Scott Rodgers, M.D., left, laughs as William “Blake” Hooper goes airborne at last week’s Match Day event after learning that he’s headed to Connecticut. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Match Day reveals VUSM students’ future addresses
On Friday, March 16, 98 members of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Class of 2012 filled 208 Light Hall with friends and family spilling over into the next lecture hall for the most crowded Match Day in recent history.
The annual event is where graduating students find out where they will be spending the next several years in their medical residencies.
Carol Logan, left, is embraced by fellow School of Medicine student Rejoice Opara after learning that she matched at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Conrad Myler gets some help stuffing the fish bowl from his son, Cohen, as his wife, Becca, looks on. (photo by Anne Rayner)
From left, Stephen Tourjee, Chukwudi Chiaghana and Owoicho Adogwa get into the celebratory spirit of the day. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Gabriele Andrade smiles at her fiance, Brady Fish, after learning she matched at Harvard’s Boston Combined Residency Program. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., speaks to the record-large crowd in Light Hall. (photo by Anne Rayner)
By Vanderbilt tradition, names were randomly selected by Scott Rodgers, M.D., associate dean for Medical Student Affairs, who said this class was special in two ways.
“First of all, a very high percentage of the class is entering pediatrics, probably the highest in school history. Secondly, this is a class full of extraordinary leaders. I cannot recall a class with so many seniors having this level of maturity, poise and natural leadership skill. They are a special bunch,” Rodgers said.
Owoicho Adogwa, MPH, hopes to be a leader one day in his native Nigeria. He plans to spend about 30 percent of his professional time there in service projects and some day serve as a leader within the Nigerian ministry of health.
But first Adogwa will be returning to his first-choice match, and undergraduate alma mater, Duke University, to pursue neurosurgery. He was once a star soccer player for the Blue Devils; in fact for a while Adogwa says he thought he’d be a professional athlete, not a doctor.
“But my mother urged me to accept a scholarship to pursue both academics and soccer at Duke. She said I at least needed to entertain the idea of having a career,” Adogwa said.
Adogwa did show his entertainment side at Match Day when he helped classmate Chukwudi Chiaghana celebrate his match in anesthesiology at the University of Florida with a preliminary year at University of Alabama. Along with Stephen Tourjee, who matched in orthopaedic surgery at University of Missouri, Columbia, the three performed an impromptu dance to Chiaghana's chosen theme song: DJ Khaled's “All I Do is Win.”
Another entertaining moment was provided by Justin Gregg, M.D., who knew already he was going into urologic surgery but asked his fiancé, Becky, to assist him in opening the envelope containing the location of his transitional year. Gregg performed a nice sweep of the envelope with a gloved, and lubed, hand to discover he will be staying at Vanderbilt.
Conrad Myler, M.D., got double use of the limelight. After opening the envelope with his toddler son atop his shoulders to announce he would stay at Vanderbilt for residency in anesthesia, he encouraged his son Cohen to show the audience the front of his T-shirt. There, surrounding a dinosaur, were the words “Big Brother.” Myler and his wife, Becca, are now expecting their second child.
Each student placed $1 in a fishbowl to build up a tidy cash prize for the last student called, as a reward for patience in the face of high anxiety.
That cash prize was made even sweeter when Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the School of Medicine continued his tradition of stuffing the fishbowl to triple the prize. And this year, for the first time, dining gift certificates were also offered for the next-to-last and the third-to-last students called.
Adrian Furman was the lucky winner of the $300 fishbowl. As the final student called for this year’s Match Day, he continued the string of impressive placements by announcing he will pursue social pediatrics at Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.
Gabriele Andrade was fourth from last, so no prize for her, but she seemed perfectly happy to announce she is headed to her No. 1 choice, Harvard's Boston Combined Residency Program, to pursue pediatrics. Andrade has a big spring ahead as she plans to marry just after graduation.
The native El Salvadoran said there is a fair chance she’ll return to Nashville again one day. After all, Andrade spent her most formative years at Vanderbilt. Her mother Ana Regina Andrade, Ph.D., senior lecturer in Economics and Statistician III at Peabody, pursued her training as a Fulbright Scholar here in the 90s.
Leslie Meenderink had just given birth three weeks ago to her second child. She cradled her newborn in her arms as she announced her residency in internal medicine research, including a fellowship in infectious diseases, at Vanderbilt.
