Ginsberg grew up in Toronto, completed high school and then moved to the U.S. for university, drawn by her mother’s American roots and the opportunity to study at Cornell University in New York.

“I found myself heading back to New York City right out of college because my father had been recruited [from Toronto] as a surgeon to Manhattan. He was a cancer surgeon, and he had an opportunity he couldn’t turn down, and I found myself in New York City as a graduate and went to medical school in New York City,” she told Global News.

Ginsberg said she’s loved her decades-long career as a pediatrician in the U.S. and recently spent time working in Los Angeles’ inner city, helping vulnerable youth.

However, in recent months, she has grown increasingly disheartened by the political landscape — an unease she shares with many colleagues who are finding it harder than ever to continue practicing in the country.

She points to growing challenges such as deep cuts to health-care funding, increasing restrictions on reproductive and gender-affirming care and the rise of vaccine hesitancy.

And with Canada’s doctor shortage still growing, provinces and health-care agencies are looking to tap into this interest, hoping to bring in more skilled professionals to help fill gaps in patient care.

1:52 Group wants to make it easier for international trained physicians to work in Nova Scotia

“The political landscape in medicine started changing a few years ago in the U.S. … but the recent politics have made things even worse,” she said. “I’m really disturbed and upset with the state of science and scientists, not just doctors.”

Because of these ongoing changes, Ginsberg is now considering a move to Canada to continue her practice — a step she never imagined taking in her career.

Ginsberg isn’t alone in her frustration. Many of her colleagues, particularly those nearing retirement, are seriously considering relocating to Canada or retiring early, she said.

With increasing political polarization and the pressure of combating health disinformation, Ginsberg says her peers are at a breaking point — and Canada may offer a solution.

“It’s a golden ticket for many,” she said.

“I already see some brain drain coming towards Canada. Doctors are really, really unhappy,” she said. “My peers in the U.S. are also looking to retire, every single one of them, if they can financially. If the opportunities were there, they would take it.”

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One doctor practicing internal medicine in the southeastern U.S. spoke with Global News about considering a move to Canada after working 18 years in the American health-care system.

Fearing retaliation following past threats and the potential loss of his job, he requested anonymity and Global News has agreed.

He said that during COVID-19, he and many of his colleagues received death threats for supporting the vaccine and had to fight years of misinformation — something that continues to this day and, in his view, has only worsened under the Trump administration.

“We’ve had all these federal funds that have been stopped. We recently had RFK Jr. cutting all of the health agencies,” he said. “I can no longer rely on most of the information on the NIH [National Institute of Health] and CDC  [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] websites because a lot of the information that we need has either been scrubbed or it’s been politically rewritten.”

He worries that with bird flu and measles on the rise in the U.S., vaccine hesitancy and misinformation will only exacerbate the situation under the current administration.

“But the bigger issue is what is the state of medical science going to be? Am I going to be targeted because I’m advocating for evidence-based care?” he said.

He originally planned to move to another state, but he said he now feels like there’s nowhere to go since the changing political healthcare landscape is impacting the entire country.

1:48 RFK Jr. slashing 10,000 jobs from U.S. health agencies

Now, he’s seriously looking at Canada as an option.

“Canada is definitely on that list. In fact, I’m already in talks with a recruiter. I have a second interview with one of their associates next week and they have already given contact information for immigration lawyers in Canada as well as financial people,” he said.

For Ginsberg, the idea of returning to Canada wasn’t on her radar until recently, but after connecting with CanAm Physician Recruiting and learning that her expertise could be put to immediate use in certain areas, she began to seriously consider it.

“I never thought I’d be moving back to Canada, but now I see it as a real possibility. But I’ve spoken to one person and they’re ready to take me on tomorrow as long as I have my license,” she said.

Despite the appeal, Ginsberg is torn. She has deep ties to New York City, a place she’s called home for decades, and the thought of leaving behind her private practice and the community she’s built is daunting.

“But I’m very frustrated and upset with what’s going on,” she admits, acknowledging how fortunate she feels to be in a position where she can consider a move.

“I really feel that my colleagues couldn’t do what I did. They still have kids in college. They love the patients and love what they do, but they are miserable.”

1:05 Arizona abortion ruling: Fallout grows after state Supreme Court upholds 1864 law

A new study found shingles vaccination cut older adults’ risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20 per cent.

The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is part of growing understanding about how many factors influence brain health as we age – and what we can do about it.

“It’s a very robust finding,” said lead researcher Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer of Stanford University. And “women seem to benefit more,” important as they’re at higher risk of dementia.

1:44 National Institute on Ageing calls for greater shingles vaccine access

The study tracked people in Wales who were around 80 when receiving the world’s first-generation shingles vaccine over a decade ago. Now, Americans 50 and older are urged to get a newer vaccine that’s proven more effective against shingles than its predecessor.

