
At 8:52 a.m., they snagged their envelopes from the long row of tables and pulled close to their family members, friends and classmates amid nervous chatter.
Then, at 9 a.m., the cavernous learning studio at the Robertson Life Sciences Center at OHSU went silent. Save for the ripping of envelopes.
The next sound was a shriek.
Then a woot!
Then shouts, tears, hugs and jumps of joy rippled and escalated across the room as the OHSU School of Medicine M.D. Class of 2019 absorbed where they will spend the next several years of their lives in residency programs at OHSU and across the country.
Match rate recognizes students, program
For the second year in a row, the school posted a 100 percent match, continued affirmation of OHSU students’ excellence and their attractiveness in the fifth year of the school’s transformed, competency-based, personalized curriculum that favors active learning, including moving to clinical rotations sooner.

“The excitement and pride we feel for our students just pumps through us at this moment when their incredible dedication is affirmed,” said Ben Schneider, M.D., assistant dean for undergraduate medical education student affairs, OHSU School of Medicine, and master of ceremonies for the event. “The White Coat Ceremony at the start of medical school is about looking forward and commencement will be about reflection. Match Day is a little of both.”
All 126 graduating M.D. students matched in 27 specialties at 106 programs in 36 states with a total of 44 percent matching in primary care – internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics; 17 percent are staying at OHSU and 70 percent are in the western U.S., including Oregon. View more program statistics.
Dreams realized
Fourth-year medical student Nattaly Greene arrived in America from Columbia at the age of 19 with two 55-pound bags and the drive to become a physician. Friday, surrounded by a wealth of family and friends, she became what she described as the first woman in her lineage to accomplish her life-long dream: she matched in orthopaedic surgery - at Harvard Medical School.

“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, 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.”
Mackenzie Deane and Ryan Nesbit, both from Portland suburbs, met 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 today -- the residency match process, together as a couple. And they will stay together. Both matched to OHSU residency programs, she in pediatrics, and he in family medicine.
Ian Coe, who grew up in Corvallis, experienced the fulfillment that comes from being of service as he learned to advocate for his parents who navigate without the benefit of sight.
Family medicine resonates with him because physicians are called to do what’s needed. In rural Oregon communities where he did rotations, he felt the strongest opportunity for impact. Now he will do both: he’s headed to Montana Family Medicine in Billings.
The OHSU School of Medicine Alumni Association put a bow on this breathless morning with a tribute and an invitation to begin envisioning their journey as OHSU alumni.
“From the White Coat ceremony through Medical Specialty Speed Dating, Transition to Clinical Practice and your residency interviews, the Alumni Association has been with you and wished you well,” said Mark Kemball, director of OHSU Alumni Relations. “Wherever the match may take you, please don’t forget the way home.”
Erin Hoover Barnett contributed to this story.