Click here for Match Day 2021 results.

About 170 senior medical students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine were successfully matched today and learned where they will spend their residency training after graduation from medical school in May.

Called Match Day, the annual event is held at all medical schools across the country to reveal where senior medical students will spend their residencies, the next step in their medical education – which can last from three to seven years, depending on the specialty.

After a cancellation last year due to COVID-19, this year’s Match Day for USF Health students returned to a format more like those in years past, with mostly in-person presentations of sealed envelopes and students announcing and celebrating their matches with classmates. This hybrid approach included some students streaming in virtually to share their matches with classmates.

At the in-person event, held outdoors at the downtown Tampa restaurant Ulele, public health measures were followed: the senior medical students remained socially distant, wore masks and, as health care providers in training with direct patient interaction, had already been vaccinated against COVID-19.

But some traditions remained on pause, like including friends and family at the event. To help keep them connected, the event was live-streamed so relations across the globe could see matches unfold.

Kicking of the program was U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, who offered good wishes in a prerecorded message shown to all in attendance and across the live-stream.

“From Washington DC, a big shout out and congratulations to everyone who is matching today,” Rep. Castor said. “Congratulations USF College of Medicine and all the fantastic folks who are on the way to their residencies. I know how important it is to have residency slots across the state of Florida. We’re behind. So, wherever you match, just know we want you to return to the Tampa Bay area, return to the state of Florida to practice medicine and serve your neighbors. And you can count on me here in Congress to work to expand the number of residency slots so future graduates can match and serve in the state of Florida. Go Bulls!”

Then came in-person congratulations from Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

“It’s incredibly thrilling to me to be at this live event,” Dr. Lockwood said. “You’re an amazing group of people who have put up with a year that is unlike any in our history. I thank you for your patience, your tenacity, and your grit. This was an incredibly complex year, from an educational standpoint, and was emotionally draining on all of us. We’re all a little better, as physicians, for it. We dealt with a planetary pandemic, the likes of which we haven’t seen for over a hundred years, and came through it, particularly this state, incredibly well. We’re not done yet, but we’re close. So, it’s great to see you off to your residencies and the next phase of your careers. Congratulations, thank you all, and good luck.”

And then the matches began!

The national match process is handled through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). In the months leading up to Match Day, students apply and interview for residency slots with institutions across the country, and then rank their preferences. Match Day, which begins at noon (ET), is when students learn which residency programs chose them and where they will train for the next three to seven years.

This year’s NRMP’s main match was the largest in NRMP history: a record-high 48,700 applicants submitted program choices for 38,106 positions, an increase of 3,741 (8.3%) applicants over 2020 (the largest single-year bump in recorded history).

For this year’s Match Day, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2021 includes 171 senior students, of which 46 are in the SELECT MD program, who have spent the past two years in clinical rotations in Allentown, PA.

Stats: From the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2021: 171 students matched; 37 students (22%) are staying at USF; 79 (46%) are staying in Florida; and 57 students (33%) chose primary care as their specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics). Click here for more details about the nationwide Match from the National Residency Match Program.

Photos by Allison Long, video by Torie Doll, USF Health Communications and Marketing

Senior medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine learned where they will spend their residencies on national Match Day

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=11yf80Gc3Wc

Click here for Match Day 2018 results.

The lawn outside Ulele restaurant along the banks of Hillsborough River was packed March 16, as senior medical students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) gathered with friends and family to learn where they will spend their residency training after graduating from medical school next month.

Called Match Day, the annual event is held at all medical schools across the country to reveal where senior medical students will spend their residencies, the next step in their medical education – which can last from three to seven years, depending on the specialty. The match process is handled through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).  Match Day, which follows several months of students applying for, interviewing for, and ranking their preferred residency programs, is when students learn which residency programs chose them. This year’s NRMP main match was the largest in history: a record-high 37,103 applicants submitted program choices for 33,167 positions, the most ever offered in the Match.

For USF MCOM, festivities began with a welcome and good luck from USF System President Judy Genshaft.

“This has always been the most joyous event,” Genshaft said. “Best wishes, good luck and congratulations.”

USF System President Judy Genshaft, center, with Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and Morsani College of Medicine dean, and Dr. Kira Zwygart, MCOM associate dean for student affairs.

Up next was MCOM Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, thanking the USF Board of Trustees, MCOM Alumni Society members, and donors who attended the event, including Dr. David Vesley and Helen Vasiloudes.

Turning to the students, Dr. Lockwood said “We have all been working on this day for the last four years, but especially our students. All of you senior medical students from the Class of 2018 have worked very hard to get here.”

Then, at high noon, the first envelope was drawn, going to Carrie Ryan, who matched to a general surgery residency at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine.

The first match! Carrie Ryan.

