Virtual Match Day Celebration Doesn’t Dampen COM Seniors’ Enthusiasm
| Senior medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) gathered virtually Friday – some by themselves, some holding babies, some surrounded by family, friends and even their dogs – to announce where they would be continuing their medical training.
Just before the virtual ceremony began, the students at UAMS and other medical schools across the country simultaneously received emails from the National Resident Matching Program revealing each person’s “match” with an available residency program.
College of Medicine senior Danica Ordonez, pictured on the screen, is headed to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas for a residency in obstetrics/gynecology.
The residencies, matched according to the confidentially ranked choices of the students and the institutions where they applied and interviewed, will provide additional training in a specialty for the next three to seven years.
Though Match Day is traditionally marked by an extended celebration at a large gathering site with a variety of festivities, social distancing requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic required a virtual gathering both last year and this year.
It didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm, however.
While the event was captured on live feeds on Facebook and YouTube, the students were able to share their news and congratulate each other in a shared videoconference via Zoom.
Colorful balloons, confetti and banners were visible in the background as several budding doctors waited with friends, family members or other students. Cheers and squeals rang out. Hugs were given, fists were raised, tears of joy were wiped away and some enthusiastic bystanders even danced across the screen as the graduating students announced their names, their specialty and where they will be going after their May 14 graduation.
Some students waited to announce as couples, such as Wesley White and Moriah Hollaway, both of whom are staying at UAMS, White in psychiatry and Hollaway in general surgery; and Zachary Reiners, psychiatry, and wife Emily Reiners, pediatrics, who are both going to the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis.
James Graham, executive associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Medicine, addresses the class of 2021 from the podium as the seniors watch via Zoom.
Leading the UAMS event from the Fred W. Smith Auditorium in the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute was Sara Tariq, M.D., associate dean for student affairs in the College of Medicine, joined by Sharanda Williams, M.A., assistant dean for student affairs and diversity, and James Graham, M.D., executive associate dean for academic affairs.
Tariq congratulated the seniors for making it through 1,118 days of medical school since they first gathered for freshman orientation on Aug. 1, 2017. She praised their tenacity despite unexpected hurdles unique to this class, whose senior year coincided with an international pandemic that suspended in-person classes and, among other things, forced them to undergo virtual rather than in-person interviews with prospective employers and forgo the usual visits to those campuses.
At UAMS, 169 UAMS College of Medicine seniors participated in the 2021 match program. Tariq said 15 seniors failed to match initially into a first-year post-graduate position, but 14 of them found positions through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program, through which unfilled positions are offered to unmatched and partially matched applicants. Tariq’s office was working to finalize a training position for the student who did not match.
Nationally, there were 42,508 applicants for 35,194 first-year positions offered.
Tariq said 87 UAMS seniors received Arkansas residency positions, while 82 received out-of-state residencies in 32 states.
College of Medicine Dean Christopher Westfall, M.D., who is retiring this year, addresses his final Match Day class.
The most popular specialties in the 2021 class were internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine and family medicine.
Tariq said 79 students – about 46 percent of the seniors – are going into primary care fields, which includes internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology.
“Whether you matched into your first or your fifth choice, a door has opened for you today, and that door is going to open many more doors down the road,” she told them.
College of Medicine Dean Christopher Westfall, who is retiring in August, addressed his last Match Day class, telling them, “You have worked incredibly hard and this day is evidence that all of that hard work has paid off.” He added, “I am delighted that many of you are working with us or at one of our partners across the state.”
For those going elsewhere across the country, he said, “We hope you will return to Arkansas and lend your expertise and compassionate care to this state.”
Other places the UAMS grads are heading are Dallas; New Haven, Connecticut; Norfolk, Virginia.; Nashville, Tennessee.; Houston; Kansas City, Kansas; San Diego; Bryan, Texas; Boca Raton, Florida; Dayton, Ohio; Atlanta; Park Ridge, Illinois; Minneapolis; Birmingham, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; St. Louis; Salt Lake City; Jacksonville, Florida.; Danville, Pennsylvania; El Paso, Texas; Rochester, Minnesota; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Charlottesville, Virginia; New Orleans; Fort Worth, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Nebraska; Cleveland; Lejeune, North Carolina; Boston; Hershey, Pennsylvania; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Providence, Rhode Island; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Honolulu; Chicago; Baltimore, Maryland; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia.; Portsmouth, Virginia; Temple, Texas; Burlington, Vermont; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Manhasset, New York; Lexington, Kentucky; Los Angeles; Indianapolis; Bethesda, Maryland; and Gainesville, Florida.