Sarah Utz was matched with SUNY Stony Brook at Mather Hospital and Wayne State University (dermatology); and Olufolarin Oke with the Stanford University School of Medicine (internal medicine). In slideshow at top, students celebrating with friends and family.
The countdown went a bit awry at the 2017 Match Day, on Friday, March 17, when graduating students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai learned which residency programs they would be attending. At the count of “three, two, one” in the packed Annenberg West lobby, the students were to open the envelopes containing their assignments all at once. But around the “two” mark, some students peeked at their news, and as their whoops and cheers erupted, the rest gave in to the excitement—countdown forgotten.
“This might be the most exciting day of the year,” said David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education and the Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair in Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine. “This is the day everyone finds out how all of their hard work has paid off—all the research they did, all the work they’ve done in the community in East Harlem, the patients they’ve taken care of—this is the day it all comes together.”
The graduating students were matched to residency programs throughout the country, including highly competitive ones at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center; the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Duke University Medical Center; and Columbia University Medical Center. Forty students will remainwithin the Mount Sinai Health System to continue all or part of their graduate training.
Efe Chantal Ghanney was very happy to be matched with the UCLA Medical Center. Raised in Ghana, she found the West Coast institution a perfect fit. “I did a clinical rotation there last year, and I completely fell in love with the people, the way of life, the weather. I also found mentors who I believe are genuinely invested in my success.” Ms. Ghanney, an inductee into the Gold Humanism Honor Society for compassionate patient care, will specialize in urology because it combines her interests in surgery, palliative care, and geriatrics.
The 132 Icahn School of Medicine students were among 18,539 who participated in the annual Match Day event, which is managed by the National Resident Matching Program, a private, nonprofit organization that matches students with residencies in U.S. teaching hospitals. The results are generated by an algorithm that aligns the preferences of applicants with those of residency programs. In all, 43 percent of Mount Sinai’s graduating class will receive residency training in primary care; 24 percent will enter programs in surgical specialties; and 33 percent will pursue training in other specialties that include emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and psychiatry.
Sameer Khan was thrilled with his match, internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He said the program emphasized one of his clinical interests, mental health, and its intellectual caliber and sense of community reminded him of Mount Sinai. His father, Saif Khan, was thankful for an additional reason: “Yale is the closest” to the family’s home in Hell’s Kitchen.
Anne Hart said she was ecstatic to be staying at Mount Sinai. “It’s my top choice. I love the Psychiatry department, and I’m so excited to be staying with a lot of my friends.” Kamini Doobay also got her wish, a residency in emergency medicine at Bellevue Hospital-NYU School of Medicine. Ms. Doobay, who helped found the multiagency NYC Coalition to Dismantle Racism in the Health System, has a strong sense of social justice. She said her residency will help fulfill her goal to “serve the underserved.” Her mother, Alya Doobay, looked on with pride: “She has always been a good child, now she is going to be a good doctor.”