Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa has been named to Popular Science Magazine's annual Brilliant 10 list. That's an amazing feat recognizing the physician's reputation as one of the nation's top brain surgeons. He runs the brain tumor program at the world famous Johns Hopkins University. Thousands of patients have benefited from his care over the years. But the most intriguing part of his story is that he began his life in American as an unauthorized immigrant farm worker who was able to legalize.
Here's an interesting article about Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa's journey from entering the country as a 19 year old illegal farmworker who spoke no English to one of America's top doctors who is searching for a cure for brain cancer.
I'm at the airport waiting to leave Singapore so I'll get a jump start on catching up on blogging...
ILW.com recently posted USCIS' 2006 Outstanding Americans By Choice list and one of the folks named is someone I've known for a few years in my volunteer capacity as a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Marina Belotserkovsky is well-known in the Russian community in New York and beyond and she's done outstanding work at HIAS. Here's the bio included with the well-deserved USCIS award.
Marina Belotserkovsky
Director of Russian Communications and Community Outreach, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
New York, New YorkMarina Belotserkovsky is currently director of Russian Communications and Community Outreach at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), where she is responsible for assisting over one million members of the Russian-speaking community in America. She produces and hosts "HIAS Answers" for both radio and television. The program was developed to provide information for new immigrants when they arrive in the United States. Together with her HIAS colleagues, Ms. Belotserkovsky has been instrumental in the success of Local Russian-speaking Émigré Organizations (LOREO) and The Civic and Voter Educational Initiative, HIAS' key national outreach programs for Russian Americans.
Ms. Belotserkovsky immigrated to the United States in 1989 as a refugee from the Former Soviet Union. In 1996, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Before coming to the United States, Ms. Belotserkovsky founded and ran a school for gifted children in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has a graduate degree in linguistics and teaching from the Pedagogical State University in St. Petersburg.
Thanks to Sid for suggesting this and USC prompting me to get back in to the "Immigrant of the Day" groove. Dr. Khorana is an 85 year old Indian born American who won the Nobel in medicine in 1968 for his work in genetic code interpretation. He has worked at various universities in India, the UK and Canada, but has called the US his home since 1960. Since his arrival in the US, he has really become one of the fathers of DNA research and many of his discoveries helped paved the way for modern genetic science.
Most of you probably don't know about America's "other" foreign-born governor unless you live in Michigan, the state Canadian-born Governor Jennifer Granholm has run since being sworn in as the state's first woman governor on January 1, 2003. She was re-elected last year for her second term.
Granholm's family moved to California when she was a young child and she initially tried her hand at acting. But at the age of 21, she decided that an acting career was not in the cards and enrolled at UC-Berkeley where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and then went on to earn a law degree from Harvard.
Like Governor Schwarzenegger, she is ineligible to become President of the United States because of her birth in a foreign country.
Favorite fact: One thing Ms. Granholm has in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger is the fact that both were contestants on The Dating Game television show.
There are not that many contemporary American artists who are well known by the general public. One who many of you will know is Peter Max. Max was born in the 30s in Nazi-controlled Germany and his family escaped to Shanghai where he lived for ten years and then moved to Israel. His family immigrated to the US in 1953.
Max has been a major figure in the US art scene for decades and is still very relevant today. You may have seen his recent Newsweek cover or his famous paintings of the Statue of Liberty (including one below from a 1997 New York City conference on immigration organized by a once very pro-immigration Rudolph Guiliani).
About The Author
Greg Siskind is a partner in Siskind Susser's Memphis, Tennessee, office. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. Mr. Siskind is a member of AILA, a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a member of the ABA, where he serves on the LPM Publishing Board as Marketing Vice Chairman. He is the author of several books, including the J Visa Guidebook and The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet. Mr. Siskind practices all areas of immigration law, specializing in immigration matters of the health care and technology industries. He can be reached by email at gsiskind@visalaw.com.
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