For this year’s Match Day, the Class of 2018 includes 158 MCOM students, of which 48 are in the SELECT MD program and have spent the past two years doing their clinical rotations in Allentown, PA.

More of the Class of 2018: USF Health students in the SELECT MD program matched in Allentown, PA.

In addition, five students participated in military matches. As happens in military matches, these students already learned where they will be conducting their residencies, but joined in the celebration with their classmates at Match Day.

Names continued to be announced by Kira Zwygart, MD, associate dean for MCOM Office of Student Affairs. One by one, senior students came forward to accept an envelope, open it, and discover their futures.

Each medical school has its own tradition for releasing the match information: some simply hand out envelopes and students open them en masse. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine has a long-standing tradition for handing out envelopes one at a time, in random order, and allowing each student to open and announce to their classmates where he or she is headed. The additional attention to each student and the additional time for sharing their news creates a festive atmosphere that, over the years, has offered generations of USF students an opportunity to savor the moment that defines their future.

Another MCOM tradition: each student places a dollar into a box and, because the student names are called in random order, the final envelope holder gets the cash. This year, the final call went to a couple: Sarah Rawi and Alec Freling. Both are going to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine; Rawi matched in an internal medicine residency and Freling will be in emergency medicine.

And the money goes to a couples match… Sarah Rawi and Alec Freling.

Then the crowd of newly matched students gathered together for what might be their last photo as a class. Everyone cheered in unison, thrilled to have matched.

The MCOM Class of 2018 shows their USF Bulls pride.

Stats: From the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine: 158 students matched; 34 students (21.5%) are staying at USF; 70 (44.3%) are staying in Florida; and 59 students (37.3%) chose primary care as their specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics). Click here for more details about the nationwide Match from the National Residency Match Program.

Match Day defines the future for students

Yohan Perera always knew he wanted to travel internationally to care for the underserved. In choosing a specialty for his career, Perera felt it was family medicine that offered the most opportunities to meet that goal.

“I have always felt a strong calling to serve internationally and family medicine will allow me a lot of flexibility to do that,” Perera said. “I wanted to be well prepared to meet the challenges of international medicine. I love surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics and internal medicine, and it is family medicine that does all of those, plus has the international opportunities I’m seeking.”

California bound: Yohan Perera and his wife Jessica celebrate his match to a residency in family medicine in Ventura, California.

To bolster his drive for serving, Perera started his tenure at MCOM by volunteering at the BRIDGE Healthcare Clinic, which treats a medically underserved population near the USF campus. The effort made a lasting impact: he was executive director for a year, helped apply for and get a $38,000 grant from Florida Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, helped coordinate the addition of a cardiology night at BRIDGE clinics to offer much-needed ultrasound and EKG screenings, and helped expand counseling services, too.

“It’s been awesome to gain this experience,” he said. “In addition to helping an underserved population, I gained invaluable organizational leadership experience.”

Perera said it is MCOM that really provided the strong education he will need in the years ahead. When looking at medical schools, USF Health’s medical school stood out for offering better clinical experiences to their students than other programs, he said.

“Medical schools have pretty much the same first two years for a curriculum,” he said. “It’s the third and fourth year that really make you a doctor, and USF offers the breadth of clinical experience, opportunities and expertise I’ll use my entire life.”

Perera matched in family medicine at ­­­­­­­Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California.

***

Chelsea Wilson saw firsthand the intensity of the emergency room, and she knew she wanted to work in the middle of it.

After spending five years as a physician assistant, nearly two of which was in an ER, she realized that she wanted the increased responsibility of being a physician.

“I love the diversity of conditions and care requirements that come into an emergency room, the diagnostic work that is always from scratch with each new patient, building from the ground up every time – it’s like a puzzle,” she said.

With her parents, Kira and Ron, Chelsea Wilson learns she’s headed to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC.

Wilson’s drive fits well with that specialty, and has always pushed her to stay ahead of her peers. She was homeschooled and dual enrolled in college classes, finishing more than two years of college before graduating high school. Then she went on to the University of Florida for a master’s degree as a physician assistant – graduating as a PA at age 22!

While at MCOM, Wilson created a workshop as her capstone project that is designed to teach senior students about finances, loan repayment and saving for retirement.

“My personal goal for the project is to get people to save during their residencies and make responsible financial decisions that will set them up for the future,” she said. “If we keep living like a resident, even for two years, once we become an attending physician, it will make a huge difference in the long term.”

Additionally, saving during residency, she said, means they can contribute to their Roth IRAs while their income still qualifies them. She emphasizes the point by showing how it pays off in the long run through the power of compounding interest.

“This kind of information is lacking for graduating students, especial physicians who already start saving years after their peers due to the length of medical school and residency,” she said.

Wilson, the first in her family to become a physician, hoped to be matched at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. And she did, in emergency medicine.

