MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP CLINIC DELIVERS NATURALIZATION WORKSHOP FOR INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
March 2020 — Law students in the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic participated in a citizenship forum organized by International Healthcare Professionals Program (IHPP). Through an innovative collaboration, the Clinic is providing representation to IHPP participants in selected immigration and public benefits matters. To kick off the collaboration, students Mark Lingousky and Jasmine Sandhu joined Professor Medha Makhlouf to deliver a workshop titled, “Naturalization 101.”
The IHPP supports internationally trained healthcare professionals living in central Pennsylvania on their journeys to becoming licensed healthcare providers in the United States. Since 2013, more than 240 Cuban physicians have settled in nearby Lancaster County. Many of them worked in low-wage, low-skill jobs because they lacked the resources or guidance to complete the long and complex process of becoming licensed. The IHPP, a volunteer-run organization, fills this gap by providing Medical English as a Second Language classes, study coaching for the U.S. medical licensing exams, application support for the Penn State second Degree R.N. program, and fellowships in the Simulation Center at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Volunteers include college and medical students, local medical professionals, and retirees. Since it was founded, the IHPP has attracted participants from many countries.
After the workshop, Professor Makhlouf praised the students’ ability to prepare and deliver the bilingual presentation to an audience of more than fifty IHPP participants and their family members. “Jasmine and Mark worked hard to condense and simplify complicated legal material for a lay audience. At the event, they responded well to questions from the audience—a testament to their excellent preparation.” Professor Makhlouf noted that numerous audience members approached the presenters after the event in order to inquire about representation. “Overall, the event was a success. This is an incredibly warm and generous community, and I think that both the IHPP and the Clinic will benefit from this collaboration.”
Professor Medha D. Makhlouf is an Assistant Professor and Founding Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her recent scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in the New York University Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review Online, and the American Journal of Law and Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s work is available at https://works.bepress.com/medha-makhlouf/.