Looking at the profiles of primary care physicians accepting new patients in major medical groups in the area, it looks like women with MDs from non-US (non-Caribbean) medical schools are the most common.
The practices in my area seem to be attracting first gen women (daughters of immigrants but born and educated in the US) but of course- no guarantees that this pattern will continue.
It depends. The shortage in primary care is in rural areas. There are programs such that you can get all med loans repayed by working 2-4 years in underserved areas. As someone who is in primary care (private so I make more than hospitalists), many of my peers did it. As I already was married in my last year of med school, and was trying to match where the husband was so we could start a family, we chose to keep the full loans and paid about 300k back starting in residency in the early 00s. They were not terribly hard to get done in under 13 years, but we are great at budgeting. We certainly had many friends in non-medical fields who outearned us at during that decade or more. Oddly enough they plateaued while we were still rising through the ranks to partner/senior doc, and we out earn most of them now even as two primary care docs. People pick medicine because they want it, not for the salary, and within medicine primary care (adult or peds) is a calling, it truly is. I do hope the economics of it do not worsen further for the next generation of primary care. So far we have had 5+ good candidates from US med school and residency for every new spot we have each hired in the past 5 years.
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Interesting. Not so in our area at all. Though yes, 80% female. That has been true for 15years or more. Primary care does allow part-time(30-38hrs a week vs 50ish), though there are part-time doctor dads out there too, and there are subspecialties that allow part time. We know a few part-timers in emergency med, endocrine, plastic surgery, obgyn.
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That program [NHSC] now requires a 5 years of service contract and only forgives (not repays) federal loans. It can’t be used for private loans. (And since the BBB has eliminated Grad Plus loans and capped federal students loan for medical students at $200K, most med students going forward will have significant private loans.)
Beside primary care, there are now programs for maternal healthcare providers (OB/GYNs and CNMs) in areas where there are maternity care deserts (which includes 40% of all US counties)
However, the funding for NHSC has not been approved beyond the end of 2025 AND the current 2025 funding has been cut by $950M so that number of funded positions available has been reduced.
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They might not compete with those earning Google-level salaries, but they’re still very well compensated. You’re absolutely right—skills, abilities, and personal choices all influence income. If you’re a doctor who prefers to avoid being on call or chooses to work part-time, you can expect to earn less.
How to Compare Physician Compensation in Family Medicine | AAFP .