***

Mark Schattschneider is not your typical senior medical student. He is 39 years old, worked as a registered nurse, and has five children.

But those atypical experiences are really what prepared him to become a physician.

Schattschneider never thought about medical school while growing up. And not in college or in his early career, either. The decision to become a doctor came while he was already in a career and well down the road for building a family. A job as a patient transporter at Moffitt Cancer Center gave Schattschneider his first look at the medical field. That led to training as a nurse aide, then to becoming a registered nurse, a role he had for nine years.

“I was working in the intensive care unit and loving it, but I knew I wanted to do more, to have a wider responsibility for my patients,” he said. “Going to medical school would be a huge time commitment and, like many, I wondered about my academic confidence.”

Mark Schattschneider announces to his family and the world that they are staying in Florida — he matched to an emergency medicine residency at Orlando Health.

Then, while on a medical mission to the Dominican Republic, Schattschneider talked with some of the doctors.

“They all gave me great insight into what the career is like,” he said. “And while chatting with a surgeon, for every excuse or obstacle I said was in my way, he told me he had said the same things, and that nothing was really standing in my way. He told me that, if I feel a calling, I have to go for it.”

But it would take seven more years before he actually started medical school. Work and family stretched the effort but in 2014, at age 35 and with five children, he stood with his classmates on the first day of medical school at USF Health.

Four years later, he is matching to his residency.

Schattschneider fulfilled his hopes – he is staying in Florida in an emergency medicine residency at Orlando Health.

***

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ZOAc4GZDE

Communications team supporting Match Day 2018: Anne DeLotto Baier, Freddie Coleman, Torie Doll, Shelby Kaplan, Tina Meketa, Ryan Noone, Elizabeth Peacock, Sandra Roa, Sarah Worth, Michelle Young, Eric Younghans.

Cuc Mai, MD, assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) and program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, has been appointed senior associate dean for GME at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

Dr. Mai, an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, will lead GME in an interim capacity until the senior associate dean appointment becomes permanent on March 1.  She assumes the role held by Charles Paidas, MD, who left USF Health Jan. 17 to join Nemours Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.

Cuc Mai, MD

Kellee Oller, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, has been selected as the new program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program effective March 1.

“Dr. Mai has been strongly committed to improving the learning environment for all our residents and fellows,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.  “I am confident in her ability as proven leader to strengthen our training programs during this time of dynamic change in GME.”

Since Dr. Mai became the internal medicine residency program director in 2012, the program has increased in size by 30 percent, expanded its rotation offerings, and improved its national recognition with a more competitive match. It has also achieved a 100-percent board pass rate, and a 100-percent fellowship match rate.

“She has been an outstanding leader with exceptional creativity who has brought national prominence to our residency,” said John Sinnott, MD, chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Mai received her MD degree from USF in 2000 and completed her residency in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She joined the faculty of MCOM as an assistant professor of internal medicine in 2005, and was advanced to associate professor in 2012. In 2015 she was appointed Assistant Dean for GME.

She has been instrumental in GME curricular design and innovation at Tampa General Hospital and other teaching affiliates. Most recently, Dr. Mai helped develop the GME Patient Safety Workshop to help USF residents across various specialties to better identify potential causes of medical errors, as well as to develop protocols and enhance communication to avoid such errors.

A fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Mai received the ACP Florida Chapter’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award in 2016.  She has been a two-time recipient of the Roy H. Behnke Residents’ Faculty Award and three-time recipient of the Tampa General Hospital Outstanding Teacher Award.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvIeyOSatm0

Click here for Match Day 2017 results.

Click here for more photos in Flickr

Clear skies, the Hillsborough River and the downtown Tampa skyline helped set the stage for this year’s USF Match Day, held March 17. The open grass yard behind the local restaurant Ulele was filled with senior medical students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) as they gathered for Match Day, the annual ritual of finding out where they will spend their residency training after graduating from medical school next month.

The celebratory vibe had a glimmer of green this year – spring green, USF green and St. Patrick’s Day green – with students and family members also wearing specially designed shirts that helped raise $2,500 toward MCOM scholarships. Working with USF’s creative design team, the medical students designed this year’s shirt to reflect St. Patrick’s Day, using the phrase Luck o’ the Match!

The USF MCOM Class of 2017 includes 162 students who matched with residency programs. On Match Day, senior medical students across the country learn where they will spend their residencies, the next step in their medical education, which can last from three to seven years depending upon the specialty pursued. The big reveal follows several months of applying for and interviewing at residency programs and ranking their picks within a formal match through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP).

It is on Match Day that all U.S. medical students find out which programs chose them. The news is available at the same time across the country – at high noon on the east coast and at 6:00 a.m. in Hawaii.  This year, the NRMP’s main match was the largest on record.

