I’m cheering President Trump’s rollback of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from the other side of the world. In fact, the main reason I am a medical resident in Tokyo — having arrived last month — is that DEI made it harder to pursue my career in the U.S.
Qualified people like myself have been pushed away by this race-based ideology, which not only insults me but injures America.
I wish I was home in the U.S. I was born in New York City. I attended City College. As an undergraduate, I served as an EMT on an ambulance and as a medic in ROTC. When I took the Medical College Admission Test, I scored in the 90th percentile, with a near-perfect score in each of the three science sections — biology, chemistry and physics, and psychology and sociology.
I had every intention of entering medical practice in the U.S., where I hoped to stay my entire career. But DEI got in the way.
It first reared its ugly head when, despite my Medical College Admission Test scores and experience, only one medical school accepted me of the 75 I applied to — the University of Tennessee. Only three other schools even offered to interview me, almost certainly reflecting the unfair standard to which Asians are held thanks to DEI.
I accepted the slot at Tennessee, figuring it would still be the springboard I needed for my career. But the DEI shenanigans were just getting started.
In 2022, I was part of the first class of medical students who took the revised “Step 1” test under the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, which plays a big role in determining where students get their residencies. Before, medical students had been given a numerical score, clearly indicating our knowledge level relative to our peers. Activists, however, successfully demanded that this be changed to a pass-fail, all in the name of diversity.
To put it bluntly, the activists do not want the most qualified candidates with the best scores to dominate the best residency opportunities if too many of them are Asian or white.
So by using pass-fail, they pushed the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination administrators to make it easier for less qualified students to appear just as qualified as better-performing students. Never mind that better scores tend to indicate which students will become the best physicians, providing the best care to patients.
This was the beginning of the end of my hopes of staying in the U.S. I took the Step 2 test in 2023. Although I wish my score had been higher, it put me in strong contention for a residency in neurology. Unfortunately, despite applying to 50-plus residencies, I got one rejection after another.
I understood when Ivy League schools said no. I did not understand it when schools like Rutgers and Hofstra rejected me. The University of Tennessee gave me two residency offers, but that would have told future employers that I couldn’t succeed without a home-field advantage.
I spoke with numerous students of different races who had scored lower than me but got better residencies. That’s exactly what’s supposed to happen under DEI.
Spurned by American institutions, I did something I never thought I would do — I looked overseas. I was invited to present a research paper in Germany, winning an award in the process. I was also asked to present at the University of Osaka. I also submitted a research plan to Dr. Masashi Hamada at the University of Tokyo School of Medicine, who offered me a residency.
I am now the first foreign trainee and researcher that school has ever had. In Japan, thanks to American DEI.
I am grateful that a top-tier university finally accepted me. But it pains me that, while Japan wants me, America does not. The United Kingdom and Australia have also given me a license to practice medicine in their countries. They recognize merit in a way that the U.S. no longer does, to the detriment of our medical system and the 340 million Americans who rely on it.
Will I return to the U.S. to continue my career? I certainly want to, but I am coming to love practicing medicine in a country where the focus is treating patients, not checking ideological or racial boxes.
I would be more likely to return if President Trump and state leaders continue to get divisive racial ideology out of higher education — especially out of medical school. There’s much more to be done when it comes to restoring a system based on merit.
DEI has pushed me away. But if Trump keeps rolling it back, it will be much easier to come home someday.
Saivikram Madireddy is a neurology trainee and researcher at the University of Tokyo in Japan.
