Paper: Courier-Journal, The (Louisville, KY) Title: U.S. won't renew Louisville cancer researcher's visa Date: April 13, 2004 WILLIAM ALLEN wallen@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal The University of Louisville is fighting to prevent one of its top cancer researchers from being deported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department's Citizenship and Immigration Services has rejected Dr. Damian Laber's request to renew his visa. As a result, Laber, an Argentinian who has been working in the United States for nearly a decade, can no longer see patients, teach doctors or run the two dozen cancer studies he has overseen at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center. "It's terrible - I want to be in there but my hands are tied," Laber, 36, said recently as he gave a tour of the second-floor clinic at the Brown center where he formerly worked. Dan Kane, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington, declined to discuss Laber's case, citing privacy laws. The service conducts the business of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. But in its denial letter to Laber, the service said simply that he did not meet the requirements for the visa he wanted to renew, an O-1 visa, said Dan Owens, an attorney for Laber and the university. The O-1 visa allows a three-year stay by foreigners with "extraordinary ability" in the sciences, arts, athletics, movie production and other fields. Laber and U of L have appealed the government ruling - a process that could take months. During that time he does not face deportation, but for legal reasons the university has had to lay him off. And because of the visa problem, he has not seen his Mexican wife and two U.S.-born children in four months. His wife, Rosalia, and children left to visit his wife's parents in Mexico just before Laber's visa renewal was denied. His wife can't return because the visa she carries depends on his visa being approved. "I have done everything by the book," Laber said in a recent interview. University officials and colleagues said Laber has brought a half-million dollars in research grants to the university and has treated hundreds of patients. His loss, they say, could hurt the center's attempt to become designated by the National Cancer Institute as a comprehensive cancer center . Such a designation would qualify the university for major grants, help attract more researchers and give patients in Kentucky and Southern Indiana the benefits of a nearby cancer research powerhouse. "He is critical to everything we're doing here," said Dr. Donald Miller, director of the Brown center. "We're doing everything we can do to get his visa approved so he can continue to be productive." "Kentucky needs Dr. Laber," said Dr. Mary Barry, a specialist in internal medicine and board member of the Jefferson County Medical Society. John Murphy, a patient of Laber's from Scottsburg, Ind., said Laber is an extraordinarily caring doctor, is willing to listen at length and is well-liked by his patients. "He gives you confidence and hope," Murphy said. "He extended my life."
But Murphy, 73, said he "feels like the rug has been pulled out from under me" because Laber can't see him now. "I think it's a shame in this country when you've got someone who is so caring and wants to do something for people, yet his hands are tied because of red tape." A list of credentials Laber was born and raised in Buenos Aires, received a medical degree in 1992 at the University of Buenos Aires and arrived in the United States two years later. Among other places , he worked at the Cleveland Clinic Health System and the Baylor College of Medicine and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, both in Houston. He trained at those places with a J-1 visa, which is commonly given to the many foreign-educated doctors who do their residency training at U.S. hospitals. The J-1 carries a requirement that the visa holder eventually work three years in an underserved community or leave the country for two years before returning to practice. But Laber's path took him into high-tech medical research, and his credentials earned him an O-1 visa, which was created by federal law in 1990. Criteria for an O-1 visa include awards, professional memberships and recognition in the field. Laber started work in Louisville in January 2001 as an assistant professor of medicine and assistant scientist at the Brown center. He specializes in oncology and hematology - cancer and blood. He rose to become director of the center's Genito-Urinary Cancer Clinical Research Program and Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program. Until the recent visa problem arose, h e served as a staff physician at University Hospital, Norton Hospital, Jewish Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Louisville. Once a week he dro ve to Campbellsville, where he saw cancer patients at a clinic there. Laber has won teaching awards, organized medical conferences and forged relationships among university and private-sector cancer doctors, and he had been seeing about 300 cancer patients a month in Louisville, said Miller and others who have worked with Laber. Several colleagues spoke of his tenacity and commitment to finding cancer cures. He developed many of the research programs he oversees and has made several important findings in cancer care, including previously unknown side effects in some cancer drugs, Miller and others said. Supporters said his growing list of publications in major medical journals and his appointment to the editorial boards of three journals point to his high standing in these fields. Given all that, university officials, supporters and Laber himself said they cannot fathom why U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has decided he doesn't meet the standards for an O-1 visa anymore. "His original visa application met with approval, since his resume so clearly supplied proof that he has published in leading journals and has research interests that benefit our society," Barry said. "Since 2000, on the faculty of the School of Medicine, he has solidified those efforts." Miller, the Brown center director, said "there's not any question" that Laber merits the visa. "He's doing a big volume of clinical trials," Miller said. "He's running our fellowship program and is a great teacher for the people coming along. And he's a wonderful physician." Owens, the attorney, said the government might have decided it is granting too many O-1 visas.
But not granting one in Laber's case is "totally ridiculous" because government officials three years ago deemed him worthy of the same visa, "and he has continued to conduct cutting-edge research at the U of L in a field that is of obvious importance to everyone," Owens said. Laber, who said he wants to become an American citizen, said he first needs to obtain a waiver of the J-1 visa requirement that he leave the country for two years, a waiver that about 30 doctors a year obtain in Kentucky. He said he is confident the O-1 visa problem will work out because his cancer research is important to the United States. "This is still the best country in the world," he said. "I love this country." His son, Eric, 3, was born in Houston. Daughter Natalie was born in November 2002 in Louisville. Both are American citizens. Laber's mother lives in an apartment near his Louisville home. His father is deceased. His brother, an American citizen, is an electrical engineer in the San Francisco Bay area. Laber's supporters emphasized that his career path lies in the world of scientific research, teaching and ideas for combating cancer and not in private practice, where he could command a much larger salary. Taking him out of the rapidly evolving field of cancer research for two years or more doesn't make sense, said Barry and others. "My future is here," Laber said. "The type of work I do doesn't even exist in Argentina." A clash of concerns Laber's case illustrates the shifting balance between the federal government's heightened caution about foreign visitors and the needs of U.S. medical institutions that benefit from the talents of internationally trained doctors, several of Laber's supporters said. Hospitals are facing increasing difficulty filling residency positions for which they rely on foreigners, according to reports in medical journals. And Laber isn't the only highly trained foreign specialist having trouble renewing an O-1 visa . In 2002, the government denied an O-1 visa renewal for Dr. Salik Jahania, a Pakistan native and heart and lung transplant surgeon at the University of Kentucky. Jahania was unable to work for almost five months before an appeal by university officials, patients and politicians in Kentucky and West Virginia resulted in his visa being renewed, Jahania said in an interview. UK transplant surgeon Dr. Taqi Khan, a Pakistani who specialized in liver, kidney and pancreas surgery, lost an attempt to renew his O-1 visa about the same time. He left the university, and UK officials said they did not know where he is now. "I think homeland security is important, but we have to be careful about who we are sacrificing and for what reason, and what will be the outcome," said Dr. Muneeb Choudry, a U of L medical graduate who has been training in oncology and hematology under Laber. University officials are working with the office of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell to find out more about the denial of the visa renewal. Julie Adams, a spokeswoman for McConnell, said last week that McConnell has asked the government for details of Laber's case. The staff at the Brown center said they are hearing from patients who are upset that he's no longer there. "I hope something can be done to return him to where he belongs and to his patients," said Murphy, one of those patients. "To me that's the most important thing in the world right now. He deserves it and this community does, too."