Case Summary:

The following are the items our team of experts chose from the professional and academic documents furnished by a client, a graduate research assistant for her NIW (National Interest Waiver) case:

• She is an expert in the field of bioengineering, and her proposed endeavor is to optimize wound healing treatment strategies by microfabricating freestanding chitosan membranes and optimizing biomedical material systems through biomaterials synthesis and characterization.
• Her research advancing her proposed endeavor is of great importance because it provides powerful new tools for fighting widespread, dangerous forms of infection and inflammation, especially since antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become more prevalent, and the world needs new technology to prevent infections.
• In addition, her proposed endeavor has broad implications for the United States since her research benefits two medical practices that are widely implemented in American healthcare: dental implants and chemotherapy/radiotherapy.
• Due to its evident national importance, her research has also been supported with funding from two institutes operated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH): the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institute of General Medical Science.
• During her 3 years in the field, her work has resulted in 10 peer-reviewed journal articles (2 of them first-authored and 1 co-first-authored), 3 peer-reviewed conference papers (2 of them first-authored), and 1 accepted journal article which have been cited a total of 41 times according to Google Scholar, thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of bioengineering.
• She has also been invited to conduct peer reviews for scientific journals at least twice already.
• Finally, her work found support in letters of recommendation written by 4 other experts who recognized and corroborated the merit of her work. Two of these letters contained the following passages about her:

“In bioengineering, research on wound healing management is critical to developing more effective treatment strategies for bacterial infection in open wounds. Her work in biomedical material systems supports the evaluation of the wound-healing process and its relationship to antibiotic resistance. [The client] has used her skills in biomaterials synthesis to advance knowledge of the effects of metallic nanoparticles on the tissue regeneration process. Her research has diverse applications for the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and is therefore of inherent concern to ongoing work in bioengineering.”

“[The client’s] work aligns with the U.S. national interest as it relates to the treatment of oral mucositis…Oral mucositis affects up to 70% of all cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. Each year in the United States, roughly 650,000 cancer patients receive chemotherapy in outpatient oncology clinics. It is therefore important to develop effective cytotoxicity evaluation techniques to improve therapeutic strategies and quality of life for thousands of Americans who struggle with the side effects of chemotherapy. In this regard, [the client] has established a multitude of clinically relevant uses of oral mucosa-on-a-chip to evaluate cytotoxicity and reduce rates of oral mucositis in cancer patients. [The client’s] work enables scientists and physicians to introduce more effective therapeutic approaches for oral mucositis prevention in the United States.”

So, when these arguments won her the NIW approval without an RFE, we congratulated our client and thanked her for choosing our firm. We are proud of having worked with her on this case.