Living between stereotype and erasure: A study of the model minority myth in medical education

BACKGROUND: Asian sub-ethnic trainees and physician educators constitute a substantial proportion of the medical workforce across Western countries yet remain systematically excluded from diversity and inclusion discourse. The model minority myth (MMM)-the construct that positions Asians as uniformly high-achieving, non-confrontational and culturally assimilated-operates as a structural force that simultaneously confers partial privilege and constrains identity, advancement and help-seeking. Despite its harms, the mechanisms by which the MMM operates across medical training remain understudied. METHODS: Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Asian sub-ethnic medical students, residents and physician educators across medical training institutions. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used, guided by an Asian Critical Theory (AsianCrit) framework. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using deductive and inductive thematic analysis to ensure rigour. RESULTS: Six themes were identified: (1) internalised exceptionalism and family-mediated career pressure; (2) everyday racial misrecognition and erasure, including name mispronunciation and physical interchangeability; (3) structural barriers to leadership, including the bamboo ceiling, voluntold labour and social exclusion; (4) homogenisation and the use of the MMM as a wedge against Black and Indigenous peers; (5) performative equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, curriculum gaps and tokenistic institutional participation; and (6) mentorship patterns shaped by shared ethnic and cultural experience. Cross-cutting findings included the MMM's suppression of help-seeking, the differential operation of the myth across Arab/Middle Eastern sub-ethnic identities and the influence of geopolitical events on identity expression. CONCLUSIONS: The MMM shapes lived experience across the full arc of medical training, from admissions through senior leadership. Its harms are not uniform: They vary by sub-ethnic group, generation, gender and institutional context. Medical education must move beyond performative EDI to structurally address the MMM's manifestations in curriculum, selection processes and mentorship. Disaggregating 'Asian' into its constituent sub-ethnic identities is essential to equitable policy and practice.