The 2020 graduating class of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine joined medical students across the country in celebrating Match Day on Friday, March 20. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the official Match Day ceremony was cancelled, but that did not stop UAB medical students who matched into residency programs from celebrating in their own individual ways and sharing the good news online. The class boasted an impressive 99% match rate.
“I entered medical school planning on doing orthopaedic surgery, and the faculty at UAB did everything to prepare me to achieve my goals,” said Joe Robin after learning about his match. “I’m thrilled and grateful to be heading to NYU for orthopaedic surgery. It’s one of the premier programs in the country and is strong in all the orthopaedic subspecialties while maintaining a huge emphasis on resident education. After residency I plan to pursue a fellowship in adult reconstructive surgery and work as a joint replacement surgeon.”
Most of the country’s 155 medical schools traditionally hold their own Match Day event. With the ongoing pandemic, however, many medical schools opted for safer alternatives to observe Match Day. At UAB, students shared photos and videos of their results on the school’s Instagram page. Faculty and alumni also shared photos and videos with well wishes for the class.
Wesley Minor was pleased with his match, stating, “I am very excited about matching into family medicine at UAB-Huntsville! The program is the perfect balance between rural medicine and academic medicine. Plus, the people are great and I will have awesome exposure to sports medicine. My goal is to go back home and practice family medicine and sports medicine in a private practice setting.”
Couples also eagerly awaited Match Day to learn where they would spend their residencies. Milza Howard and Alan Dale Howard were delighted to both match at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We are beyond excited to have matched at UNC! We love the focus on excellent clinical education, as well as research. We are also excited about academic opportunities and fun things to do in North Carolina’s Research Triangle,” said Milza, who matched into the UNC’s psychiatry program and Alan, who matched in neurology.
More than 38 percent of UAB’s graduating medical students matched into primary care residency programs, which include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and medicine-pediatrics. The other top five specialties into which students matched include surgery (16), anesthesiology (12), emergency medicine (12), neurology (9), and obstetrics and gynecology (11).
UAB is also celebrating a successful recruitment for residents in its 37 residency programs. A total of 209 new residents, representing 64 U.S. and 24 international universities, will begin this summer at programs in Birmingham, Huntsville, Selma and Montgomery.
You can see full Match Day results on the School of Medicine’s Match Day web page, as well as a video of the school’s Match Day Instagram feed.