WHAT:

UAB School of Medicine seniors find out where they will be conducting their residency training and in what field on Match Day, coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program. Approximately 18,000 fourth-year medical students across the country will receive their residency assignments simultaneously on Match Day.

WHERE:

Match Day ceremonies will be held in Volker Hall, lecture room A. Media crews should enter the building at the 7th Ave. entrance across from Children’s Hospital.

WHEN:

Match Day activities will begin about 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, March 20.

BACKGROUND:

Following graduation from medical school, new physicians spend at least three years in a residency program, receiving advanced training in their chosen field. Fourth-year medical school students all across the country apply to their desired residency programs through the National Resident Matching Program and receive their acceptances on Match Day. Last year, nearly half of UAB’s 2002 School of Medicine graduates were accepted into postgraduate residency training in one of the primary care fields; internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics or obstetrics/gynecology. For the fourth year in a row, students can use the Internet to see if they’ve matched with a residency program, but they will not know which program until the ceremonies on Match Day.