At Ulele, the festivities began with a surprise visit by City of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, offering encouraging words to the senior medical students.

“All of us are very proud of what you have done and how you have gotten to this point,” Mayor Buckhorn said. “But more importantly, what I want you to know is that, whether you match at USF or whether you go on to some other great university or medical school in this country, I want you to do one thing for me: I want you to come back to Tampa when you’re done. I think you’ve seen we’re building an amazing city for you. This is that place in America where the best and the brightest want to be. We want you to come home here. We want you to become part of our community. You are part of us. Good luck to all of you. Go Bulls! and Go Tampa!”

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn joined the Match Day festivities with Dr. Charles Lockwood and Dr. Kira Zwygart.

Taking the stage next was Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

“I want to thank our mayor, probably the biggest supporter of this medical school and its relocation downtown on the waterfront with the Heart Institute,” Dr. Lockwood said.

“And I especially want to thank the support system of our graduates, the family members here, and a big hand for all of them.

“If you are feeling the same level of nervous energy that I did – I won’t mention how many years ago – I can only imagine what’s going through your minds,” he continued. “You’re going to be great doctors. Just keep in mind to put the patient first every day, and you’ll have a successful career and outstanding professional life.”

At noon, Mayor Buckhorn announced the first match and presented an envelope to Jewel Brown, who matched to an obstetrics and gynecology residency at USF.

First envelope for USF Match Day goes to Jewel Brown, who will be doing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Each medical school has its own tradition for releasing the match information: some simply hand out envelopes and students open them en masse. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine has a long-standing tradition for handing out envelopes one at a time, in random order, and allowing each student to open and announce to their classmates where he or she is headed. The additional attention to each student and the additional time for sharing their news creates a festive atmosphere that, over the years, has offered generations of USF students an opportunity to savor the moment that defines their future.

This year’s group includes 50 students in the SELECT MD program at MCOM, who spent the past two years in clinical rotations in Allentown, PA. Ten of the 50 returned to Tampa to open their envelopes at Ulele.

USF Health SELECT students in Allentown, PA. Photo courtesy of LVHN.

The Class of 2017 also includes seven students matching through the U.S. military, the largest group in MCOM’s history. As happens in military matches, these students already learned where they’re conducting their residencies, but join their classmates at Match Day as part of the Class of 2017.

Although the lawn of Ulele was full of students and their friends and family, anyone who couldn’t make it to the venue could catch all the action via the live UStream, giving access across the world as each student learns where they will spend the next few years of their medical training as physician residents.

Names continued to be announced by Kira Zwygart, MD, associate dean for MCOM Office of Student Affairs. One by one, senior students came forward to accept an envelope, open it, and discover their futures.

As MCOM tradition goes, each student places a dollar into a box – this year a ‘pot-o-gold’ to stay with the St. Patrick’s Day theme – and, because the student names are called in random order, the final envelope holder gets the cash. This year that winning student was Jennifer Carrion who matched in ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­family medicine residency at Florida State University Lee Memorial in Fort Myers, FL.

Jennifer Carrion collects her prize — the Match Pot-o-Gold filled with cash — with help from family and friends.

Then the crowd of newly matched students gathered together for what might be their last photo as a class. Everyone cheered in unison, thrilled to have matched.

Stats: From the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine: 162 students matched; 37 students (23%) are staying at USF; 70 (43%) are staying in Florida; and 56 students (35%) chose primary care as their specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics). Click here for more details about the nationwide Match from the National Residency Match Program.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5I9qjAksBI

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7126PUoi4c

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr-yKiRPRSM

For many students, Match Day is a defining moment

Student narratives by Rachel Pleasant

They find out where they will launch their careers. For some, Match Day continues paths of determination. Here are some of their stories.

***

For Mayssan Muftah, becoming a doctor means being able to help rebuild her patients’ health — while also breaking traditions and stereotypes.

“I had a patient tell me once that I had totally changed his ideas of what Muslims are like,” said Muftah, 23, a Syrian-American who lives in Tampa. “I like breaking down people’s ideas of what a woman in a head scarf should be doing.”

Muftah, a third-generation physician, will specialize in gastroenterology, just like her father and grandfather, but in many other ways, she is forging her own path.

“In the Arab culture, not very many women become doctors. They might go to medical school — my grandmother did — but they rarely go into practice,” Muftah said.

Muftah is intent on having a career and a family. This spring, she will marry her finance, Ammar Nassri, an internal medicine resident who starts his fellowship this summer. Because of their impending nuptials, Nassri was unable to attend Match Day. Muftah chose to open her envelope privately a few moments before the match ceremony commenced, so that she could share the news with Nassri via a FaceTime call.

While her fiancé finishes his gastroenterology fellowship, Mayssan will be doing her internal medicine residency. Her future plans include finding a balance between her career and being a mother. She wants to show young Muslim women that they can pursue their dreams and not to give into stereotypes.

