to all invitees, volunteers that included the individuals who helped to set up the hall, the bartenders, the decoration sponsors and DJs. Each one contributed to the success of this event.
Please visit the website www.threeriverskidsfoundation.org for more information and/or to donate to this very worthy cause. The next fundraising event will be a Dinner and Dance on Saturday September 21st, 2019 at 6pm at the Shingar Banquet Hall, 2084 Steeles Ave. East, Brampton ON, L6T 5A6.
Tickets are $50 ($30 for children 10 and under)
For tickets or more info please call:
Tara: (416) 798-3591
Jeanette: (905) 891-6149
Bhola Misir: (905) 470-1306
Savi: (905) 513-0426

Rati Gupta is a rare breed of professional hip hop dancer turned comedy actor, writer and story teller, known for her role on CTV's immensely popular "The Big Bang Theory" playing 'Raj's' new fiancé 'Anu' in the 12th and FINAL season of the award-winning series. Gupta also has a recurring role in the Seth Rogen/Josh Hutcherson produced HULU comedy series "Future Man" (Season 2 just premiered Jan 11th) and the upcoming Netflix limited series "Unbelievable" from ERIN BROCKOVICH writer Susannah Grant co-starring opposite Academy Award nominee Toni Collette.
She co-stars as the 'Anu' the new fiancé of beloved social anxiety-prone 'Raj' (Kunal Nayyar) in CBS's Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning series "The Big Bang Theory." Set up as an arranged marriage by Raj's Indian father, Anu's dominant personality easily fits with Raj's more meek traits. She is ambitious and successful with the desire to one day own her own hotel, something that intrigues and attracts Raj to her.
This season marks the 12th and final season of the beloved show which still averages nearly 20 million weekly viewers and is the #1 most watched show currently on the air.
In HULU's comedy series "Future Man," 'Josh Futturman' (Josh Hutcherson), a janitor by day and a gamer by night, is recruited by mysterious visitors to travel through time to prevent the extinction of humanity. Gupta stars as 'Rake,' a carefree and fun member of the future humans who is married to 'Wolf' (Derek Wilson), the lead character who has recruited 'Josh'. The Saturn Award-nominated series, executive produced by Seth Rogen, premiered to positive ratings with an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with Roger Ebert saying "Everything feels meticulously, lovingly plotted by the show's creators, but as it's happening it leads to numerous surprises and big laughs. Future Man is what happens when giddy, geeky and inspired storytelling is allowed to go full throttle."
Proving her versatile acting chops, Gupta lends her talent as 'Sally Green' in Netflix's upcoming limited drama series "Unbelievable" which follows the story of 'Marie' (Kaitlyn Dever), a teenager who is charged with lying about being raped, and the two female detectives (Toni Collette & Merritt Wever) who followed a twisting path to arrive at the truth. Co-written by Susannah Grant, who also serves as showrunner, "Unbelievable" is based on The Marshall Project and ProPublica Pulitzer Prize-winning December 2015 article, "An Unbelievable Story of Rape", written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, and the "This American Life" radio episode about the same case, "Anatomy of Doubt."
Gupta has also made guest appearances on various TV series such as Pamela Adlon's critically acclaimed FX show "Better Things."
Raised in Michigan City, Indiana, Gupta grew up highly multi-faceted from a young age - dancing on the UDA's "All Star" dance team, starring on her cheer competition team, playing Varsity tennis and golf and becoming her school's salutatorian. She went on to Northwestern University as a pre-med and psychology double major. A lifelong fan of hip-hop dance (thanks to the style, dance and music of Janet Jackson), she joined 'Boomshaka,' Northwestern's premiere drum, dance, and rhythm ensemble, ultimately becoming the group's director. From there her love of dance (and suppressed desire to be a backup dancer for music videos) took over and she moved to Los Angeles where she became a premiere dancer at The Edge studio, dancing 16 hours a day, appearing in videos for Lupe Fiasco and Flo Rida. Gupta began taking acting classes and was noticed by Lesly Kahn who singled her out as funny and put her in her advanced acting courses. Not seeing roles that represented her, Gupta began writing ferociously and performing stand-up. She began traveling the country performing humorous retellings of her personal experiences and was selected as one of "Emerging Screenwriters Top 100 List". Gupta is a 3-time champion of The Moth StorySlam, and her debut one-chick storytelling show, "Not Another Teen Solo Show", was nominated and named one of the Top 3 Performances of the New York International Fringe Festival by Backstage.

Authors' & Writers' Corner >