As students from the medical school’s Class of 2022 gathered with family and friends at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites in downtown Kalamazoo on Friday, March 18, the main ballroom was filled with a quiet excitement and teemed with nervous energy.
The atmosphere was one completely befitting of Match Day, an annual milestone for fourth-year medical students across the country when they learn where they will be headed for residency training.
For the 86 students from WMed’s fifth MD class, that moment came as the clock struck noon on Friday and they each opened an envelope to discover where the next step in their journey as future physicians would take them.
“Everyone who loves you, everyone who has helped you … they’re proud of you and you should be proud of yourself,” M4 Arlene Ho told her classmates. “This class has overcome so much in such a short number of years and I truly hope the world is ready for the physicians we will become.”
The festivities at the Radisson marked the first time since 2019 that WMed leaders were able to offer fourth-year students the option to gather in-person to celebrate Match Day. In 2020 and 2021, the events were held virtually in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, WMed leaders focused on ways to provide options and opportunities to partake in the festivities in-person or virtually. At the in-person event at the Radisson, face masks were required, social distancing was encouraged, and attendees self-attested that they were vaccinated and COVID-19 symptom-free. The WMed community – faculty, staff, residents, and first-, second-, and third-year students – were able to tune in via the medical school’s Facebook page and Facebook Live.
Match Day is a time-honored celebration that is held every March at medical schools across the country. It is a culmination for WMed’s fourth-year students as the course of their medical careers is determined and they learn where they will spend the next three or more years in residency training.
Students and their guests at the event on March 18 were able to enjoy light packaged snacks as they mingled and chatted, and captured the big day with plenty of selfies and group photos. They also got the chance to see video remarks from WMed Dean Paula M. Termuhlen, MD, Peter Ziemkowski, MD, associate dean for Student Affairs, and M4 Arlene Ho. Just before they opened their Match Day envelopes at noon, they also got to see this year’s Match Day envelope video.
“This is one of those moments that you will always remember,” Dr. Termuhlen said. “I just want to say that I’m so proud of you, personally, and I know that WMed is proud of you and Kalamazoo, Portage, Southwest Michigan, and all the families and friends from our surrounding areas are so very, very proud of you.”
Key Highlights of the Match
- 98% of the students in the Class of 2022 matched to a residency slot as part of a nationwide process that is increasingly competitive.
- Four students from the Class of 2022 matched to residency slots at WMed and will complete their training in Kalamazoo in the specialties of Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Orthopaedic Surgery. They will join the 200-plus physicians-in-training in the medical school’s 15 residency and fellowship programs.
- 26 students will remain in Michigan for residency, working in hospitals in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Livonia, Royal Oak, and Wayne.
- 34 students will complete their training in a specialty that could lead to a career in primary care.
- One student is the recipient of a scholarship from the F. Edward Hébert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) and will complete their residency training at a military medical center.
- WMed students will train in residency programs in 22 different states across the US.
The students will complete their training in the following specialties and programs:
Anesthesiology
- Beaumont Health, Michigan
- Loyola University Medical Center, Illinois
- University of California Irvine Medical Center, California
Child Neurology
- Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
Diagnostic Radiology
- Beaumont Health, Michigan
- Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Minnesota
Emergency Medicine
- Loma Linda University, California
- University of Arkansas College of Medicine, Arkansas
- Vidant Medical Center/East Carolina University, South Carolina
Family Medicine
- Beaumont Health, Michigan
- Mercy Health, Michigan
- North Colorado Medical Center, Colorado
- University of Chicago Medical Center, Illinois
- University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth, Minnesota
- Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
General Surgery
- Albany Medical Center, New York
- Brooklyn Hospital Center, New York
- Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University, Michigan
- St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Massachusetts
- Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Michigan
- UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate, Massachusetts
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado
- University of North Dakota School of Medicine, North Dakota
Internal Medicine
- Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, California
- Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, California
- Loma Linda University, California
- Loyola University Medical Center, Illinois
- Mount Carmel Health System, Ohio
- Mount Sinai Morningside-West, New York
- Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, California
- Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania
- Scripps Mercy Hospital, California
- Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Michigan
- UCSF Fresno, California
- University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Ohio
- University of Michigan Hospitals, Michigan
- University of Southern California, California
- William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Texas
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Ohio
Medicine-Pediatrics
- Beaumont Health, Michigan
- Loma Linda University, California
- Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Michigan
Neurological Surgery
- University of Kentucky Medical Center, Kentucky
Neurology
- Temple University Hospital, Pennsylvania
- UC San Diego Medical Center, California
Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Amita St. Francis Hospital, Illinois
- Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, North Carolina
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Tennessee
- Westchester Medical Center, New York
- Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
Ophthalmology
- Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Michigan
Orthopaedic Surgery
- University of Central Florida/HCA Healthcare GME, Florida
- Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
Otolaryngology
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Tennessee
- West Virginia University School of Medicine, West Virginia
Pathology
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, New Hampshire
- University of Maryland Medical Center, Maryland
- University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Washington
Pediatrics
- Baylor College of Medicine, Texas
- Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, Wisconsin
- Spectrum Health/Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Michigan
- University of Southern California, California
Psychiatry
- Carle Foundation Hospital, Illinois
- Henry Ford Hospital, Michigan
- Medical College of Georgia, Georgia
- St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Michigan
- University of Michigan Hospitals, Michigan
- University of North Carolina Hospitals, North Carolina
- Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Ohio
Psychiatry/Research
- University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado
Urology
- Emory University School of Medicine, Georgia