Michigan Dem Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed calls himself physician without medical license

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has repeatedly called himself a "physician" on the campaign trail and in public biographies, even though records show he has never held a medical license in Michigan or New York.

El-Sayed's campaign emphasizes his medical credentials, including purported experience as a physician. He holds a medical degree, but public records in New York and Michigan reviewed by Politico indicate he has never been licensed to practice medicine.

New York state law bars unlicensed individuals from identifying as "physicians," a title El-Sayed used at least twice while in the state. Michigan law prohibits actions that induce belief in being licensed to practice medicine.

El-Sayed's direct medical experience consisted of a four-week clinical rotation after medical school. In a 2022 podcast, he called it "cosplaying [as] a doctor," according to Politico.

"The perception in Michigan is that he is, at least at one point in his life, a licensed physician," said Chris Dewitt, a Michigan Democratic strategist. "That apparently is not the case, and it blows up a big part of his campaign."

El-Sayed has told the public he is a physician on multiple occasions. At an April debate hosted by the Council of Baptist Pastors, he referred to himself as "a physician and epidemiologist." When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called him a "physician" in 2025, El-Sayed did not correct him. In June, he attached a photo of himself in a doctor's coat to a fundraising appeal.

"Rather than this being a gotcha attack, this is Dr. El-Sayed’s origin story — one that Michiganders are familiar with," spokesperson Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital. "Dr. El-Sayed has spoken extensively about his experiences in medical school that led him first to public health and then to public service."

Richner added that El-Sayed has spent his career improving healthcare for Michiganders through programs including the elimination of up to $700 million in medical debt, increased access to Narcan, and a state-of-the-art air quality monitoring network.

As of Thursday, El-Sayed's LinkedIn bio lists him as a "physician and epidemiologist." He also holds a PhD in public health from the University of Oxford.

"It’s a weird thing to hang your hat on in terms of a biographical detail if you never actually practiced medicine," Michigan Democratic consultant Adrian Hemond told Politico. "It’s not as though he hasn’t done anything with all of the fancy education that he got like running public health programming for Wayne County and for the city of Detroit."

El-Sayed's rivals in the Democratic primary have highlighted the issue. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow's campaign, competing for the nomination, accused him of overstating credentials central to his Senate bid.

"Abdul El-Sayed has made his supposed medical credentials a centerpiece of his campaign, but the truth is he never held a medical license, never did his residency, never passed his boards, and never practiced medicine independently," spokesperson Jackson Boaz told Fox News Digital. "If Michigan voters can't trust El-Sayed to be honest about something that is so central to his entire rationale for running, how can they trust him to be honest about what he'd do as a United States Senator?"

Questions about El-Sayed's medical experience are not new. Crain’s Detroit Business reported in 2018 that he claimed to be a physician without a license.

"I think there’s a lot of ways that one serves as a physician. And I think the work that I have done and I continue to do is true to the core and the ethos of medicine," El-Sayed told the publication. "And when I took my Hippocratic Oath, that is still an oath that I use to guide my work today. I’m a physician because I have an MD, but I’m also a physician because of the work that I’ve dedicated my career to."

El-Sayed has said he chose politics over medicine because he sees poverty as the root cause of many U.S. health problems. Critics have seized on the recent reports.