RESIDENCY ASSIGNMENTS
Carmen Adams – McGaw Medical Center, ObGyn
Owoicho Adogwa – Duke U. Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
Nneamaka Agochukwu – U. of Kentucky Medical Center, Plastic Surgery
Omonigho Aisagbonhi – Massachusetts General Hospital, Pathology-Anatomical
Amil Allen – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Pediatrics
Gabriela Andrade – Children’s Hospital of Boston, Pediatrics
Jennifer Andresen – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Education Program, Pediatrics
Rachel Apple – VUMC, Medicine-Pediatrics
Jacob Ark – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; Urology
Katie Ayers – U. of Michigan Hospitals, Internal Medicine
Kathryn Beckermann – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Mica Bergman – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; U. of Southern California, Ophthalmology
Nicholas Burjek – VUMC, Medicine-preliminary; McGaw Medical Center, Anesthesiology
Daniela Buscariollo – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Transitional; Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Radiation Oncology
Michael Chi – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Chukwudi Chiaghana – U. of Alabama Medical Center, Medicine-preliminary; U. of Florida College of Medicine, Anesthesiology
Yash Choksi – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Ankeet Choxi – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary
Emily Cooperstein – U. of Michigan Hosptals, Pediatrics
Sarah Deery – Massachusetts General Hospital, General Surgery
Alia Durrani – U. of Tennessee College of Medicine, Transitional; Wills Eye Residency Program at Jefferson, Ophthalmology
Kimberly Edwards – Stanford U., ObGyn
David Eskind – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Christian Fuchs – U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Internal Medicine
Adrian Furman – Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center, Pediatrics-primary
Eryka Gayle – U. of North Carolina Hospitals, Emergency Medicine
Kassatihun Gebre-Amlak – Case Western Reserve U., Medicine-preliminary; Johns Hopkins Hospital, Anesthesiology
Britney Grayson – VUMC, General Surgery
Justin Gregg – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; Urology
Parker Gregg – U. of Washington, Internal Medicine
Nicole Hames – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pediatrics
Rimal Hanif – LSU Health Sciences Center, Neurological Surgery
Catherine Hawley – Tufts Medical Center, Transitional; Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Radiology-Diagnostic
Brad Hill – New York U. School of Medicine, Surgery-preliminary; Plastic Surgery
William Hooper – Greenwich Hospital, Medicine-preliminary; Yale-New Haven Hospital, Anesthesiology
Katie Jackson – Texas A&M College of Medicine, Pediatrics
Walter Jermakowicz – Jackson Memorial Hospital, Neurological Surgery
Stephen Kappa – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; Urology
Christine Kirlew – Emory U. School of Medicine, Medicine-Primary
Joseph Knadler – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Daniel Koehler – U. of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Orthopaedic Surgery
Kelly Kohorst – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Robert Lindell – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pediatrics
Elizabeth Lio – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pediatrics
Carol Logan – U. of North Carolina Hospitals, Medicine-Pediatrics
Zurabi Lominadze – McGaw Medical Center, Internal Medicine
David Marcovitz – Massachusetts General Hospital, Psychiatry
Jolene Mariotti – U. of North Carolina Hospitals, Medicine-preliminary; Duke U. Medical Center, Dermatology
Emily Maston – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Pediatrics
Julia McHugh – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Internal Medicine
Leslie Meenderink – VUMC, Internal Medicine
Ryan Moore – U. of Tennessee College of Medicine, Transitional; Oregon Health & Science U., Radiology-Diagnostic
Joel Musee – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Conrad Myler – VUMC, Anesthesiology
Niraj Nathan – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; Ophthalmology
Julia Ngo – Meharry/Metro General Hospital, Internal Medicine
Nathan O’Brien – U. of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Emergency Medicine
Anita Pai – Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Pediatrics
Samit Patrawala – U. of Chicago Medical Center, Transitional; Emory U. School of Medicine, Dermatology
Alon Peltz – Children’s Hospital of Boston, Pediatrics/Urban Health Advocacy
Joseph Pennington – VUMC, Surgery-preliminary; UCLA Medical Center, Radiation Oncology
Ana Luisa Perdigoto – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Internal Medicine
Sabrina Poon – Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Emergency Medicine
Albert Powers – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Psychiatry
Francis Real – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Pediatrics
Jamie Robinson – VUMC, General Surgery
Mazeyar Saboori – Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Transitional; Wayne State U. School of Medicine, Ophthalmology
Carla Sandler – VUMC, Pediatrics
Asmitha Sathiyakumar – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Anesthesiology
Cameron Schlegel – VUMC, General Surgery
Alexandra Schmidt – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Plastic Surgery
Rachael Schulte – VUMC, Pediatrics
Jennifer Seo – U. of Chicago Medical Center, Medicine-Pediatrics
Adam Shpigel – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Internal Medicine
Kaartiga Sivanesan – Sivanesan, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Internal Medicine
Maja Skikic – VUMC, Psychiatry
Jason Smith – Naval Medical Center, Medicine-preliminary; U. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Radiology-Diagnostic
Jenna Sopfe – U. of Colorado School of Medicine, Pediatrics
Jonathan Steer – Boston U. Medical Center, ObGyn
Merina Thomas – Atlanta Medical Center, Surgery-preliminary; U. of Illinois College of Medicine, Ophthalmology
Alexander Thurman – U. of California San Francisco, Pathology
Sarah Tiggelaar – Idaho State U., Family Medicine
Erin Toaz – McGaw Medical Center, Anesthesiology
Artour Torossian – St. Francis Hospital, Transitional; Kaiser Permanente, Radiation Oncology
Stephen Tourjee – University Hospitals, Orthopaedic Surgery
Aaron Tustin – Johns Hopkins Hospital, Pediatrics
Megan Vucovich – U. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Plastic Surgery
Morgan Walls – VUMC, Pediatrics
Adam Wegner – U. of California Davis, Orthopaedic Surgery
Ashley Weiner – VUMC, Medicine-preliminary; Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Radiation Oncology
Clayton Wilburn – U. of Texas Medical Branch, Pathology
Michael Wolf – VUMC, Pediatrics
Kel Vin Woo – Washington U./St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
Irving Ye – U. of Washington, Anesthesiology
Matthew Zackoff – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Pediatrics
Scott Zuckerman – VUMC, Neruological Surgery