What is an IMG?

IMG Program Students Percentages
International medical graduates as a percentage of the physician workforce, California, 2009.

International medical graduates (IMGs) are physicians who have graduated from medical schools outside the United States. They already make up a substantial portion of both the national and California physician workforce.

The IMG potential for an increasingly diverse California

IMGs who are from Latin American countries have a unique combination of language abilities and cultural backgrounds that are much in demand, especially in California’s rural and inner-urban communities. Getting them licensed to practice medicine in California can grow the number of desperately-needed bicultural, Spanish-speaking physicians for the state’s medically-underserved population.

First in the nation

The UCLA IMG Program is the first in the nation to provide a structured curricular and clinical environment for IMGs to prepare for the multi-part U.S. Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE), and to compete successfully for a position in a California Family Medicine residency program.