UGA medical students celebrate match day

 Resident applicants at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership gathered on March 15 at noon in George Hall on the UGA Health Sciences Campus for Match Day, an event marking the next step in their medical careers.

Sealed envelopes addressed to each member of the class of 2019 and delivered by faculty were opened at noon, and inside each envelope was a personal letter revealing where the student will pursue postgraduate medical education. This year’s Match Day was celebrated with a red-carpet theme and many were dressed in their formal attire.

An annual event, Match Day takes place after students participate in interviews and visits to residency programs in Georgia and across the country. To determine the post-graduation assignments, the students ranked residency programs where they would like to complete their training, and the residency programs ranked the student applicants. The lists are then submitted to the nonprofit organization National Resident Matching Program in Washington, D.C., which uses an algorithm that aligns the choices of the applicants with those of the residency programs.

The final pairings are announced simultaneously across the U.S. at noon on the third Friday in March.

"This is the sixth successful match in Athens at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership," said Shelley Nuss, campus dean. "The accomplishments of the 42 MCG students that spent the majority of their time learning medicine at the Medical Partnership have landed them at top-tier residency programs across the United States. The students will be going to 17 different states in 15 different specialties, with 69 percent staying in the southeastern United States and 45 percent joining primary care programs. Thank you to the faculty, administrators, staff and mentors in our community who have devoted their time to educating our future physicians."

AU/UGA Medical Partnership participants in Match Day 2019 received the following residency appointments. They are listed by name, residency institution and program name:

• Yordanos Agajyelleh, John Peter Smith Hospital, family medicine
• Shub Agrawal, Emory University School of Medicine, internal medicine
• Shawkut Ali, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, family medicine
• Courtney Alvis, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, pediatrics
• Andrew Anderson, WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, and Emory University School of Medicine, anesthesiology
• Travis Anderson, University of South Alabama Hospitals, orthopedic surgery
• Amarachi Anukam, University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, internal medicine
• Hannah Barney, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, internal medicine
• Joseph Beckworth, Medical University of South Carolina, psychiatry
• Jane Chang, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System internal Medicine; Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, neurology
• Hannah Childs, Medical College of Georgia, obstetrics and gynecology
• Nicholas Clemm, University of Tennessee Center of Medicine-Memphis, internal medicine/pediatrics
• Max Green, Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, internal medicine
• Blakeley Hudson, University of Alabama- Birmingham, emergency medicine
• Cinthana Kandasamy, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard, internal medicine
• John Knopf, Gwinnett Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, radiology-diagnostic
• Keely Larsen, University of Florida Center of Medicine-Shands Hospital, pediatrics
• Adolphia Lauture, Mount Sinai Medical Center-Miami, obstetrics and gynecology
• Ricardo Lopez-Hanson, East Tennessee State University, surgery-preliminary
• Audrey Martinez, Mountain AHEC-Asheville, psychiatry
• Elizabeth Matlock, UC San Diego Medical Center, psychiatry/family medicine
• Osinakachukwu Mbata, Oregon Health & Science University, obstetrics and gynecology
• Anudeep Neelam, Emory University School of Medicine, internal medicine
• Taylor Oakley, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine-Knoxville, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine-Knoxville, radiology-diagnostic
• Billie Odom, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, neurology
• Sean Olinger, Baylor-Scott & White, general surgery
• Gabriel Pajares-Hurtado, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard, internal medicine
• John Perez, West Virginia University School of Medicine, psychiatry
• Crystal Perkins, Redmond Regional Medical Center, University of Florida Center of Medicine-Shands Hospital, radiology-diagnostic
• Jonathan Pham, John Peter Smith Hospital, emergency medicine
• Jessica Principe, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard, psychiatry
• Connor Ratchford, University of Colorado School of Medicine—Denver, surgery-preliminary
• William Saunders, University of Michigan Hospitals—Ann Arbor, family medicine
• Nicholas Schoenmann, Medical College of Georgia, emergency medicine
• Daniel Steinberg, University of Tennessee—Saint Thomas Hospitals, emergency medicine
• Lauren Thomas, University of Florida Center of Medicine—Shands Hospital, obstetrics and gynecology
• Mateo Villa, Kendall Regional Medical Center, general surgery
• Mason Webb, Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, internal medicine/research
• Marquise Westbrook, Keesler Air Force Base, internal medicine
• Leah Williams, University of Colorado School of Medicine –Denver, pediatrics
• Ashley Wright, Palmetto Health Richland, family medicine
• Jordan Ward, Duke University School of Medicine, dermatology