by Kathy Whitney
Match Day — and Vanderbilt’s longstanding tradition of gathering fourth-year medical students, their families, friends and faculty together to celebrate — was revamped again this year to implement social distancing measures due to COVID-19. Unlike last year, however, the students had the option to reveal their residency matches either in person or virtually via livestream.
Held on March 19, Match Day was the crowning moment of the National Resident Match Program, which matched thousands of medical students with residency programs at medical centers and hospitals across the country.
About half the 93 members of the class opted to meet in Langford Auditorium, albeit without family and friends present, and the other half remained off campus and revealed their matches via Zoom.
Amy Fleming, MD, associate dean of Medical Student Affairs, randomly called student names, and one by one, each student revealed where he or she had matched and into which specialty. Donald Brady, MD, senior associate dean of Health Sciences Education, placed a pin on the U.S. map documenting each student’s residency placement.
“We are so proud of the class of 2021 and full of excitement for their futures in medicine and science. Each of these resilient students has continued to work in service to their patients and communities despite this unprecedented year,” Fleming said. “Match Day was a celebration of their efforts and an acknowledgement of years of training, hard work and dedication. I cannot wait to see them shine in residency.”
The class of 2021 class faced challenges with COVID-19 restrictions that prevented them from doing “away rotations” at other hospitals that would have given them a sense of what those programs offer and prohibited them from holding in-person interviews and meeting peer residents.
This year, 28 members of the class will stay at Vanderbilt for residency, and five will stay for their preliminary year before going elsewhere for residency. All of the general surgery and plastic surgery matches are women, as are three of the seven neurosurgery matches. Four couples participated in a “couples match,” including Daniel Whitehurst and Megan Wright.
The couple met at the School of Medicine’s Second Look event as prospective first-year students in 2017.
“By our White Coat ceremony, he was the first person I thought of to take a picture with. I couldn’t find him anywhere, so I called him, and he came back to campus to humor me. In a happy coincidence we met each other’s parents that night after unknowingly making dinner reservations at the same restaurant. It didn’t take much more than that to start dating, and we’ve been together ever since,” Wright said.
Wright matched to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where she will begin an emergency medicine residency, and Whitehurst matched to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for a pediatrics residency.
“We’re both absolutely thrilled,” Wright said. “The beauty of couples matching is that we knew we would be happy as long as we were together. I think everyone watching could tell how excited we were and that this wasn’t just any combination for us.”
Petria Thompson, PhD, a MSTP student for the past seven years, opened her Match Day email at home and shared the results via Zoom. She will be going to St. Mary’s Medical Center for a medicine preliminary year and then to University of California-San Francisco where she will do a radiation oncology residency.
“I was drawn to being part of a multidisciplinary care team that develops personalized treatments for cancer patients,” Thompson said. “The anatomy-based nature of the field and the ability combine my basic science interest in DNA repair with meaningful patient relationships was a huge draw.”
Thompson said she has learned some valuable lessons during her extended time at VUSM.
“Leadership is not just about what you accomplish, but how you make those around you feel.
Hard work plus genuine kindness goes a long way.”
The breakdown of how many students matched into each residency program is as follows: Anesthesiology-5; Dermatology-5; Emergency Med-4; Family Medicine-1; General Surgery-2; Internal Medicine-21; Neurological Surgery-7; Neurology-5; OB/GYN-4; Ophthalmology-6; Orthopaedic Surgery-4; Otolaryngology-3; Pediatrics-9; PM&R-2; Plastic Surgery (Integrated)-2; Psychiatry-1; Radiation Oncology-2; Radiology-Diagnostic-3; and Urology-2.
