Acknowledgement: the authors thank all participants of the symposium on Medical identities in different communities held on May 30–31, 2019 at Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University) whose reports inspired us to write this article.

Author contribution: Mettini E conceived the article and supervised its preparation; Yasko BA planned the article, systematized the concepts of identity and identity crisis used in the studies of healthcare workers; Kazarin BV suggested analyzing the role of postgraduate education in overcoming the barriers to professional identity in medical doctors; Ostroushko MG provided and analyzed empirical data.