Match Day brought jubilation for medical students like Sonia Aneja, facing camera, whose careers are now coming into focus. Credit: Hank Randall

A little champagne with your future?

On March 19, Brown fourth-year medical students attended Match Day festivities on campus and learned where they would pursue residencies for the next three years.
By Mark Hollmer  |  March 23, 2009  |  Email to a friend

Match Day ’09 began with jazz, strawberries and champagne – and the hum of dozens of hopeful fourth-year Alpert Medical School students waiting to hear about their futures. On Thursday, March 19, the students, their friends, and families crowded Andrews Dining Hall for the announcement of their residency programs. A jazz band played on stage, featuring an enthusiastic Philip Gruppuso, Brown’s associate dean for medical education, on keyboards.

At noon, Edward Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences, stepped up to the podium. Students were asked to assemble in multiple lines.

Rajeev Chaudhry and John Rommel: Their faces say it all.: Rajeev Chaudhry and John Rommel: Their faces say it all. “Ready, set, go!” said Wing, launching a race to volunteers who handed out envelopes with the big news. Thus began a cascade of cheers, hugs, photographs, and kisses between lovers and friends.

Similar scenes happened at medical schools across the country as part of the National Resident Matching Program. The program uses a computer algorithm to compare the preferred residencies of students – about 30,000 this year – with the preferences of residency programs nationwide, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Brown’s numbers were impressive this year. Out of 92 medical students who are expected to receive their MDs this spring, 84 participated in the matching program. Close to 98 percent matched in a first-year position, bettering the national average of 93 percent. Of the rest, two Brown students matched in military programs and six did not seek residency training for 2009.

More smiles from Jessica Chan and Carmelle Romain.: More smiles from Jessica Chan and Carmelle Romain. The fourth-year students at Brown covered all the specialties. The most popular was internal medicine, with 18 matching in a residency position in the field, followed by pediatrics and primary medicine. The soon-to-be-MDs were matched to programs in 26 states, with California, Rhode Island, and New York the most popular. Their top-shelf residency placements include Harvard Medical School, Duke University School of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, Temple University, and others.

One male student wearing a bright blue shirt cheered, “I’m going to Florida!” Clearly he was as enthusiastic about his choice as he was of the prospect of living in a warmer, sunnier climate.