Vikram Madireddy, MD

When something doesn’t quite add up, Dr. Vikram Madireddy can’t let it go. 

Born and raised in New York City, Vikram grew up thinking he might become a detective – and in a way, he did. “I like walking into a new mystery every day,” he says. “We don’t get to pick our patients, we don’t know anything about them when they first walk in the door and we have to step up and solve the medical whodunit.”

So, when Vikram started to notice one DEI roadblock after another on his path to become a doctor, he set out to find some answers. It just didn’t add up. 

Vikram was the ideal candidate for medical school. In undergrad, he was an EMT on an ambulance, and a medic for the ROTC. He collected medical textbooks from around the world and studied them for fun, and got nearly perfect scores in the science sections of the MCAT. 

Despite his exceptional passion and academic performance, only one medical school accepted him out of the 75 he applied to – the University of Tennessee. Only three others offered him interviews. 

“I understand this process is competitive, and that Ivy League schools reject a lot of people. But not even getting interviews from Rutgers? Hofstra? Stony Brook? So many generic form letters from so many schools. Something wasn’t sitting right. It was clear that I was falling into some kind of category.”

It only got worse from there. 

The next DEI roadblock hit during medical school, when Vikram was in the first class of students to take Step 1 of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination under its new pass-fail system – an overhaul driven by pressure from DEI activists prioritizing identity over excellence.

The idea was to make it easier for less qualified students to seem indistinguishable from those who truly meet the highest standard, and it worked. Despite applying to more than 50 residencies in the U.S. with exceptional scores, only the University of Tennessee extended Vikram an offer. But accepting it would have told future employers that he couldn’t succeed without a home-field advantage.

Out of options in the United States, Vikram did what he needed to do to continue his dream – he let his lease expire in Tennessee, renewed his passport, and went on an adventure that would earn him the moniker, “The Medical Nomad.” Five months and four continents later, he had studied in the UK, Japan, Germany, and Australia, learning from experiences the United States wasn’t willing to give.

In Australia, Vikram saw his mentor diagnose a man with a rare infectious brain disease based on the contents of his bag. In Germany, Vikram presented his own research paper, winning an award for its findings. 

In Japan, he was invited to learn endovascular techniques from some of the best in the field, assist on extremely rare and complicated cases, and teach Japanese medical students how to do intakes with patients in English. 

The rest of the world did not care what identity boxes Vikram checked. They quickly recognized the passion, talent, and merit that he brought to the table. And when the University of Tokyo School of Medicine offered him a residency as its first foreign trainee and researcher, it was an easy yes.

“Yes, the field benefits from having different perspectives. All that I’ve learned from doctors and patients around the world is living proof of that. But not at the cost of quality and safety, those are the two fundamental things. That’s not good for patients and it destroys trust in the profession.”

His original plan was to return to New York after medical school. Now he’s continuing to work on his brain mapping research and studying Japanese to take the Ishi Kokka Shiken exam. If he passes, it will be the fourth country to issue him a medical license. “Nothing is set in stone anymore,” he says. 

Vikram is moving on, but the detective inside of him is not letting go. 

“I don’t normally get vocal about things. I’m not politically active, and at this point living abroad, I barely read American news. But I’m hoping that by sharing my story and asking hard questions, the people issuing these rejections will have to be honest about what they are doing. At least give us a sense of – for whatever category you’ve placed us in – why you don’t think we are qualified.”

We eagerly await the answer.