Danette W. McKinley, Ph.D., Research Scientist, led a roundtable session at the Global Health Council’s 33rd Annual International Conference on Global Health on June 1, 2006 in Washington, D.C. Dr. McKinley’s presentation, Measuring Brain Drain: Combining Data Sources for Effective Analysis, examined the migration of highly skilled health care workers from less developed countries to more developed countries.
The session was based on a current investigation describing the characteristics and workforce pathways of physicians educated in sub-Saharan Africa who applied for ECFMG Certification between 1990 and 2004. Several data sources were used to quantify the emigration of physicians educated in Africa to the United States over this 15-year period. The study provides an example of how a combination of data sources can be used to inform “brain drain” discussions.