Mayssan Muftah shares the good news of her residency match in internal medicine at Emory University School of Medicine with her fiance via FaceTime.

“If you want something, you have to go for it,” she said. “You can’t let anyone stop you. You can be everything — and it’s worth it,” she said.

Unlike her father and grandfather who work in private practice, Muftah plans to practice in an academic setting. There, she will encounter patients from all walks of life, and in all likelihood, certain prejudices, too. Muftah is undeterred.

“I can break down misconceptions about the Muslim faith,” she said, “and change ideas about what someone like me should be like.”

Muftah matched in internal medicine at Emory University in Atlanta.

***

Like most children, SeQuoya Killebrew and her two siblings made frequent visits to their pediatrician’s office as they were growing up, and with every runny nose and fever, she became more certain that one day, she too would become a doctor.

“I really admired my pediatrician,” said Killebrew, 26. “My parents trusted her wholeheartedly to care for their children, to help them and to look out for their best interests.”

The goal of becoming a pediatrician sustained Killebrew for years, throughout high school, undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University, where she earned a degree in biology, and her first two years of medical school.

SeQuoya Killebrew announces that she will be doing her residency in internal medicine at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

In her third year, her first clinical rotation just happened to be in internal medicine, and soon, Killebrew was rethinking her professional aspirations.

“I realized I really like internal medicine. It’s a challenging field. You have to study all the time. You can’t be complacent,” Killebrew said.

Later that year, during her pediatrics rotation, Killebrew made her decision. She would become a hospital-based internist rather than a pediatrician.

“I realized that kids aren’t fun when they’re sick, and when they’re better and more fun, it’s time to send them home,” she said. “I like the dynamic of working with adult patients.”

Killebrew aims to work in a hospital setting because of the impact she’ll be able to make on patients when they’re at their sickest.

“When your patients are in the hospital, there is something seriously wrong. I’ll be able to be their advocate, to sit down with them, hear their stories, coordinate their tests, make sure everything gets done, and then send them home healthier and with the tools to live a better life,” she said.

Though she will be treating adults rather than children, Killebrew will still strive to emulate the compassionate care her pediatrician delivered each time she and her brother and sister had a stomachache or needed an immunization.

“People trust you wholeheartedly to take care of them. You’re a counselor and a confidant, as well as a doctor,” she said.

Killebrew hopes to be matched with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. And she did, in internal medicine.

***

As the son of a beloved USF Health faculty member, one might think Sam Slone is merely following his father’s footsteps into medicine.

Not so, said Slone, who like his father, Frederick Slone, MD, will specialize in gastroenterology.

“I was always good in math and science. I wanted to use that to help people at the same time. By the time I was in middle school, I had decided that I would become a doctor, too,” said Slone, 26.

In fact, it wasn’t until his son was applying to college that he heard him say he wanted to become a physician, Dr. Slone said.

Dr. Fred Slone and son Sam Slone, who will be staying at USF for an internal medicine residency.  Sam plans to specialize in gastroenterology.

During his clinical rotations, Slone explored a variety of specialties, but gastroenterology “just felt right.”

“You have to do something you like. With gastroenterology, I’ll see inpatients and outpatients. I can specialize, but also provide a wide range of services. It’s the area in which I feel I can have the biggest impact for patients,” Slone said.

During medical school, Slone participated in research involving the use of fecal microbiota transplants to treat autism, taught Basic Life Support to members of the public and volunteered with Tampa Bay Street Medicine, an organization that serves Tampa’s homeless population.

All the while, Slone felt his confidence as a medical provider growing.

“At the beginning of medical school, you think, ‘There is no possible way I can learn everything I need to,’ but little by little, you do, and then you realize, ‘I can do this,’ ” he said.

After he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1978, Dr. Slone matched to the University of South Florida for his residency. Like the vast majority of medical school residents, Tampa is where he stayed after his graduate education, building a life in tandem with his practice.

The younger Slone was born and raised in Tampa, graduating from Jesuit High School. He completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Florida — to have the away-from-home college experience — but after graduating in 2013, came right back to Tampa for medical school. This is where he hopes to stay; he ranked USF as his top residency location.

Regardless of where his career takes him, Slone is eager to begin his life’s work — and his dad is eager to watch his son make a name for himself.

“This is one of the proudest moments of my life, to see him achieve this goal,” Dr. Slone said. “Whatever he sets his mind on doing, he will do the work it takes to not only do it, but to excel.”

Slone fulfilled his hopes – he is staying in Tampa in an internal medicine residency at USF.

***

He won’t be there to cheer them on as they open their envelopes.

He can’t wrap them in congratulatory hugs after they cross the stage.

But somehow, Sean and Shaara Argo hope, their dad will be watching this Match Day, and he’ll be proud.

