It’s a Match
First, I want to say congratulations to our fourth year medical students for their successful Match Day. The School of Medicine celebrated one of the most successful Match Days in school history this year, with 99 percent of students matching into residency positions at 78 institutions in 31 states across the country.
Match Day is one of the most exciting days in a medical student’s life; the choice of specialty and the following residency training has a tremendous impact on the way students develop as physicians.
The largest number of students matched into first-year residency positions in internal medicine at 29, followed by 28 in pediatrics and 19 in family medicine. Students also matched into other first-year residencies, including 17 in surgery; 14 in obstetrics and gynecology; 13 in emergency medicine; nine in orthopaedic surgery; six in preliminary medicine; four in anesthesiology; three each in neurology, oral and maxillofacial surgery , otolaryngology, pathology and psychiatry; two each in primary medicine, preliminary surgery and child neurology; and one each in medicine-pediatrics, diagnostic radiology, internal medicine/Center of Excellence, medicine/dermatology and plastic surgery. After the first year, some students will move to residencies in anesthesiology, dermatology, diagnostic radiology, ophthalmology, radiation–oncology and urology.
The team in Medical Student Services is responsible for coordinating activities with the National Resident Matching Program. Dr. Laura Kezar, Dr. Nick Van Wagoner and Dr. Craig Hoesley, senior associate dean for Medical Education, provide outstanding leadership, and their teams did an outstanding job.
I was honored to be among our students’ parents, spouses, friends and family members at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center—and those watching from around the world via the livestream—sharing in the joy and celebration.
Similarly, I am thrilled to welcome 206 resident physicians to UAB residency programs across the state this summer. These physicians, representing 56 U.S. and 32 international universities, will be 172 in Birmingham, 20 in Huntsville, 5 in Selma and 9 in Montgomery.
Leading through service
I’d also like to offer hearty congratulations to the six medical students who were chosen as leaders for their professions and communities as part of the inaugural class of Albert Schweitzer Fellows Alabama Chapter.
The Schweitzer Fellows are an elite group of graduate students who spend a year will implementing service projects designed to address social factors that impact health.
Students selected from the SOM are: Sushma Boppana, Community Site: Equal Access Birmingham; Shima Dowla, Community Site: Equal Access Birmingham; David Osula, Community Site: Carver High School, Academy of Health Sciences; Taylor Pope, Community Site: Glenwood Autism and Behavioral Health Center; Sarah Teitell, Community Site: Family Connection, Inc. (Project HOPE); Dustin Whitaker, Community Site: St. Vincent's Access to Care.