Job Ideas

[Chaplin]

My friend recently moved to Canada. His dad was a general surgeon with about 35 years of experience working in central Europe, Middle East and South Asia. The obvious problem is that the Canadian Medical Council regardless of your qualifications does not recognize medical experience gained from countries other than select 5,6 countries, and even If he passes the qualification exam and is licensed the prospect of working under a junior doctor or starting all over from a novice level at his age is unlikely. Anyone have any ideas of what health related jobs he can apply for?

[MD2015]

I know a medical doctor from anotgher country in that exact position. He is a massage therapist, really doing physio work for a range of clients from sports and dance injuries to the elderly. He does remarkable work and earns a living.

[apache]

He may be qualified to teach anatomy and similar topics to undergrads and med students.

 

My friend recently moved to Canada. His dad was a general surgeon with about 35 years of experience working in central Europe, Middle East and South Asia. The obvious problem is that the Canadian Medical Council regardless of your qualifications does not recognize medical experience gained from countries other than select 5,6 countries, and even If he passes the qualification exam and is licensed the prospect of working under a junior doctor or starting all over from a novice level at his age is unlikely. Anyone have any ideas of what health related jobs he can apply for?

[MD2015]

He may even qualify to become Dean of U/A Med School.

[Head Squeeze]

He can get a license and open a clinic. My uncle did the same.

[*Pixie*]

My parents' friend is a pathologist and immigrated here with his family when he was in his late 40s. He got a job at the UofA (lol) as a research assistant(?), and is doing pathology work. I guess his luck is maybe specialty based...it might be harder for other specialities to get their foot in the door. He is paid relatively well (better than most research assistants) and is still involved in his field, although maybe not at the same level as before...So maybe researching research (lol) as a starting point would be of value?

[charmer08]

Physician assistant?

[EoE]

This is very interesting. I don't know how I didn't see this thread before. I would actually recommend NOT going into research if your friend's father's English is not solid. I think research is really cool and people who want to do it should, but the scenario you describe can be toxic.

 

I see a lot of profs take advantage of foreign trained MDs and PhDs by giving them a 45k post doc position, but no support or chance for advancement. Often times the university advancement situation is much different from the immigrant's home country system and this is not communicated to the immigrant.

 

That said, I guess it depends on English skills. I really like Muse's idea. If your friend's father has passable english, teaching could be very rewarding for him and may even provide the opportunity for advancement. So could research though, if he is interested. When you can write a grant and papers on your own, your whole situation changes.

[Chaplin]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It seems that with his clinical experience and knowledge teaching would be the only reasonable option. Going into research could have been beneficial but like some people pointed out little opportunity for advancement,less pay and the age factor does not make it look too attractive. Age I think plays a big role in a lot of jobs that he can apply for. He's in the late 50's and left surgery at the consultant level. The clinic idea seems interesting but doesn't that requires a lot of money?

 

Speaking, Reading or writing English isn't a problem. They've been studying English since they started school (grade 1) and since then English has remained the primary language of instruction. All of his postgraduate qualifications are from Edinburgh and Glasgow, so he knows the language pretty well.Working overseas, lol they immigrated to Canada after working overseas most of their life at a very good position, so going back would negate the idea of coming here.