Blocked paths, unequal trajectories: Examining the career outcomes of health professions graduates by race, gender, and place of education

Despite the need for more - and more diverse - health professionals to meet the U.S.’ growing healthcare needs, qualitative research suggests that many health professions school graduates (HPGs) are tracked away from pursuing a health professions career. To what extent do HPGs’ career trajectories vary across race, gender, and place of education (i.e., whether one received their health professions education in the U.S. or abroad)? Drawing on the National Survey of College Graduates, I identify that among 5,966 HPGs (medical, dental, veterinary, optometry, and podiatry school graduates), foreign-educated HPGs are less likely than U.S.-educated HPGs to become health professionals in the U.S. However, not all foreign-educated HPGs experience equal degrees of disadvantage; racially minoritized foreign-educated HPGs - and most strikingly, Asian foreign-educated men and women HPGs - demonstrate the lowest likelihoods of matriculating to a health professions career. Moreover, structural barriers, including initial U.S. visa status, significantly disadvantage foreign-educated HPGs on their path towards becoming practicing health professionals. Together, results suggest that the stunted career trajectories of foreign-educated HPGs might further stall the diversification of the health professions and limit the potential of immigrant HPGs to draw on their unique human capital post-migration. Findings both improve understanding of the contributors to the U.S. health professional shortage and advance sociological knowledge around how the health professions serve as key sites in the reproduction of inequality across axes of race, gender, and place of education. •Place of education shapes health professions graduates' (HPGs') career outcomes.•Foreign-educated HPGs face barriers toward becoming U.S. health professionals.•Career disadvantage is magnified for those with minoritized race and gender statuses.•Initial visa status is a key factor shaping foreign-educated HPGs' career outcomes.•The U.S. health professions continue to face challenges toward diversifying.