Brian Gray, left, Sanmit Basu and Carol Senkler applaud at Match Day Thursday.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Match Day answers residency questions
VUSM Dean Steven Gabbe, M.D., gets Match Day started by priming the fishbowl.
Photo by Dana Johnson
David Joos was pumped about matching at the University of Michigan Hospitals in Ann Arbor.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Robert Boykin had a sign for almost all occasions. This one came out for classmates who matched at VUMC.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Fishbowl winner Ibironke Oduyebo celebrates with her sister, Olawunmi.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Graduating Vanderbilt University School of Medicine students were snapped up by some of the top medical centers in the country during Thursday's Match Day celebration, which came complete with beach balls flying overhead, signs waving, music blasting and plenty of sweaty hands.
Match Day is the culmination of a yearlong process during which students are matched through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) with medical centers and hospitals across the country.
Students began the process more than a year ago by formulating initial lists of places they considered for application and review. The NRMP computer matches the programs and students to give each their best possible choice.
Of the 105 Vanderbilt students matching with residency positions across the country, 18 will continue to call Nashville home for the next few years while they complete their residencies at Vanderbilt.
Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Northwestern in Chicago each selected six Vanderbilt students for their institutions.
“This was the best match I have seen in my 30-plus years,” School of Medicine Dean Steven Gabbe said. “It was one outstanding medical center after another. I think this shows that residency directors want Vanderbilt students.
“In residency it is not only how much you know and how smart you are, but you work so closely with the others that you have to have good people.”
Many medical students were accompanied to the front of the room by their significant others, relatives, and/or children.
Carol Senkler's father, George, came from Delaware to watch his daughter match in Pediatrics at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Andrea Subhawong and husband Ty Subhawong continued a series of matches; they met at summer camp at age 15 and have been together since the first week of college at Vanderbilt.
“We both were accepted to VUSM after our sophomore year of college. We want to stay in academic medicine, and are really hoping to match at Johns Hopkins,” Andrea Subhawong said before the event.
Their wish came true in one of many emotionally charged readings before a standing-room-only crowd of students in 208 Light Hall.
Each student had his or her own approach. Wearing denim shorts and a suit coat, Stephen Humm toyed with the crowd by pretending that he wasn't going to read his match out loud.
When he returned to the microphone, the crowd erupted as he read his match in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“It was my first choice, it was exactly what I wanted,” Humm said. “I couldn't have picked a better place to go to med school than Vanderbilt. If I had to do it all again I would come here in a second.”
Gabbe kicked off the Match Day celebration by telling students that “wherever you go you are still part of the Vanderbilt family,” before making a $100 contribution to the fishbowl that's traditionally given to the last student to receive an envelope.
Scott Rodgers, M.D., assistant dean for Medical Students, led students through the event by drawing names at random, with each student leaving a dollar in the fishbowl and then reading his or her match, until only one name was left.
Ibironke Oduyebo, the last person to learn her match, said it was well worth the wait. She will go to Johns Hopkins Medical Center for a residency in Internal Medicine.
“It was nerve-wracking,” she said. “The whole time I was just thinking Hopkins, Hopkins, Hopkins.”
Oduyebo received her envelope and the fishbowl containing $204 accompanied by her sister, Olawunmi.
Early match was available for students, including Brian Armstrong, going into Ophthalmology, Neurology, Neurosurgery and Urology. Armstrong matched for his top choice for residency at Vanderbilt and also secured an internship spot at Vanderbilt.
“I am interested in continuing to foster the relationships I have developed at Vanderbilt,” Armstrong said.
Mary Fleming is going into Ob/Gyn with a match at Meharry Medical Center in Nashville, a decision that was influenced by an elective she took in Women's Reproductive Health the summer prior to her third year, and also by a growing interest in women's health issues.
Match Day was Webcast live, allowing family and friends to watch the festivities from their home computers. At last count, 409 persons had logged in to watch the event, more than any other event in Vanderbilt history, including graduation.