Overview
- Politico, which reported Tuesday on state records, found El-Sayed has never held a medical license in Michigan or New York.
- El-Sayed has called himself a physician in public settings, including an April Detroit pastors’ debate where he introduced himself as a physician and epidemiologist.
- His direct patient-care experience was a four-week sub-internship, and he said in a 2022 podcast that he was "cosplaying a doctor."
- His campaign says he earned the right to be called doctor based on his M.D. from Columbia and a public health doctorate from Oxford, citing his public health work in Detroit.
- Michigan law bars implying one is licensed to practice medicine without a license, and New York reserves the title "physician" for license holders, a backdrop rivals and Republicans are using to challenge his Senate bid.