Meharry Medical College fourth-year students learned where they will spend the next phase of their medical training during the annual Match Day, Friday, March 18, as part of the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Each year, medical school students submit their top three choices for residency programs to the NRMP, a nonprofit organization that facilitates the process of matching the preferences of applicants to available U.S. residency positions.
Meharry students and their freinds and families joined thousands of other medical students across the country for the nationwide event known as “Match Day.” This is when students learn where they will be trained as medical residents and truly learn how to be doctors, practicing real medicine in real-time, real-life situations for years. The day is an exciting and emotional one for the students and their familes, some of whom travel vast distances to be there with them on this very special day. Each student is given time to speak and introduce their loved ones, and share their experience and plans for the future, as they reveal their “match” to colleagues and supporters.
Thirteen percent (13%) of Meharry students matched to residency training programs in Tennessee, including University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, University of Tennessee – St. Thomas Hospital, Meharry Medical College – Metro General Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Half of the students matched in the primary care fields of internal medicine, pediatrics and family medicine.
“Meharry continues to educate and train physician leaders who are eager to return to the community to serve,” said Meharry President and CEO James E. K. Hildreth, Ph.D., M.D. “We are proud of everyone who matched and are pleased with the number who have matched in Tennessee.”
Meharry students also successfully matched to residency training programs at prestigious academic health centers from coast to coast including the Yale-New Haven Hospital, University of Chicago, Georgetown University Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, Rhode Island Hospital – Brown University, and Emory University School of Medicine, among others.
“Meharry students are competitive nationwide because of our rigorous academics combined with our nurturing environment that allows students to grow and develop as scholars, medical professionals and servant leaders,” said School of Medicine dean Marquetta L. Faulkner, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P., F.A.S.N.
More than 41,000 students submitted applications to the NRMP to find a position at a U.S. teaching hospital where they will undertake a period of specialized training which can last from three to seven years. The NRMP uses a computerized mathematical algorithm, designed to produce a best result by aligning the preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency programs in order to fill the thousands of training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals.