“I’m sure he will be,” said Shaara, 26, of Don Argo, who died of cancer in 2008.

“He always held us to very high expectations.”

Added Sean, 30: “He always said that if you weren’t using your head, you might as well have two rear ends.”

Siblings Sean and Shaara Argo will specialize in emergency medicine and pediatrics, respectively. Sean is headed to Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine in Boca Raton, while Shaara will stay at USF for her residency.

Though he won’t be there to celebrate with them, their accomplishments, Sean and Shaara agreed, have everything to do with their dad, as well as their mom, Kathy, who lives in Rockledge.

Don taught calculus at what is now Eastern Florida State College. Some of his courses were broadcasted on public access television, earning him the nickname, “Math Man.”

“People would just come up to us and say, ‘Hey, it’s the Math Man,’” Shaara said.

Ever the “Math Man,” Don had his children doing linear algebra by the time they were 5 and calculus by middle school.

“We couldn’t go out to dinner without the napkins and placemats being covered in math problems,” Sean said.

Meanwhile, their mother, a former software engineer turned stay-at-home-mom, was the nurturer, the one who instilled in them the importance of doing for others.

“She is just that type of person,” Shaara said. “She taught us empathy and compassion.”

With these two perfectly balanced influences in their lives, Shaara and Sean grew. Shaara gravitated toward medicine early in life. She recalls a photo taken when she and her brother were 3 and 6. They each held stethoscopes to the other’s chest.

“She was very serious about it,” said Sean.

Shaara earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences and a master’s degree in medical sciences from the University of South Florida before enrolling in medical school.

Sean, on the other hand, began his higher education as a physics major at USF, but changed his mind during the last years of his father’s life.

“He was in and out of the hospital,” Sean said. “He would schedule his surgeries for over his winter breaks from school, so we had Christmas in the hospital many times. Sometimes he had really good doctors, and sometimes he had doctors who lacked that human element.”

Those experiences led Sean to change his major. He also earned a bachelor’s in biomedical sciences and master’s degree in medical sciences. Afterward, he went to work for a Florida Department of Health laboratory. There, he tested blood samples for diseases, day in and day out, day after day.

“The same things happened at the same time every day. I realized it wasn’t for me,” Sean said.

“I had these skills, and the experiences we went through with my dad being sick. That’s when I decided medical school was the best fit for me.”

Shaara had headed straight into medical school, which is how she and Sean, four years apart in age, ended up in the same graduating class.

“We’ve answered the same three questions ever since: Are we twins? No. Do we live together? No. Do we study together? No,” Sean said.

Although, his last answer isn’t completely true.

“I taught you how to make flash cards in med school,” Shaara said to Sean one warm afternoon a few days prior to Match Day. “I remember. It was amino acids.”

As they progressed in their studies, Sean and Shaara each chose specialties that perfectly reflect their personalities.

Shaara, the organized, flashcard-making sibling, has chosen pediatrics.

“She is the one with the calendar. There are timetables for immunizations and developmental milestones. She’ll be the one to make sure that every kid is progressing on time,” Sean said.

Sean, who so detested the predictability of the laboratory, will specialize in emergency medicine.

“He is very spur-of-the-moment and spontaneous. He will definitely be able to jump from task to task in a way that makes sense to him,” Shaara said.

Shaara is hoping to match at USF, while Sean is crossing his fingers for the University of Florida or Florida Atlantic University.

Wherever their careers take them, Sean and Shaara will be carrying their parents with them.

“I want them to know that everything they did for us our entire lives, all the sacrifices they made, it made this easier,” Shaara said. “They had such a perfect balance. We hope to embody them both as physicians.”

Both got their preferred matches! Shaara matched in pediatrics at USF. And Sean matched in emergency medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

***

He knows how it feels to be a stranger in a foreign land.

He can still recall the heartbreak of his parents’ divorce.

He’s watched his home burn down, and he’s spent his summers counseling children battling for their lives. Now, Ariel Peñaranda is ready to put these and many other experiences to work for others.

“I have an understanding of what it’s like to go through these things. I know the struggle, and I know that if someone is there for you and there to listen to you, it can get better,” said Peñaranda, 27, who entered the USF Morsani College of Medicine through SELECT, a leadership track that prepares students to take active roles in changes to our health care system.

A native of Colombia who immigrated to Miami when he was 11, Peñaranda first considered becoming a medical doctor when he was in middle school, but that was mostly because both his parents are lawyers and he wanted to take a different path in life.

Ariel Peñaranda, who entered Morsani College of Medicine through the SELECT MD program, was glad to match in psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY. He plans to pursue a child psychiatry fellowship after residency.

