Acrobatic Musician
Duties: Performs acrobatics and ethnic dance while playing various classical and ethnic musical instruments Supporting Documentation: Certificate of Completion of Musical Training; Evidence of performance on an international scale; Evidence of nationality and internationally recognized awards for performance; Government awards of distinction received by applicant; Newspaper articles regarding the culturally unique nature of applicant's performance. National Interest Argument: Culture/Arts

MUSICIAN
Petitioner is a Indian classical musician with more than 10 years' full- time experience as a tabla (drum) player and teacher. His schooling was in a traditional Indian music school, not in a university. His is not a solo instrument, and he has no publicly distributed albums and very little public recognition in the United States. Fourteen supporting letters (nine from academic ethnomusicologists at universities throughout the United States, and five from directors of cultural institutions or performance programs) and several magazine and newspaper articles about the petitioner, affirm his extraordinary ability. The statements also describe the past and prospective national interest value of his work: he is introducing an important Indian musical tradition to the United States, he is training Indo-Caribbean musicians (many of whom lived in total isolation from mainstream Indian culture) in Indian classical music and, because the tabla is equally important to Hindu and Muslim classical musical traditions within South Asia, he is helping to bridge the chasm that has so long separated Hindus and Muslims throughout the world.

NUTRITION COUNSELOR

Nutrition Counselor (WIC)
The Beneficiary is a graduate of a foreign medical college with over two years experience in nutrition counseling at a foreign hospital. The beneficiary is currently employed by a program under contract with the PA Dept. of Health to manage the supplementary food and education program of WIC. National interest served was the furtherance of WIC program efforts to enhance nutrition of pregnant and nursing women and the health of young children.

PHYSICIAN

Physician
Petitioner/Beneficiary is a physician with the University of California, Los Angeles. He provides in-patient and out-patient and emergency medical services, as well as is actively involved in research in treatment of pain in HIV neuropathy and other drugs and diseases. Petitioner submitted a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services stating in part that "a review of 78 currently open and 397 previously closed AIDS Clinical Therapeutic Trials databases by the Public Health Service's AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service revealed that only 3 clinical trials addressed pain management and/or treatment for peripheral neuropathy. Very little AIDS related clinical research has addressed the treatment of neuropathy and related pain morbidity" and that "Improved treatments for AIDS related neuropathy and related pain morbidity would contribute significantly to improved care for persons with HIV disease and AIDS." Further, Petitioner submitted letters from a Professor, two Associate Professors and a colleague, his research papers and other medical publication on Management of Pain in AIDS patients.

Primary Care Physician
The INS California Service Center approved a national interest petition for a primary care physician employed by a health maintenance organization (HMO) in Southern California. The argument for national interest focused on the inability of HMO's to recruit primary care physicians in the U.S.; the severe shortage of primary and family care physicians in the State of California and throughout the country; and the shortage's impact on U.S. health care reform.

Supporting documentation for the petition included articles from various medical journals and major newspapers on the severe shortage of primary care physicians and the trend of U.S. medical school graduates to establish careers in lucrative specialty areas such as surgery, anesthesiology, and pathology instead of lesser-paying areas such as family medicine, obstetrics, and general internal medicine. Also included was a forecast for increased primary care physician recruitment within the next decade to staff HMOs and evidence of how the beneficiary will improve health care in the U.S.

The beneficiary has a ten-year career as a family practice physician, including a successful six-year private family medicine practice which specialized in obstetrics. The beneficiary also served as a medical instructor in Canada, and was a registered nurse for seven years prior to completing medical school.

Physician
The beneficiary is a Russian-trained physician and scientist engaged in chiropractic medicine research on the use of manipulative therapy to prevent ergonomic problems in the workplace, and into new treatments for visceral disorders. The claim potential benefit to the United States was shown to be an improvement health care, reduction in treatment costs (with mention of President Clinton's health care reform) and increased public safety in the transportation industry.

Evidence consisted mainly of endorsement letters from university research directors, a medical journal and safety aerospace medicine, NASA sponsorship was available. To document his potential benefit to the aerospace industry, a major government research contractor prepared a detailed ability assessment showing his potential benefit to current and future government projects.

