Case Summary:

A Mexican postdoctoral researcher in the field of medicinal chemistry came to us requesting to file his National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition. He was armed with a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry and was then conducting research in his area of expertise. Since the I-140 NIW application demands clear proof of the applicant’s research as nationally important, our team quickly started gathering as many pieces of evidence as they could from documents furnished by him. These documents included CVs, transcripts, certificates, letters of recommendation, etc.

What we found was then put together in the form of an impressive petition, which led him to his victory. At the time of his petition filing, some of these facts are as follows:

• His proposed endeavor is to synthesize and test novel compounds in order to stabilize HIF transcription factors for use in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and in wound healing.
• His research advancing his proposed endeavor is of great importance because it focuses broadly on the development of novel and improved treatment modalities for serious diseases.
• His research has in fact been supported with funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
• His research has resulted in 3 peer-reviewed journal articles (1 of them first-authored).
• His publications have been cited a total of 30 times according to Google Scholar, thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of medicinal chemistry.
• For more than 6 years, he has pursued research directly related to the synthesis of novel compounds for biological applications and is now working in his proposed endeavor of synthesizing and testing novel compounds in order to stabilize HIF transcription factors for use in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and in wound healing.
• His work was backed by 5 excellent letters of support from other experts in the field. Some excerpts taken from these letters are as follows:

“[The client] is an excellent medicinal chemist who has applied his talents to the development of novel molecules for use in an array of important biomedical contexts. [Client’s] proven ability to innovate novel biomolecules is a common trend that runs throughout all of his research, and it makes him a particularly valuable scholar to the broader biomedical community.”

“The practical importance of [client’s] research on this topic is underscored by the fact that cardiovascular diseases are the single leading cause of death in the United States. By working on developing materials upon which engineers are able to imprint precisely controlled micropatterns, [the client] has helped to promote research in tissue engineering techniques to regenerate lost or damaged cardiovascular tissue. Clearly, based on the statistics presented above, this is a development that is relevant to the health and wellbeing of numerous American citizens.”

Thus, our team was successful in establishing that he is uniquely well-positioned to pursue this work considering the breadth of his many years of experience, as well as his leadership and expertise in the field. This led to his NIW victory without the issuance of an RFE. We are thankful to him and we wish him the best of luck.