Match Day: SLU Med Students Celebrate Matching Into Residency Programs

03/16/2018

ST. LOUIS – Fourth-year students from Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine participated Friday in the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). NRMP annually matches students with their preferred choice for residency.

This year’s class matched into residency programs that included the Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of California-San Francisco.

Many opted to stay in the Midwest, and SLU students will be well-represented at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, Cleveland Clinic, Washington University in St. Louis and here at SLU. 

Re-I Chin matched into a radiation oncology residency at Washington University in St. Louis. She said she liked the precision of the science and the opportunity to work with a patient throughout their treatment.

"Dr. (John) Dombrowski has been my role model and mentor here at SLU," Chin said. "He is so good at sitting down with patients and talking with them. I wish to be that calming."

During her first two years at SLU, Chin shadowed a patient with multiple myeloma. She attended doctors' appointments, biopsies and a bone marrow transplant with the man in order to appreciate how a patient and his family navigate cancer diagnosis and treatment. 

"Our best teachers are our patients and I learned so much," Chin said. "I got to see through his eyes what he was going through. This is why I picked SLU -- we have an emphasis on compassionate care, because health care really is a service," Chin said.

Service was also important to twin sisters Kayla and Lauren Germany who came to SLU after attending Santa Clara University for their undergraduate degrees.

"The Jesuit mission and principles were important when we were looking at schools," Kayla said. 

The Germany sisters will be living in separate cities for the first time during their residencies as Kayla heads to Indiana and Lauren moves to Louisville. Both are pursuing residencies in orthopedic surgery. 

Allyson Renth also valued a Jesuit education. The SLU graduate headed to Creighton University for her first two years of medical school and transferred back to SLU to complete her degree and rejoin her fiance. She met Daniel Kornfeld in her dorm freshman year. 

After their April wedding and graduation the couple will head to Kansas City where Renth looks to specialize in maternal fetal medicine while Kornfeld focuses on neonatology.

The class of 2018 includes the founders of MedLaunch,  a non-profit, biomedical and entrepreneurship incubator partnering with Saint Louis University and other organizations in the area. 

This year’s Match Day ceremony was held at the Chase Park Plaza and included a brunch before the letters were distributed. Students brought parents, friends and family to celebrate with them. 

At 11 a.m., Jamie Sutherell, M.D., associate dean for student affairs, began calling out names. As students came to the front of the room, they received sealed envelopes that contained letters announcing their residencies, which is the next step in their medical education. The envelopes remained sealed until all were distributed and the group then ripped open their envelopes at once.

Prior to Match Day, medical students rank their preference for specialties and medical institutions. Hospitals and other medical institutions also list their preference for residents. The rank lists are matched, which results in the selection of students for residency positions.

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Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: cancer, infectious disease, liver disease, aging and brain disease and heart/lung disease.