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While listening to the radio a few days ago, I heard an interview with a doctor considered to be one of the top specialists in treating and researching blood cancers. He spoke about his cutting edge research, the gains that have been made against certain blood disorders and his hopes to someday find a cure for all blood cancers. I found this interview to be remarkable and had not realized how much progress has already been made in treating people with leukemia. This interview particularly caught my attention as one of my closest friends passed away due to non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the age of 24.

While his medical research was clearly the most important thing that he spoke of, an off-hand comment was made about how the doctor had been highly interested in the World Cup, as he was originally from Uruguay. This immediately made me think of one of the critical concepts that we cover during the migration unit of human geography, brain drain. Brain drain is defined as the large scale immigration of talented people. These talented people will typically leave the poor world seeking job opportunities, wealth, and access to better support systems in their field of study.

While it is understandable for them to make the decision to leave their current situation and seek a better life in countries like the United States, there is a part of the conversation that is often neglected. What about the hole they left in their home country? Often these countries are lacking in their ability to provide medical attention to their people. If the top research universities in the rich world are poaching their best doctors, what will happen to the quality of treatment back home? The reality with brain drain is that the poor world’s loss becomes the rich world’s gain.