During his undergraduate years at the University of Miami, he veered away from medicine, earning a bachelor’s degree in motion pictures and psychology. As he progressed in his studies, however, he found that he was more inspired by the time he’d spent volunteering at an Orlando camp for children diagnosed with cancer, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions than the prospect of editing movies behind a computer screen all day.

“Medicine was a way to combine my love of people and science,” he said.

His undergraduate degree, unusual as it may seem for a future doctor, actually represents what he aims to achieve in his medical career.

“I like listening to people’s stories,” he said.

Peñaranda, the oldest of four siblings and a slew of cousins, has always loved children, and long planned to specialize in pediatrics, but changed his mind after his psychiatric rotations.

By specializing in psychiatry, Peñaranda will be able to spend his days doing what he likes best — listening — in order to devise a course of care that incorporates individual and group therapy, role modeling, and other patient-centered interventions. After his residency, he plans to pursue a child psychiatry fellowship.

“When I walk into the room, I’m not going to be asking for the chief complaint and then writing a prescription,” he said.

In all of his patient interactions, Peñaranda will dig deep, using his personal experiences to relate to those under his care. He gave the experience of being displaced from his Allentown apartment after a fire late last year.

“People have been so kind and have helped me through that,” he said. “I’ve been through that and now I can help others going through the same things.”

Peñaranda added he is especially interested in working with children whose behavioral and emotional issues are affecting their academic performance. He hoped to be matched with Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. And he was.

***

Communications team supporting Match Day 2017: Anne DeLotto Baier, Grace Beck, Freddie Coleman, Vjollca Hysenlika, Mark Leaning, Tina Meketa, Ryan Noone, Elizabeth Peacock, Rachel Pleasant, Sandra Roa, Ashley Rodriguez, Emily Wingate, Sarah Worth, Eric Younghans. Technical support by Andy Campbell.

The MCOM Class of 2017.

A heartfelt welcome, some good advice for navigating USF Graduate Medical Education program, and a glimpse of the hard realities found in today’s health care system were part of the morning for 225 new resident physicians taking part in their orientation, held June 30 at the Embassy Suites on the USF campus.

The orientation precedes the July 1 start day for when resident physicians across the country begin their training and when USF residents are deployed to the many clinical facilities and hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area affiliated with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Setting the stage for the greater demand for providing higher quality care over total costs, residents were urged to be cautious in their expenditures and more cognizant of individual patient outcomes by Charles Paidas, MD, professor of surgery and vice dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) at MCOM.

“So for 10 minutes we’ve been talking about (improving the use of health care) money, but really we’re talking about culture,” he said. “Transformation of how we take care of patients is no longer ‘I have to see a whole bunch of patients’ but is now ‘each patient that I see has to be a quality, grand slam, homerun hit.”

USF’s residency program has more than 80 residency and fellowship training programs with more than 700 trainees.

This year’s entering group includes 225 physicians, with 145 residents and 80 fellows. Of the residents, about half are entering their first year of residency. Called PGY1s (post graduate year 1), these physicians are experiencing the first day of their medical careers – they just graduated from medical school a few months ago. In residencies, newly graduated medical doctors transition to the next phase of their education. Unlike in medical school, when decision making was ‘virtual’ and practiced in the shadows of the care team, residencies have the responsibility shift to these new doctors.

The other incoming residents are beginning the next step in their residencies, transitioning to a narrower focus within their specialty. Fellows have finished their residencies and are now conducting additional, more specialized training within their specialty. Fellowships are typically highly competitive positions in superior programs. While most of the new resident physicians are from MCOM (41), the rest are graduates of schools and programs from farther afield, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Thailand, among others.

One new resident didn’t have to travel far; Neil Manimala, MD, is an alum of USF Health MCOM and is specializing in urology. He said his choice for USF’s urology residency was easy.

“I chose to stay at USF because I believe it is one of the best urology programs in the country,” Dr. Manimala said. “Our residents are thoroughly trained to be both quality-driven clinicians and effective educators of patients and junior physicians alike.  From the high-tech robots to the more basic tools of the field, we are empowered to deliver what is truly the best urological care that the region has to offer. From TGH to the VA to Moffitt, our faculty are among the best. I’m excited to work with the USF Urology family in the years to come.  Furthermore, in my time in this city, I have been a witness to the unstoppable growth and development in Tampa Bay.  As we move our college to the heart of this city, I’m honored to be a part of that growth.  The sand, sun, and diversity don’t hurt either. I’m looking forward to giving all the people in this community — from my co-residents and our faculty to my patients and their families — my absolute best.”

Dr. Paidas concluded his orientation remarks with three words he asked the room full of new doctors to remember across their residencies, along with the lesson on value from earlier in the morning: Safe, team, and commit.

“These are the three words I want to leave you with besides value,” he said. “We want to graduate as a safe doctor, be able to work in a team, and commit to your obligations of lifelong learning, to your patients, to your peers and students, your department, and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.”

