As coronavirus spreads, refugee doctors want to join the fight

This article was originally published by USA for UNHCR.

When Lubab al-Quraishi heard that officials in New Jersey would allow internationally trained medical workers to help the city fight COVID-19, she quickly filled out an online application. Six years after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Iraq, she hoped finally to practice medicine again.

Lubab, 47, had been a pathologist in her homeland before her brother’s work for the United States military forced her to flee. A bullet struck her windshield as she drove to work one day and she realized she had no choice but to leave the country.

With no money or time to study for the medical exams, she worked as a cashier at a fast food restaurant in Texas. Finally, she learned about an opening to work as a pathology assistant in New Jersey and moved there along with her husband and two daughters.

Now Lubab has a chance both to help her new country and to work as a physician. At the start of the outbreak, she volunteered to administer tests for the virus. And last month, she received her temporary license to practice medicine in New Jersey for six months, and possibly longer if the emergency continues.

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