The U.S. Senate race in Michigan has sparked a debate over Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s medical background, with his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, accusing him of misrepresenting his credentials to voters.
During an October debate, Rogers strongly challenged El-Sayed’s status, stating, “He’s not really a doctor. He says he’s a physician. As a matter of fact, if somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he’d go to jail.”
Rogers reiterated these claims multiple times throughout the debate and in subsequent social media posts, maintaining that El-Sayed had falsely claimed to be a physician.
Conversely, El-Sayed regularly draws upon his medical education to establish credibility on healthcare issues. When challenged on stage, he noted his Columbia University medical degree and remarked that critics could take the matter up with the university.
High-profile Democrats have also highlighted his background; for instance, former President Barack Obama stated in a campaign advertisement that El-Sayed is a doctor who fights for better healthcare and lower costs.
The core of the dispute lies in the distinction between holding a degree and holding a license. El-Sayed earned a Doctor of Medicine degree—which involves four years of medical school—but he never completed a residency or obtained a medical license in Michigan or New York. Consequently, without a license, he is legally barred from treating patients or prescribing medication.
Whether he qualifies as a “physician” largely depends on the definition being applied.
The Rogers campaign relies on state laws in Michigan and New York, which define a physician as an individual specifically licensed to practice medicine. Campaign spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet emphasized that El-Sayed lacks a license, skipped his residency, and cannot legally write prescriptions or see patients.
In response, El-Sayed’s campaign references the American Medical Association’s guidelines, which classify anyone with a doctor of medicine degree as a physician.
Dr. Michael Genovese, a New York-based chief medical adviser, noted that professional groups and government statutes often view the term differently. According to Genovese, while the AMA counts anyone with an MD or equivalent degree as a physician, a helpful rule of thumb is that all physicians are doctors, but not all doctors are physicians.
El-Sayed’s background
El-Sayed’s public statements regarding his profession have varied. In some instances, such as a March appearance on the program “Breaking Points,” he explicitly called himself a physician, stating, “I’m a physician. I trained to take care of people.” His LinkedIn profile has also used that title.
At other times, however, he has been transparent about the boundaries of his credentials. Following his primary victory in August, he noted at a press conference, “I don’t practice medicine, as has been well documented by all of you.”
Genovese explained that while medical students participate in patient care during their training, the residency period following graduation is what ultimately prepares individuals to practice independently.
Following his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, El-Sayed entered a dual-degree program focused on medicine and public health. As a Rhodes Scholar, he also earned a doctorate in public health from Oxford University before completing his medical degree at Columbia in 2014.
Instead of pursuing a medical residency, El-Sayed chose to focus on public health. He became an assistant professor at Columbia, later serving as Detroit’s public health director from 2015 to 2017 and subsequently leading the Wayne County health department from 2022 to 2025.
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has frequently shared the pivotal moment that led him away from clinical practice. During an advanced medical school rotation, he treated a homeless patient struggling with substance abuse. When the patient refused a rehabilitation referral and left, El-Sayed later spotted her sleeping on a subway train, an experience that motivated him to pursue systemic healthcare reform rather than individual patient care. As he explained on “The Ezra Klein Show,” “Our system is not built to take care of those kinds of patients. And if it was a just system, it would be.”
What’s a physician?
Definitions of the term “physician” vary across legal and professional frameworks.
Michigan’s medical licensing statute defines a physician as someone licensed or authorized to practice medicine, a standard mirrored in various federal regulations.
Dr. Thomas Powell, a licensed anesthesiologist and medical executive, distinguishes between the two titles by noting that “doctor” functions as an academic designation, whereas “physician” denotes active practice. In everyday usage and state law, Powell noted, the term refers to a licensed medical degree holder.
Conversely, the American Medical Association does not mandate a state license for its definition of a physician, classifying the title as belonging to anyone who has earned a doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathic medicine, or an equivalent qualification from a recognized medical school.