The excitement was palpable as Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s 129 graduating students filled the Annenberg West lobby on Friday, March 20, to open their envelopes and learn which residency programs they would be attending during the next step of their medical training. Many family members, friends, and Mount Sinai Health System physicians were on hand to lend their support and cheer them on during such a milestone event.
Mount Sinai students were matched to some of the nation’s most competitive residency programs, including Massachusetts General Hospital; Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Yale-New Haven Hospital; Duke University Medical Center; and University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Thirty-seven students will remain within the Mount Sinai Health System to continue their training.
“This is an unbelievable experience because we know how hard these students have worked. And to watch them be rewarded with what has been their goal all this time is really wonderful,” said David Muller, MD, Dean for Medical Education and the Marietta and Charles C. Morchand Chair for Medical Education.
Mount Sinai’s students were among 18,025 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 a computerized algorithm that aligns the preferences of applicants with those of residency programs.
Match Day was particularly special for Temi Ademuwagun, who had given birth to a boy just five days earlier. “That was the best day of my life,” she said. “Finding out that I matched at Mount Sinai made it the best week of my life. Mount Sinai was my No. 1 choice, and I know that I’ll receive excellent training in Pediatrics. I look forward to the next three years.”
Richard Silvera was delighted to be matched with Montefiore Medical Center, where he will practice Primary Care and Social Internal Medicine. “My program combines primary care, social advocacy, and population health,” he said. “Montefiore was my first choice because they were one of the first residencies of this type with one of the longest-running programs.”
William Chen learned that he will be pursuing his residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, his No. 1 choice. “I wanted to branch out and train in a different institution and a different city before my practice habits became established,” he said. “I am thrilled about starting the next chapter of my life in Philadelphia.”
In all, 41.9 percent of Mount Sinai’s graduating class will receive residency training in primary care; 11.6 percent will enter residency programs in surgical specialties; and 46.5 percent will pursue training in other specialties that include anesthesiology, emergency medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, and psychiatry.