The new findings add another reason for people to consider rolling up their sleeves, said Dr. Maria Nagel of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, who studies viruses that infiltrate the nervous system.

The virus “is a risk for dementia and now we have an intervention that can decrease the risk,” Nagel said.

With Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia on the rise in an aging population, “the implications of the study are profound,” Dr. Anupam Jena, a Harvard physician and health economist, wrote in a Nature commentary.

Anyone who’s had ever had chickenpox – nearly everybody born before 1980 – harbors that virus for the rest of their life. It hides in nerves and can break out when the immune system weakens from illness or age, causing painful, blister-like sores typically on one side of the body that last for weeks – what’s called shingles.

About one in three Americans will get shingles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most recover, it sometimes causes severe complications. If it infects an eye it can cause vision loss. Up to 20 per cent of shingles patients suffer excruciating nerve pain months or even years after the rash itself is gone.

It’s not clear exactly how Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia form. But certain viruses that sneak inside the nervous system – especially members of the herpes family including the chickenpox virus — have long been suspected of adding to genetic and other factors that make people more vulnerable.

Last summer, doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported that an episode of shingles could raise someone’s risk of dementia by about 20%.

Partly, it’s because that virus can cause inflammation, bad for organs including the brain. It also can directly infect blood vessels in the brain, causing clots and impeding blood flow, said Colorado’s Nagel, a risk both for strokes and for dementia.

More intriguing, her lab also discovered shingles can spur formation of a sticky protein called amyloid that’s one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s.

4:21 Shingles: What you need to know to stay protected

Adults who get recommended vaccines tend to have other brain-healthy habits including exercising and a good diet, which made it hard to prove an extra benefit.

Stanford’s Geldsetzer took advantage of “a natural experiment” in Wales, which opened shingles vaccinations with an age limit: anyone 80 or older on Sept. 1, 2013, was ineligible but those still 79 could squeeze in. Comparing seniors who just met or just missed that cutoff would mimic a research study that randomly assigned otherwise similar people to be vaccinated or not.

Geldsetzer’s team analyzed more than 280,000 medical records and found evidence that vaccination did offer some protection against dementia. At the time, people received a first-generation vaccine called Zostavax.

An important next step is testing whether today’s vaccine, Shingrix, also offers dementia protection, Nagel said. Another research group recently reported some evidence that it does. Vaccine manufacturer GSK last month announced a collaboration with UK health officials to track seniors’ cognitive health as they get vaccinated.

Geldsetzer also hopes to further study that earlier shot to see if the type of vaccine might make a difference.

Shingrix is a onetime vaccination, given in two doses a few months apart. The CDC recommends it starting at age 50 for most people but also for younger adults with certain immune-weakening conditions – including those who years ago got that first-generation shingles vaccine. Fewer than 40% of eligible Americans have gotten vaccinated.

Side effects including injection-site pain and flu-like fever and achiness are common. The CDC cautions if you’re currently fighting another virus such as the flu or COVID-19, to wait on a shingles shot until you’re well.

While there’s no proven prevention for dementia, doctors also recommend other commonsense steps to lower the risk. Stay socially and cognitively active. And control high blood pressure and, for people with diabetes, high blood sugar, both of which are linked to cognitive decline.

An Ontario public health unit has ordered the suspension of 1,624 elementary students for out-of-date vaccination records.

The Region of Waterloo Public Health issued the notice under the Immunization of School Pupils Act Wednesday morning.

“With the increase in measles cases and exposures, it is even more important that students are up to date with their immunizations to keep our community safe and healthy,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s medical officer of health, said in a statement.

“Vaccination is the best way to ensure your family is protected against serious illness.”

The Immunization of School Pupils Act requires students to be vaccinated against the following diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease and pertussis (whooping cough). Students born in 2010 or later must also be vaccinated against varicella (chicken pox) or submit an exemption form.

The act also requires public health bodies to maintain vaccination records for all private, public and Catholic school students in their respective areas.

Public health bodies have the authority to suspend students from school if they do not receive an up-to-date immunization record or a valid exemption, which must be provided by parents or guardians as health-care providers do not report those records.

1:56 Measles cases climb across Canada amid concerns of undetected spread

Waterloo’s notice comes as Ontario finds itself during a measles outbreak.

The province’s chief medical officer of health said Friday that the outbreak is likely to continue into the summer, but a stable rate of new cases is a hopeful sign it won’t worsen.

Measles is so contagious that one infected person can spread it to 16 others, but the province is not seeing that growth rate at the moment, Dr. Kieran Moore told The Canadian Press.

Last week, there were just over 100 new cases and 120 new ones the week before that, he said.