Physician
The Petitioner/Beneficiary is a Canadian trained physician who is licensed to practice medicine in California. A petition for EB-2 classification was filed with a request for a national interest waiver. At the time of filing, the Petitioner/Beneficiary had not yet determined where he wished to open his medical facility but anticipated that it would be somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. The argument for the national interest waiver focused on two areas, first being the shortage of primary care physicians and the second the fact that by opening a medical clinic, the Petitioner/Beneficiary would benefit the U.S. economy by creating new jobs.

Petitioner/Beneficiary argued that there is a general lack of family medicine and other primary care physicians in the United States and in California, in particular. Evidence in support of the petition included numerous articles from Medical Journals as well as the popular press indicating the tremendous shortage of primary care physicians. To demonstrate that the Petitioner/Beneficiary would be an asset to the medical field in the U.S., evidence of his 10 plus years of experience as a primary care physician and in his having established and run a highly successful medical clinic was furnished. In addition, letters from prospective employers and his educational/licenses were also included.

Physician
The petitioner is a health care facility which treats indigent patients. The beneficiary is a physician who is a citizen of Canada. A petition for EB-2 classification was filed with a request for a national interest waiver.

Petitioner has a clinic which is located in X County in Northern California. Although officially the X County poverty rate is 8.7%, the actual rate is much higher. The County had requested that the Governor of California apply to the Federal Office of Shortage Designation to order classify the County as a Medically Under-Served Population.

The petitioner is the sole provider of primary services to Medi-Cal recipients in the area. Physicians that practice primary care medicine have full or close to full practices. Except for the petitioner, there is virtually no other source of primary care for these patients within a 45 mile radius other than an emergency room in the city of Y.

Over 30 letters were in support of the petition. Included were letters from physicians, county politicians and also local folk including several ordinary citizens who hailed Dr. Z as "an exemplary physician," "a person who has raised the standard of care in the community" and "a role model for the community."

Physician
Petitioner/Beneficiary is a physician with a small hospital in rural Mississippi. He provides in-patient, out-patient and emergency room medical services to a community of approximately 12,000. The hospital which employs the petitioner is located in an area which had been designated as a medically-underserved area by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The petition contained evidence that the petitioner was properly degreed as a Medical Doctor and licensed as a primary care physician in the State of Mississippi. To support the request for National Interest Waiver, documentation was submitted to demonstrate that the area was in dire need of physicians. This consisted of press articles regarding access to and quality of health care in the area where the petitioner practiced. Additionally, statistical data, obtained from the county health department, was submitted to document the health status of the population, with a staggering infant mortality rate of 20%. This was augmented by census data to illustrate the demographic profile of the county's population as largely minority, undereducated, and poor, and articles which demonstrated that the rural poor have a higher mortality rate, stemming from years of inadequate health care and aggravated by the effects of poverty.

Medical Researcher
The Eastern Service Center approved a National Interest Waiver petition for a Post Doctoral Research Fellow. The national interest argument was based on the beneficiary’s outstanding, original Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine research. The research promises to be of great future benefit to U.S. health care, while at the same time improving the economy and the working conditions, education and other programs of U.S. workers.

The beneficiary holds medical degrees and possesses advanced training, with over ten (10) years of experience in the field of anesthesia. The beneficiary devised alternative, improved methods of protection for the heart during surgery and has contributed to the knowledge of cardiothoracic surgery and anesthesia.

Supporting documentation for the petition included letters from recognized experts in the field, including a letter from the Professor and Chair of the Medical University for which the beneficiary works.

Medical Director
Alien obtained her M.D. degree from prestigious British educational institution and, furthermore, pursued advanced studies, primarily in England. She has numerous specialization certificates in a wide range of medical fields.

She has in excess of ten years of direct professional clinical research experience and apart from placing emphasis on attempting to develop improvements in innovative drug delivery systems, she has focused her attention concurrently upon the issue of cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical and medical instrumentation, which is so important here in the United States.

Petition included a diverse array of outstanding letters of reference from world-renowned scientists, including local government officials pinpointing the significance of her contributions towards improving healthcare in the United States.