Leah Vance and T.J. Utset-Ward were anatomy partners in the first year of medical school, became inseparable study buddies and then best friends. They started dating at the end of the first year and got married in June 2016.
On March 17, the couple stood side by side as they opened their Match Day envelopes that revealed the locations of their residencies…and their future. Utset-Ward and Vance are one of five couples who participated in a couples match.
“We love the tradition of Match Day. Leah cries every year when couples walk up on stage together. We are both so lucky to be surrounded by our friends and family on that day, and they are perhaps even more excited about the results than we are. The real work is just beginning, but we are going into this next big step knowing that we have each other,” said Utset-Ward, who spent several years carefully selecting the song to play when it was their turn to take the stage in Langford Auditorium: “Sube Las Manos Pa Arriba” by Pitbull.
Vance will be entering her residency in Pediatrics and Utset-Ward in Orthopaedics and they were thrilled to learn they will be heading to Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, respectively.
Match Day is the crowning moment of the National Resident Match Program (NRMP), which matches thousands of medical students with residency programs at medical centers and hospitals across the country.
Following Vanderbilt tradition, names were randomly selected by Amy Fleming, M.D., associate dean for Medical Student Affairs. Each student approached the stage to a personalized song and a video screen of selected photos. After placing $1 into a fishbowl they received the envelope with their residency information.
Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of the School of Medicine, kicked things off by depositing $200 into the fishbowl, and each student added $1 as they took the stage.
The last student called to the stage received the money as a reward for patience. That student was Katie Doherty, who will be staying at Vanderbilt for her Pediatrics residency.
“We are thrilled with the Match results this year and are sending our students across the United States to a majority of the nation’s top residency training programs,” Fleming said. “This is our first graduating class who have completed all four years in Vanderbilt’s innovative Curriculum 2.0. We have always striven to develop leaders and life-long learners, people who will make an impact in health care. This Match continues to position our graduates in training programs that will support their growth as clinicians, scientists, advocates and leaders. I am very proud of each of them. They are simply incredible individuals.”
Of the 97 students matching into residency programs, 14 students are going into Emergency Medicine residencies, seven into Orthopedics, 18 into Internal Medicine, two into Family Medicine, nine into Pediatrics, six into OB-GYN, four into Pathology, four into Radiology, three into Neurosurgery and two will be completing their residency in the U.S. military.
Cherie Fathy will be doing her Ophthalmology residency at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.
“Shadowing the faculty at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute and seeing how much they loved caring for their patients and tackling the problems they saw in clinic through research inspired me,” she said.
Maria Ladino, who was a teacher before entering medical school, was moved to tears as she approached the microphone to announce where she had matched.
“This moment is something I dreamed of my whole life,” she said, before announcing that she will be doing her Emergency Medicine residency at Kaiser Permanente San Diego.
RESIDENCY ASSIGNMENTS
Kristie Aamodt – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Thomas An – Massachusetts General Hospital, Interventional Radiology
Ishan Asokan – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Courtney Baker – Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medial Education, Orthopaedic Surgery
Caitlin Bell – Stanford U., Internal Medicine
Michael Benvenuti – VUMC, Orthopaedic Surgery
Monica Bhtuiani – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Brian Bingham – UT St. Thomas Hospitals, Medicine-Preliminary; VUMC, Radiation Oncology
John Bowers – Northwestern McGaw, Internal Medicine
Adipong Brickshawana – Montefiore Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Emily Buttgieg – U. Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, ObGyn
Katharine Callaghan – Memorial Hospital Indiana, Family Medicine
Aubri Charnigo – Ohio State U. Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Patricia Costacurta – UC San Francisco, General Surgery
Taylor Coston – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Gabriella Cozzi – U. Alabama Medical Center, ObGyn
Kathleen Doherty – VUMC, Pediatrics
Diana Douleh – U. Colorado School of Medicine, Orthopaedic Surgery/Research
Omar Elsayed-Ali – Emory U. School of Medicine, Pediatrics
Roger Fran – U. Texas Southwestern Medical School, Internal Medicine
Adil Faqih – U. Texas Southwestern Medical School, Internal Medicine
Cherie Fathy – BI Deaconess Medical Center, Transitional; Wills Eye Residency Program, Ophthalmology