Public Health Ontario says there have been 572 cases since the outbreak began in October — 453 of them confirmed and 119 probable. Of the 42 people requiring hospitalization, two have required intensive care and 36 have been children — most of them unvaccinated.

Moore wrote in a memo to local medical officers of health earlier this month that the measles outbreak is “disproportionately” affecting some Mennonite, Amish and other Anabaptist communities due to under-immunization and exposure. The origin of the outbreak was a large gathering with guests from Mennonite communities in New Brunswick last fall, he wrote.

He said Friday that the “vast majority” of Ontario’s cases are among people in those communities, and local public health units are focusing on outreach to try to contain the spread. Unvaccinated infants, kids and teenagers in the Southwestern and Grand Erie public health units are most affected.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. The World Health Organization says the virus can remain active in the air or on infected surfaces for up to two hours.

It usually begins with a fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, followed by a red blotchy rash that starts on the face and spreads to the body and limbs. The virus can lead to pneumonia, inflammation of the brain and death.

— With files from The Canadian Press

With Canada’s doctor shortage still growing, provinces and health-care agencies are looking to tap into this interest, hoping to bring in more skilled professionals to help fill gaps in patient care.

The Medical Council of Canada (MCC) told Global News the number of U.S. medical graduates opening accounts on physiciansapply.ca — a key step toward obtaining a medical licence in Canada — has risen 583 per cent between October 2024 and March 2025 compared to the same period last year.

“In addition, we have observed a slight increase in inquiries from U.S. medical graduates to our service desk. Over the past two months, our agents have received approximately 100 calls per month from U.S.-based locations, marking a 33 per cent increase compared to September and October 2024,” an MCC spokesperson told Global News in an email on Tuesday.

This trend is crucial as Canada continues to face significant health-care challenges, including physician shortages, health-care worker burnout and long emergency room wait times.

1:55 Alberta doctors warn of OB/GYN shortage, health risks

The potential influx of U.S. doctors presents an opportunity to ease some of these pressures, filling much-needed gaps in Canada’s health-care system, explained Michelle Flynn, COO of CanAm Physician Recruiting, a health-care recruitment firm based in Nova Scotia.

The firm helps doctors navigate Canada’s licensing and credentialing systems, working with them to make sure they’re properly certified to practice in Canada.

While they help physicians from all over the world, many of their clients are based in the U.S.

“We have always worked with a lot of U.S. physicians wanting to come to Canada. However, there has been a very marked increase over the last several months,” she said. “I would say, at the moment, just about every doctor that I’m talking to is from the U.S.”

Some are Canadians currently training in the U.S. and hoping to move back, she said, while many others are U.S. citizens looking to practice in Canada.

Flynn says there are many factors driving doctors to head north, but a big concern for many American doctors is the political climate and how health care, especially women’s health care, is being handled and changing.

A lot of them are also thinking about their families, she said.

“They’re bringing up concerns about wanting to raise their children in a safer, kinder society. There are definitely a lot of factors coming into play here,” she said.

While some doctors are simply inquiring about working in Canada, Flynn added that many are already in the process of moving and getting their credentials.

Due to the growing interest in working in Canada, she said she typically conducts three candidate interviews a day, three days a week. But with demand surging — up 60 per cent in the last 90 days — she’s had to make more time to meet with doctors looking to make the move.

As for Canadians looking to work in the U.S., she said job opportunities have come up there as well.

“And I’m not getting any takers to go,” Flynn said.

She said she’s hopeful that more U.S. doctors will make their way to Canada, helping to fill gaps in the country’s ongoing doctor shortage.

“I mean, it’s not going to fill every position that we have, but it is certainly helping,” she added.

1:20 Manitoba recruiting US nurses

It’s not just recruiters looking to bring in U.S. medical talent — provinces are jumping on the opportunity, too.

Doctors Manitoba has been actively recruiting U.S. physicians, even running ads in Florida, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Doctors Manitoba CEO Theresa Oswald said this push comes from a pattern they’ve seen before — when changes in the U.S. government make physicians feel like politics is interfering with patient care.

“We have seen over thirty queries to our advertisement about the positives of considering practice in Manitoba,” Oswald said in a statement.

“While we are not the official recruiting body for the Province of Manitoba, we do want to highlight the opportunity here so physicians from the U.S. and elsewhere will strongly see the upside of practicing in Manitoba.”

And with issues surrounding abortion rights and gender-affirming care in certain states, Oswald says they’re trying to pounce on doctor dissatisfaction.

“Physicians want to be able to have that relationship with their patients, whatever it is they need,” Oswald said.

1:38 Nova Scotia Health Career Fair aims to find new recruits

The British Columbia government, along with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., is working to bring in more doctors and nurses from the U.S. by speeding up credential recognition and rolling out a targeted recruitment campaign.