Match Day list 2021
Carolyn Ahlers – Duke U. Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Annie Apple – Hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania, OB-GYN
David Arteaga – U. of Texas Southwestern, Internal Medicine
Laura Baker – Barnes Jewish Hospital, Medicine-Preliminary; UC San Francisco, Dermatology
Scott Beeler – Barnes Jewish Hospital, Internal Medicine
Sean Berkowitz – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary/Ophthalmology
Cam Bermudez Noguera – Mayo Clinic, Neurology
Michael Bezzerides – U. of Wisconsin Hospital, Emergency Medicine
Manasa Bhatta – Mount Sinai Hospital, Internal Medicine
Kelsei Brown – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Peter Bryant – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Adrian Cadar – VUMC, Internal Medicine/ABIM Research Path
Arrush Choudhary – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Valentine Chukwuma – VUMC, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Anne Coogan – VUMC, Neurology
Roger Day – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics/Urban Health Advocacy
Gabriella DiCarlo – Massachusetts General Hospital, Medicine-Preliminary; Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Neurology
Pauleatha Diggs – VUCM, Medicine-Preliminary; Dermatology
Sushmitha Divakar – UC San Francisco, Internal Medicine
Stephanie Dudzinski – U. of Texas Medical School, Medicine-Preliminary; MD Anderson Cancer Center; Radiation Oncology
Joseph Elsakr – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Will Furuyama – VUMC, Urology
Nicky Grimes – MedStar Washington Hospital, Medicine-Preliminary; Stanford U., Radiology-Diagnostic
Andrew Hale – U. of Alabama Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
Saif Hamdan – Thomas Jefferson U., Medicine-Preliminary; Ophthalmology
Holly Harper – VUMC, Pediatrics
Britt Hatcher – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary/Ophthalmology
Catie Havemann – U. of Chicago Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Natalie Hibshman – Duke U. Medical Center, Plastic Surgery
Joyce Huang – U. Texas, Plastic Surgery
Demetra Hufnagel – UCLA Medical Center, OB-GYN
Sumeeth Jonathan – Baylor College of Medicine, Neurological Surgery
Peety Kaur – Hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania, OB-GYN
Katherine Kelly – U. of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Neurological Surgery
Lindsay Kozek – Harvard Medical School, Ophthalmology
Marie Kuzemchak – VUMC, General Surgery
Matthews Lan – Thomas Jefferson U., Neurological Surgery
Kyle Langford – VUMC, Pediatrics
James Law – Albany Medical Center, Medicine-Preliminary/Ophthalmology
Jaclyn Lee – VUMC, Otolaryngology
Lexi Li – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Mollie Limb – Swedish Medical Center, Family Medicine
Sneha Lingam – Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Neurology
Grant MacKinnon – Indiana U., Transitional; U. of Michigan Hospitals, Radiology-Diagnostic
MariaSanta Mangione – U. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Internal Medicine
Tanner McArdle – U. of Wisconsin Hospital, Anesthesiology
Lydia McKeithan – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Allyson Metro – VUMC, Pediatrics
Meredith Monsour – VUMC, Neurological Surgery
Chandler Montgomery – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Natalia Morales – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Medicine-Preliminary/Ophthalmology
Mark Naguib – VUMC, Pediatrics
Eva Niklinska – VUMC, Medicine-Preliminary; Dermatology
Benjamin Osher – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Pious Patel – Thomas Jefferson U., Neurological Surgery
James Patrinely – NCH Healthcare System, Transitional; VUMC, Dermatology
Daniel Pereira – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Orthopaedic Surgery
Sarah Rachal – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Michael Raddatz – UCLA Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Sneha Rajendran – UPMC Medical Education, Internal Medicine/Global Health
Jacob Ramsey – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Andrew Rees – Carolinas Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
Sanjana Salwi – Hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania, Neurological Surgery
Adrian Sanchez – UT Ascension St. Thomas, Medicine-Preliminary; Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Radiology-Diagnostic
Alyssa Schlotman – VUMC, Pediatrics
Jacob Schultz – VUMC, Orthopaedic Surgery
Kaustav Shah – UCLA Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Eileen Shiuan – UCLA Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Jarrod Smith – U. of Utah Health, Internal Medicine
John Snow – Massachusetts General Hospital, Medicine-Preliminary; Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Neurology
Chiamaka Sonubi – WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, Transitional; Emory U., Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Vaib Tadepalli – U. of Virginia, Orthopaedic Surgery
Petria Thompson – St. Mary’s Medical Center, Medicine-Preliminary; UC San Francisco, Radiation Oncology
Douglas Totten – Indiana U., Otolaryngology
Sai Vadhula – Bay State Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Erin Vrana – VUMC, OB-GYN
Anne Walker – Duke U. Medical Center, Anesthesiology
Bronson Wessinger – U. of Kentucky Medical Center, Otolaryngology
Michelle Weyhaupt – VUMC, Psychiatry
Daniel Whitehurst – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Alexandra Williams – VUMC, Pediatrics
Kalin Wilson – Stanford U., Internal Medicine
Philip Wilson – Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Lucas Wollenman – VUMC, Emergency Medicine
Megan Wright – U. of Cincinnati Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
Mark Xu – Wake Forest U., Urology
Michelle York, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Internal Medicine-Primary Care/Urban Health
Danny Zakria – VUMC, Surgery-Preliminary
Michael Zhang – Amita Resurrection Medical Center, Transitional; Mayo Clinic, Dermatology
Zijun Zhao – Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Medicine-Preliminary
Yuantee Zhu – Hospital of the U. of Pennsylvania, Anesthesiology
Jessica Zic – U. of Texas Southwestern, Anesthesiology
Catherine Zivanov – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, General Surgery