by Kathy Whitney
Match Day is the crowning moment of the National Resident Match Program, which matches thousands of medical students with residency programs at medical centers and hospitals across the country. On March 15, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Match Day ceremony was one for the books.
Deviating from tradition, this year’s Match Day ceremony provided the fourth-year students with the option of opening the envelopes containing their residency match information from their seats in Langford Auditorium at precisely 11 a.m., or to wait to open the envelope on stage in front of their classmates and loved ones.
“We changed the Match Day ceremony this year, responding to a growing percentage of students who chose to not participate in the on-stage portion,” said Amy Fleming, MD, MHPE, associate dean for Medical Student Affairs. “To encourage the broadest participation in this class celebration, to maintain aspects valued by our student body and to respect concerns around the vulnerability of opening the envelope on stage, we allowed students the choice.”
Regardless of which option they chose, all participants had the opportunity to come on stage — accompanied by a personalized song and a video screen of photos — and announce where they will continue their training. Per Vanderbilt tradition, each student placed $1 into a fishbowl after Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, dean of the School of Medicine, made an initial donation of $300.
“The 2019 graduates are an incredible class of leaders who have matched into top training programs across the U.S.,” Fleming said.
“This was a spectacular Match year. Not only did we have an incredibly high number of students matching into the most prestigious programs across the nation, but more importantly we knew how very happy our students would be with their matches.”
This year 24 percent of the graduates will stay at Vanderbilt for residency or internship. Six couples participated in a ‘couples match,’ including Melissa and Nathanial Bloodworth, parents to two young children. They are staying at VUMC for their internal medicine residencies. Couple Joey Starnes and Lauren Slesur are also staying at VUMC for their pediatric residencies.
“The end of medical school is definitely a bittersweet feeling. It is both really exciting to be starting the next stage in our lives and also sad that our class will be spreading out across the country over the next several months,” Starnes said. “I have been going to Match Day for years now, and I think it really epitomizes the culture here at VUSM. There is such a genuine excitement in the room as everyone is so happy for everyone else. That sense of camaraderie and mutual support is one of the reasons I fell in love with Vanderbilt.”
Family members came from near and far to support the students. Barbara McMullan’s sister drove to Nashville from Iowa after her flight was canceled.
Those who couldn’t attend the ceremony watched it via livestream and some phoned in. Dominique Dabija’s phone rang as she stepped up to the microphone to announce her match results. On the other end were her parents, calling from California. Others used their phones to FaceTime with fiancées and family members.
For Chike Osita Abana, Match Day was the culmination of seven years in the MD/PhD program and the realization of a childhood dream that began in his home country of Nigeria.
“I grew up in a very under-resourced part of Lagos, Nigeria, where I had near-death battles with asthma, and later embarked on the daunting journey of becoming a physician in the U.S. by studying for the SAT with candlelight and photocopied textbooks,” he said. “I moved to the U.S. alone at the age of 17 on a full-tuition merit scholarship to attend Lee University, where I managed to excel, despite being temporarily homeless, by working as a janitor among several other on-campus jobs.”
Abana will be doing his radiation oncology residency at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“I was pretty intentional about where I applied to residency,” said Jessica Burris, who will be doing her psychiatry residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital. “I looked for programs that were innovative, diverse and service-oriented, housed in institutions with a similar perspective.”
All told, of the 98 students matching into residency programs, 19 students matched to internal medicine residencies; 34 students matched into surgical residencies including nine into general surgery, five each into neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery, and three each into OB-GYN, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, plastic surgery and urology; eight each matched into emergency medicine and pediatrics; four into psychiatry; three each into child neurology, Med-Peds, diagnostic radiology and neurology; two each into anesthesiology, dermatology, interventional radiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation; and one each into family medicine, psychiatry-family medicine combo and radiation oncology.
