1 of 3
Kevin Rivera, you're off to Ohio.
2 of 3
Brandon Mallory is headed to New York.
3 of 3
Krithi Narimetia, standing with proud family, will continue her medical education in Arizona.
TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium was the site of a watershed event on Friday and it had not a thing to do with the university’s national championship-caliber football team.
TCU’s first graduating class of medical students learned where they will start the next phase of their medical education as resident physicians during Match Day at the stadium.
The entire graduating class of medical students at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University matched into medical residency programs across the United States.
“I am so proud of this inaugural class, and our team of leaders, who made this Match Day a success for all,” said Stuart D. Flynn, the founding dean of Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “This moment is the culmination of four years of hard work, passion and dedication. As Empathetic Scholars, they will carry their passion for excellent patient care into hospitals and communities across the country. These students are the future of health care in our country.”
Every year, graduating medical students around the country find out at the same time where they will begin their careers as doctors within the specialty of their choice.
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) released results to applicants seeking residency and fellowship training positions in the U.S at 11 a.m. This year, approximately 20,000 fourth-year medical students competed for residency positions in the U.S.
The NRMP conducts the match using a computerized mathematical algorithm to align the preferences of applicants with the preferences of U.S. residency programs seeking new trainees. Residency training for most graduates will begin in June or July.
“The 2023 Main Residency Match is the largest in NRMP’s 70-year history in graduate medical education with 42,952 applicants who certified a rank order list and a record 40,375 positions in the Match,” says NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb. “We’re honored to be able to celebrate with the next generation of physicians as they transition to residency and are grateful of the trust Match participants continue to put in us year after year.”
With more medical school graduates than residency slots, placements are extremely competitive. In 2022, about 1,500 medical-school graduates did not match in the process.
The Class of 2023, also known as the Dorman Scholars, are the inaugural class of medical students at the Burnett School of Medicine and matched to top residency programs such as the Stanford Health Care, Tufts Medical Center, and the Mayo Clinic.
Fifteen students will be entering residency programs in Texas, including nine in North Texas.
The most popular specialty was surgery, with 13 students going into that field. Rounding out the top 10 most popular specialties were: pediatrics (3); child neurology (1); emergency medicine (4); anesthesiology (5); internal medicine (9); psychiatry (5); obstetrics & gynecology (4); radiology (1); family medicine (4); and ophthalmology.
The Burnett School of Medicine has been working with hospitals throughout North Texas to help build and grow graduate medical education slots. In 2021, the school announced an expanded affiliation with Texas Health Resources that includes support of GME programs at hospitals in Fort Worth, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, and Denton with nearly 50 new slots. That annual number is expected to increase to more than 110 by July 2024. In 2020, TCU announced a partnership with Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center Fort Worth for a resident training program that will eventually train more than 150 physicians annually.
Most medical schools reveal residency matches during an event where students open envelopes to reveal their match.
The Burnett School of Medicine put a unique spin the event. It was held on the football field where students were able to choose a VIP to toss them a football containing a peel away sticker revealing their residency match. Family and friends of the students, along with faculty and staff from the medical school, were also on the field or in the stands cheering them on.
Before the reveal attendees were welcomed with brief remarks from Natalie Lundsteen, assistant dean of Student Affairs at Burnett School of Medicine, and Yolanda Becker, director of Career and Professional Development at Burnett School of Medicine.
“We’ve all had the opportunity to get to know and watch these students grow into physician leaders who will help improve health care in all the communities you will enter,” Lundsteen said.
Briana Collins was matched in internal medicine at Stanford Health Care, which is one of the most prestigious residency programs in the country.
“Whatever goal you have you have to big dream and go for it,” Collins said. “I had folks pouring into me who believed in me when I went out there and I actually did well.”
Said Jonas Kruse, who matched in interventional radiology at University of California Los Angeles Medical Center: “For the last four years, working with physicians in this curriculum really prepared me to do my best and put my best foot forward.”