Craig Flath – UCLA Medical Center, Anesthesiology
Alexandra Foxx – VUMC, ObGyn
Thomas Freeman – VUMC, Orthopaedic Surgery
Nathan Friedman – UCAL Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Nishant Ganesh Kumar – U. Michigan Hospitals, Plastic Surgery
Ryan Gardner – BI Deaconess Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Michael Ghiam – Jackson Memorial Hospital, Otolaryngology
Zachary Glaser – U. Alabama Medical Center, Surgery-Preliminary; Urology
Jennifer Grasch – Indiana U. School of Medicine, ObGyn
Margaret Gray – UC San Francisco, Medicine-Preliminary
Samantha Gridley – U. Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Pediatrics
Kelly Harms – Surgery-Preliminary
Ashley Hoffman – WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, Transitional
Neil Holby – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Joshua Hollabaugh – VA Medical Center Boise, Internal Medicine
Julia Hudnut-Beumler – U. of Colorado School of Medicine, Pediatrics
Troy Hutchens – Hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania, Pathology
Michelle Izmaylov – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Kristina Jacomino – Jackson Memorial Hospital, Emergency Medicine
Daniel Johnson – Northwestern McGaw, Orthopaedic Surgery
Justiss Kallos – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Plastic Surgery
Kyle Kesler – U. of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Orthopaedic Surgery
Justine Kim – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Plastic Surgery
Vishesh Kothary – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Internal Medicine/Women’s Health
Sanah Ladhani – Alameda Health Systems, Internal Medicine
Maria de Lourdes Ladino – Kaiser Permanente San Diego, Emergency Medicine
Maximiliam Lang – U. of Alabama Medical Center, Surgery-Preliminar/Urology
Drew Long – San Antonio Military Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Shawn Love – VUMC, Medicine-Preliminary; UCLA Medical Center, Neurology
Alexander Maris – VUMC, Pathology
Christina Marmol – Boston U. Medical Center, Family Medicine
Nikhil Mathews – Baylor College of Medicine, Psychiatry
Jeannette Mathieu – Intermountain Medical Center, Transitional; UC San Francisco, Radiology-Diagnostic
Abraham McCall – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Richard McClure – Massachusettes General Hospital, Interventional Radiology
Conor McWade – UC Davis Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Catherine Meador – Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Internal Medicine
Emily Merkel – U. of Chicago Medical Center, Medicine-Preliminary; Northwestern McGaw, Dermatology
Jacqueline Morrison – Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Luke Mosley – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Laura Murphy – VUMC, Emergency Medicine
Malena Outhay – Alameda Health Systems, Emergency Medicine
Annie Pally – MacNeal Hospital Illinois, Transitional; U. Texas at Austin, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Bobak Parng – Weill Cornell Medical Center, Internal Medicine/Research
Vivek Patel – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Daniel Pomerantz – Detroit Medical Center, Pediatrics-Medical Genetics
Marc Prablek – Baylor College of Medicine, Neurological Surgery
Colin Prather – Oregon Health and Science U., Emergency Medicine
Kelsie Riemenschneider – UT St. Thomas Hospitals, Medicine-Preliminary; U. of Texas Southwestern, Dermatology
Kaitlyn Ryan – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Psychiatry
Rachael Schutz – U. of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Neurology
Hanyuan Shi – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Jason Singer – UCLA Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Rafal Sobota – Northwestern McGaw, Medicine-Preliminary; Neurology
Meredith Stocks – U. of Texas Medical School, ObGyn
Pratick Talati – Massachusettes General Hospital, Neurological Surgery
Sarah Tanaka – Legacy Emanuel Oregon, Medicine-Preliminary; Oregon Health and Sciences U., Ophthalmology
Robert Tauscher – Resurrection Medical Center, Transitional; Northwestern U., Ophthalmology
Alexander Taylor – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Pathology
Benjamin Theobald – U. of South Carolina, Emergency Medicine
Taylor Triana – Duke U. Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Silas Trumbo – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Cameron Upchurch – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Emergency Medicine
Thomas Utset-Ward – U. of Chicago Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Mary Van Meter – May Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, ObGyn
Leah Vance – Northwestern McGaw, Pediatrics
Christopher Wallace – Madigan Army Hospital, Transitional
Ray Wang – Baylor College of Medicine, Otolaryngology
Cai Sherry Wen – BI Deaconess Medical Center, Medicine-Preliminary; Neurology
Justine Wergin – Medical College of Wisconsin, Emergency Medicine
Martha Wright – VUMC, Pathology
Kelly Wu – VUMC, General Surgery
Shuai Yuan – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary; Radiology-Diagnostic
Marina Zaky – VUMC, Pediatrics