Residency Assignments
Chike Osita Abana – U. of Texas Houston, Medicine Preliminary; U. of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Radiation Oncology
Michael Ahlers – UCLA Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Kathleen Anthony – Greater Lawrence Family Health Center Mass., Family Medicine
Laura Armstrong – VUMC, Child Neurology
Nicolas Baddour – U. of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Internal Medicine
Daniel Balikov – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Medicine Preliminar/Ophthalmology
Melissa Bloodworth – VUMC, Internal Medicine/ABIM Research Path
Nathaniel Bloodworth – VUMC, Internal Medicine/ABIM Research Path
Deke Blum – U. of Tennessee Memphis, Neurological Surgery
Jessica Burris – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Psychiatry
Jackson Cabo – VUMC, Urology
Benjamin Campbell – VUMC, Otololaryngology
Nikhil Chavali – Jackson Memorial Hospital, Neurology
Amalie Chen – Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Medicine Preliminary/Neurology
Stephen Chen – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery/Research
Joshua Cockroft – U. of Cincinnati Medical Center, Psychiatry-Family Medicine
Sean Collon – U. of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Medicine Preliminary/Ophthalmology
Joshua Corriveau – VUMC, Psychiatry
Dominique Dabija – Ohio State U. Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Adam Daily – Virginia Mason Medical Center, Urology
Melissa Day – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Laura Dellalana – St. Mary’s Hospital, Medicine Preliminary; VUMC, Dermatology
Joseph Ebersole – Massachusetts General Hospital, Emergency Medicine
Parker Evans – VUMC, General Surgery
John Ewing – VUMC, General Surgery
Benjamin Fensterheim – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pediatrics
William French – U. of North Carolina, Urology
Gregory Fricker – Massachusetts General Hospital, Medicine-Pediatrics
Kathleen Gallagher – VUMC, General Surgery
Jean-Nicolas Gallant – VUMC, Otolaryngology
Jason Gandelman – UC San Franscisco, Psychiatry
Jocelyn Gandelman – CA Pacific Medical Center, Medicine Preliminary; UC San Francisco, Dermatology
Kaitlin Geck – Virginia Mason Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Maria Grig – VUMC, Medicine Preliminary; Massachusetts General Hospital, Anesthesiology
Glenn Harris – Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Medicine Preliminary; Northwestern McGaw, Neurology
Jacqueline Harris – UC San Francisco, Otolaryngology
Sarah Heerboth – U. of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, OB-GYN
Kathleen Hiltz – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Internal Medicine
Lauren Holroyd – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, OB-GYN
Daniel Hong – Columbia U. Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Tracey Hong – VUMC, Medicine Preliminary; Stanford, Anesthesiology
Timothy Hopper – Duke U. Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Alexander Hysong – Carolinas Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Vishesh Jain – St. Vincent Hospital, Medicine Preliminary; Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Radiology-Diagnostic
Lillian Juttukonda – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Daniel Kashima – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Child Neurology
Patrick Keller – Johns Hopkins, Plastic Surgery
Thomas Klink – U. of Minnesota, Medicine-Pediatrics
Nicholas Kuhl – Hospitals of the U. of Pennsylvania
Joshua Latner – U. of Florida Shands Hospital, Medicine Preliminary
Chelsea Lawson – U. of Colorado, Pediatrics
James Leathers – UC Davis Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Andrew Legarreta – U. of Pittsburch Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
David Liles – VUMC, Neurological Surgery
Michael Litt – Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Internal Medicine
Jia Liu – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Emergency Medicine
Bianca Martinez – U. of Kentucky Medical Center, Transitional; Temple U. Hospital, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Matthew McKenna – VUMC, Surgery Preliminary; U. of Pennsylvania Hospitals, Radiology-Diagnostic
Barbara McMullan – Billings Clinic, Internal Medicine
Shilpa Mokshagundam – VUMC, OB-GYN
Steve Monk – Carolinas Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
Nishit Mummareddy – VUMC, Neurological Surgery
Majaliwa Mzombwe – Maimonides Medical Center, Medicine Preliminary; Jackson Memorial Hospital, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Rachel Newton – Medical U. of South Carolina, Pediatrics
Shelby Payne – Health ONE, Transitional; Stanford, Radiology-Diagnostic
Andrew Perez – Medical College of Wisconsin, Interventional Radiology
Hannah Phelps – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, General Surgery
Giulia Porcari – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Child Neurology
Samuel Posey – Carolinas Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Katherine Prendergast – NYU School of Medicine, General Surgery
Shayan Rakhit – VUMC, General Surgery
Patton Robinette – Duke U. Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Sydney Rooney – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pediatrics/Scientist Development
Pranav Santapuram – Emory U., Internal Medicine
Andrew Sayce – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, General Surgery
William Scheving – UCLA Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Steven Schneeberger – Ohio State U. Medical Center, Plastic Surgery
Kelly Schuering – Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Internal Medicine
David Scudder – U. of Colorado – Medicine-Pediatrics
Megan Shroder – VUMC, General Surgery
Mohammed Shwetar – U. of Virginia, Internal Medicine
Lauren Slesur – VUMC, Pediatrics
Justin Smith – Columbia U. Medical Center, Psychiatry
Joseph Starnes – VUMC, Pediatrics
Matthew Stier – VUMC, Internal Medicine/ABIM Research Path
Katherine Sumarriva – U. of Tennessee, Transitional; Duke U. Medical Center, Ophthalmology
Supisara Tintara – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Al Valmadrid – VUMC, Surgery Preliminary/New Integrated Plastic Surgery
Graham Van Schaik – VUMC, Emergency Medicine
Sonal Walia – Indiana U., General Surgery
Jennifer Watchmaker – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Surgery Preliminary; Interventional Radiology
David Wharton – Baylor College of Medicine, Internal Medicine
Joseph Isaac Wong – UCLA Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Rochelle Wong – Cornell Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Donald Wright – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Emergency Medicine/Research
Catherine Xie – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Internal Medicine
Veronica Young – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Emergency Medicine
