UVa researcher loses his work visa

A University of Virginia medical researcher from the Middle East has been placed on leave without pay after the federal government denied his green card application and revoked his work authorization.

Dr. Alaa Awad, a 35-year-old kidney disease expert, believes his application to continue his work in the United States was rejected because he is a Muslim and Egyptian.

“They have no single legitimate reason,” said Awad, whose final day at UVa was Monday. “Nationality or religion — those are the only reasons why I can think it’s been denied. It’s logic. Either you give me a reason or that’s the only reason.”

Awad, who earned his medical degree from the Cairo Univer-sity School of Medicine in 1997, has been a researcher at UVa since January 2002.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied Awad’s application because it said he lacked a year’s worth of relevant research experience prior to Sept. 28, 2004.

Awad asserts that the federal government’s allegation is untrue. As evidence, he points to his involvement in 2003 and 2004 on studies that were published in such journals as Endocrinology and Kidney International.

Prior to fall 2004, Awad had received several research grants, including one from the National Kidney Foundation. He also helped author at least 10 national or international research abstracts. He has won numerous awards, including one from the American Heart Association.

“I think he is a very good scientist and he’s a value to the department,” said Dr. Mark Okusa, chairman of UVa’s division of nephrology.

Okusa, who has worked with Awad for the past few years, wrote on behalf of Awad as part of an appeal filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigra-tion Services agency earlier this month. Also writing in favor of Awad was Dr. Robert Carey, an international expert in endocrinology and dean of UVa’s School of Medicine from 1986 to 2002. Carey did not return a call for comment.

Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said she could not comment on the specifics of Awad’s case. But, she added, the federal government does not reject green card applications based on religion or country of origin.

“We don’t under any circumstances consider race, ethnicity, religion, gender or any of that,” Rhatigan said.

Awad is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health study focused on diabetic nephropathy, a kidney disease or damage that occurs as a complication of diabetes. The five-year study includes roughly $1 million in NIH research funding.

For more than two years, Awad said, the status of his H-1B visa has been pending while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security performed a background security check.

A year ago, Awad filed a lawsuit against federal homeland security and immigration agencies to compel them to give him permission to work at UVa. A long delay in his work authorization was jeopardizing the $1 million grant from the NIH. Awad won that permission in late summer 2007.

With his future in America now in doubt after living for seven years in the United States, Awad may seek employment at research universities in other countries.

Awad’s difficulties come at a difficult time. In late 2007, Awad and his wife bought a house in Forest Lakes, leaving him with a house that might now need to be sold.

His wife, Marwa, is pregnant with their second child. And their first child, a 3 1/2-year-old son, has expensive health problems brought on by a premature birth.

“I don’t understand why they are doing this,” he said. “It is very sad.”

Awad’s green card rejection, he said, suggests that the United States is imposing unnecessary barriers on cutting-edge medical research.

“I think the problem is academic freedom,” he said. “Part of this freedom is to allow scholars to interact freely and further research. Now there are boundaries being set.”