In a statement posted on March 11, B.C. announced that U.S.-trained doctors with certification from the American Board of Medical Specialties will soon be able to get fully licensed in the province without needing additional assessments, exams or training.

This move removes barriers for U.S. doctors looking to practice in B.C.

These streamlined licensing practices are already in place in provinces such as Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

“With the uncertainty and chaos happening south of our border, we have an unprecedented opportunity to attract skilled health-care workers interested in moving to Canada,” B.C. Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, said in the statement.

“Our message to doctors and nurses working in the U.S. is that now is the time to come to British Columbia. We will welcome you to our beautiful province where together we can strengthen public health care, deliver services for people and build healthy communities.”

The provinces also plan to ramp up targeted recruitment and marketing campaigns in Washington, Oregon and California in the spring.

— With files from Global News’ Kevin Hirschfield 

Citing low pay, burnout and unsustainable job responsibilities, nurses warn that without urgent action, the overburdened health-care system could come tumbling down.

Aliya Hajee, a nurse practitioner and founder of NP Circle, an organization that supports nurse practitioners in Canada, said the current reality is not just frustration — it’s a crisis.

“Nurse practitioners have been stepping in to fill these gaps the past several years, but we’re doing much more with less,” she said. “We’re managing increasing volumes of patient care without the support we really need to sustain that.”

A national survey conducted by NP Circle found that only one in eight Ontario nurse practitioners were “very satisfied” with their jobs.

Nearly one in five were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied,” and almost 78 per cent pointed to compensation as their top concern.

“The whole reason I created NP Circle and started this survey was because there was no space for nurse practitioners to connect and feel supported in a system that often feels isolating,” explained Hajee. “And the data directly reflects that this is truly concerning.”

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Claudia Mariano, a retired nurse practitioner with more than 25 years of experience on the job, said resentment is common in the trade.

“Back when I started as a nurse practitioner many years ago, we used to advocate to do more, but we’re not celebrating those increases in scope of practice anymore because the increase in responsibility and accountability has not been met with increase in compensation, support or even respect,” said Mariano, now director of membership at NP circle.

“There’s this unwritten foundation that because you’re a nurse, you’ll just do what is asked out of altruistic tendencies … we’ve come to the point where we’re being dumped on … just keep doing more with exactly the same resources.”

More than half of Ontario nurse practitioners surveyed said they were considering leaving the profession — or expressed serious indications that they might.

“When looking through some written responses in the data, almost half of respondents wrote some kind of free-text comment saying they would leave,” Mariano said.

She recalls reading a response saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore … I’m going to be leaving in the next year or two because I can’t do this.”‘

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Alongside pay concerns, nearly one in three nurse practitioners in Ontario reported that mental health and burnout were among their top professional challenges.

Alix Consorti, a primary-care nurse practitioner with more than a decade of experience, said the survey results were staggering.

“It was mind-blowing to see the numbers,” she said. “It’s very scary. Those are my colleagues and friends … and it’s not a solo practitioner’s issue. That’s a system issue.”

According to an announcement by the Canadian Council of Registered Nurse Regulators last year, a new pan-Canadian framework is expected to be implemented in 2026, making it easier for np’s to register for work anywhere in the country.

The change would enhance mobility and remove existing barriers on where nurse practitioners can practice but has sparked a whole new set of concerns around employment retention in Ontario.

“Nurse practitioners are … leaving to go to other provinces where pay is better, and that is only going to increase with this new legislation,” Consorti said. “So, we’re in a real human resource crisis here.”

As a result, patients are paying the price, said Erin Mignault, a nurse practitioner with more than 40 years of experience.

“It’s an exhausting cycle. On one hand, nurses are trying to step up and fill gaps where family doctor shortages can’t, and on the other hand, it causes them to burn out and want to leave the field,” she said.

“As family doctors continue to leave, more patients are dropped into a pot of millions of people who currently don’t have a primary-care provider.”

Ontario is already looking for ways to connect an estimated 2.2 million residents to a regular primary-care provider — leaving many to rely on overcrowded emergency rooms or walk-in clinics.

In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for Ontario’s health minister said the province is continuing to invest in the nurse practitioner workforce.

“We have added 150 new nurse practitioner education seats, removed unnecessary administrative tasks to save providers 95,000 hours, and expanded nurse practitioners’ scope of practice,” they said. “Our government will continue to be a strong partner to nurse practitioners.”

Despite that work, advocates said adding seats won’t make a significant difference if people don’t want to stay in the job.

Without serious reforms and better compensation, they worry the province may soon face a new health-care challenge.

“We’re not just supporting the system,” Hajee said. “We’re helping hold it together.”