Washington, November 14, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Indian American physicians Ami Bera and Amish Shah will be among nine Democratic doctors serving in the US House of Representatives when the 120th Congress convenes in January 2027, according to the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG).
Bera, a California congressman and practising internist, will continue in the House, while Shah, an emergency physician and former Arizona state legislator, is set to join as the representative-elect from Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.
The ACG’s post-election assessment identified 20 physicians across both chambers of the incoming Congress, matching a record. Democrats will account for 11 of them, compared with nine Republicans, marking the first time in decades that Democratic physicians outnumber their Republican counterparts in Congress.
The nine Democratic physicians in the House will include three incoming members – Shah, Richard Pan of California and Adam Hamawy of New Jersey. They will join Bera, Raul Ruiz of California, Kim Schrier of Washington, Herb Conaway of New Jersey, Maxine Dexter of Oregon and Kelly Morrison of Minnesota.
The organisation also identified two incoming Democratic physicians in the Senate: Annie Andrews of South Carolina, a paediatrician, and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who holds a medical degree but did not complete a residency. Andrews is expected to become the first paediatrician to serve in the Senate, according to the ACG.
Overall, the incoming Congress will include six new physician members across the two chambers, the largest such incoming group in more than a decade, the organisation said.
Healthcare affordability is expected to feature prominently in the Democrats’ agenda. A House Democratic working group has identified reversing healthcare cuts under the 2025 budget law and strengthening and expanding Medicare among its priorities for 2027.
Bera and Ruiz were also among the Democratic physicians who launched the Congressional Doctors Caucus in 2025. Bera, who represents a Sacramento-area district, earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of California, Irvine, and previously served as Sacramento County’s chief medical officer.
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