Match Day 2019: ‘Oh, the places you’ll go’

Education
2018 Match Day
2018 Match Day
student picking up white envelopes from a table
Fourth-year medical students in OHSU School of Medicine's class of 2018 pick up their envelopes to learn where they will spend the next phase of their career in 2018. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Their fates are sealed in a standard white envelope which won’t be opened until 9 a.m. on Friday, March 15.

At that exact moment, more than 100 members of the OHSU School of Medicine Class of 2019, and thousands of medical students around the country, will learn where they will spend the next three to seven years of residency training.

Match Day is a highly anticipated annual event where the results from the National Resident Matching Program are released simultaneously nationwide.

The students’ residency slots are determined by a sophisticated computer algorithm, which matches them to graduate medical education, or residency, programs based on their application, interview and program preferences. Student preferences also are part of the calculation.

Through this reliable system, approximately 75 percent of medical students are accepted to one of their top three choices, and nearly 50 percent are matched to their first choice, according to the National Resident Matching Program.

“I recall my own Match Day, exciting, nerve-wracking and monumental all in one. It’s a defining moment for these soon-to-be clinicians whose hard work during residency will play an integral role in health care delivery in Oregon and across the nation,” said Ben Schneider, M.D., assistant dean for undergraduate medical education student affairs in the OHSU School of Medicine, and master of ceremonies at OHSU’s Match Day.

Following are brief profiles of OHSU medical students participating in this year’s Match Day ceremony.

Editors: OHSU School of Medicine Match Day events will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, March 15, 2019, at the Robertson Life Sciences Building on Portland’s South Waterfront. Interested media should gather in the first-floor atrium no later than 8:30 a.m.

Ian Coe: Advocating for rural health care

Class of 2019 - Ian Coe
Ian Coe

Ian Coe, 26, wants to be the family physician he never had, and the advocate that his parents taught him to be.

Growing up in Corvallis, Oregon, Coe learned tenacity and adaptability from his parents, Charles and Margaret, who navigate without the benefit of eyesight. After a high school career fair sparked his interest in medicine, he cold-called doctors’ offices until he scored a job shadow at the Good Samaritan urgent care eight blocks from his home.

He was energized seeing doctors who treat a full spectrum of patients and conditions, care he and others only got in an emergency back before the state began providing health care for children who were otherwise uninsured.

Being helpful also resonated with him. Coe remembers making sure that customers didn’t try to short his parents at the concession stand they ran in downtown Corvallis, or that home repairmen didn’t take advantage of his parents’ compromised eyesight to lollygag or make unnecessary repairs.

“I learned to ask, ‘how could I be of service to my community?’” Coe said. “That mindset guided me to family medicine – family medicine doctors are highly adaptable to the needs of their community. They do what’s needed.”

He graduated from the University of Portland with a degree in biology, and, in medical school at OHSU, he discovered another natural fit during rural medicine rotations in Coos Bay, Klamath Falls and Scappoose. Now his top three residency program choices are Billings, Montana, where his mom grew up; Klamath Falls or Good Samaritan in Corvallis, where he started, eight blocks from his family’s home.

Mackenzie Deane and Ryan Nesbit: Giving back to their inspiration

Class of 2019 - Ryan Nesbit and Mackenzie Deane
Ryan Nesbit and Mackenzie Deane

Mackenzie Deane, 25, and Ryan Nesbit, 27, met Aug. 10, 2015, on their first day of medical school at OHSU.

They’ve since tackled all aspects of their medical education, from examinations to clinical rotations -- and now -- the residency match process, together as a couple.

The duo, each hailing from suburban areas outside of Portland, Oregon, credit their strong connection to family and community as the foundation for their medical careers. “Without each, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” said Nesbit. “It is important to us that we give back and help to enrich the health and well-being of this community further.”

Deane, a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, embraced her interest in medicine at an early age. In high school, she job-shadowed physicians at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, where she learned basic skills that proved useful during her undergraduate education when she volunteered at a local summer camp for children with diabetes. These experiences solidified her goals to pursue a residency in pediatric medicine.

As an AmeriCorps volunteer, Nesbit assisted doctors in the rural area of Walla Walla, Washington, near Whitman College where he completed his undergraduate education. His experience caring for farm workers – many of whom were underinsured – enhanced his passion for health care. A recipient of a Scholars for Health Oregon Initiative grant, Nesbit plans to care for Oregon’s underserved populations, following his family medicine residency.

“Our time at OHSU has been transformative in many ways,” said Deane, a Swindells Family Scholar. “Especially in gaining someone to walk beside you through both the best and most challenging times. We are eager to see what our future holds, and look forward to utilizing the mentorship and experiences we have gained to serve the communities that inspire us.”

Nattaly Greene: A family legacy of healing and service

Class of 2019 - Nattaly Greene
Nattaly Greene

Nattaly Greene arrived in America at the age of 19 with two 55-pound bags and a lifelong dream of becoming a physician.

She was raised in Colombia, witnessing firsthand the effects of wealth inequality and injustice. She also witnessed the dedication of her mother and extended family, “a long line of traditional healers who shaped my deep passion for caring for others and instilled in me a sense of responsibility.”

Greene’s father survived a brain tumor when she was 10, and the neurosurgeon who cared for him provided her with an example and role model of the work physicians can do. Greene’s younger sister also suffered childhood ailments, further demonstrating the impact of medical care in people’s lives.

“My intent has been to use medicine as my vehicle to affect change,” Greene said. “Given my family history of traditional healers and service, I believe medicine is in my blood.”

She now is pursuing a residency in orthopaedic surgery. “Out of every surgical specialty, orthopaedic surgery combines my strengths and passions,” Greene said, noting the intersection of mechanics and physics, and creative problem-solving. “Most of all,” she continued, “I love our results. I love this unique privilege to give someone back their mobility and improve their capacity to more easily and productively navigate the world.”

Match Day will be the culmination of 20 years of work for Greene and her family. She will be joined at the ceremony by her mother – who will be opening the match envelope for her – as well as her younger sister and husband.

“Generations of dreams rest on my shoulders,” she said. “If I am able to successfully match into an orthopaedic program, I will be the first woman in my lineage to live out her lifelong dream.”

 

                                                                                                              


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