This year’s residents and fellows totaled 225. About 45 percent are starting at Tampa General Hospital, 25 percent at the Haley VA Hospital, 15 percent at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the remaining are at various other sites. Internal medicine welcomed the largest number of new residents and fellows, with 86, followed by surgery, with 25.

Here is a breakdown of the entire group:

Dermatology, 5

Family Medicine, 9

Cardiology, 7

Internal Medicine, 86

Neurology, 13

Neurosurgery, 4

Obstetrics and Gynecology, 8

Ophthalmology, 3

Orthopaedics, 7

Otolaryngology, 2

Pathology, 7

Pediatrics, 17

Plastic Surgery, 3

Psychiatry, 9

Radiology, 20

Surgery, 25

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Three words: Safe. Team. Commit. That’s the message Charles Paidas, MD, urged more than 230 new resident physicians to take away from their recent all-day orientation, their official welcome to the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

“If you remember nothing else about the next 15 minutes, I want you to remember those words,” said Dr. Paidas, professor of surgery and vice dean for Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education at MCOM. “These are your goals for your residency. Graduate as a safe doctor, be able to work in a team, and commit to your obligations of lifelong learning, your patients your peers and students, your department, and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.”

The June 30 orientation at the USF Alumni Center and was likely be the only time the entire group will be in the same room together. The next day – July 1, the national start to residency training programs – the new-to-USF residents were deployed to the many clinical facilities and hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area affiliated with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

This year’s entering group includes 238 physicians, with 147 residents and 91 fellows. Of the residents, about half are entering their first year of residency. Called PGY1s (post graduate year 1), these physicians are experiencing the first day of their medical careers – they just graduated from medical school a few months ago. The other incoming residents are beginning the next step in their residencies, transitioning to a narrower focus within their specialty. Fellows have finished their residencies and are now conducting additional, more specialized training within their specialty. Fellowships are typically highly competitive positions in superior programs. While most of the new resident physicians are from MCOM (40), the rest are graduates of schools and programs from farther afield, including China, Colombia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Mexico, among others.

The annual influx of new residents and fellows marks a significant moment for these doctors, but probably a bit more so for the PGY1s. It’s when the paradigm shifts, Dr. Paidas said.

“As a medical student, decision making was ‘virtual’ and practiced in the shadows of the care team,” he said. “Now, the responsibility shifts to the intern, or first-year resident. Although not completely in charge, the first-year resident has graded responsibility and team trust is earned and rewarded with more responsibility. The first-year is all about learning the drill.

“And it’s the very first time an office or hospital patient looks at you as one of their docs, begins to develop a relationship with you, and trusts what you say.”

One such resident is Lindsey Ryan, MD, a PGY1 from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Her first day included making early rounds at Tampa General Hospital with a team from Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Ryan, who is specializing in otolaryngology, said that USF’s program rose above others when she was interviewing residency programs.

“On interview day, you look for a program you will fit into,” Dr. Ryan said. “That’s a big thing. There are great programs all over, but it’s that extra piece you look for. I loved the program and the faculty here and I felt right at home.”

Fitting right in on rounds at TGH, Dr. Ryan walked in and out of pediatric patient rooms with the health care team that included more seasoned residents, a chief resident, an attending physician, a nurse practitioner, and a USF medical student. These are the first patients she is seeing as a physician, a realization she doesn’t miss.

“I’m having a very good day,” she said.

USF’s residency program has more than 80 residency and fellowship training programs with more than 700 trainees. The program is considered strong, Dr. Paidas said.

“It’s all about the depth and breadth of patient populations,” he said. “The USF affiliates attract a wealth of patients and provide the substrate for the maturation of the resident. Tampa Bay has historically been an attractive geographic locale. In addition, we have a superb clinical faculty able to balance their work with patient care and education. Think about it. Our affiliates include the Number One ranked hospital in the State, level 1 Pediatric and Adult trauma Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, two VA’s, Family Health Clinics. Our affiliates give us an unbelievable depth of patients.”

This year’s residents and fellows totaled 238. About 45% are starting at Tampa General Hospital, 25% at the Haley VA Hospital, 15% at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the remaining are at various other sites. Internal medicine welcomed the largest number of new residents and fellows, with 73, followed by surgery, with 25.

Here is a breakdown of the entire group:

Dermatology, 5

Emergency Medicine, 10

Family Medicine, 10

Cardiology, 7

Internal Medicine, 73

Medicine / Pediatrics, 6

Neurology, 18

Neurosurgery, 4

Obstetrics & Gynecology, 7

Ophthalmology, 5

Orthopaedics, 7

Otolaryngology, 3

Pathology, 8

Pediatrics, 15

Preventive/Occupational Medicine, 2

Psychiatry, 13

Radiology,20

Surgery, 25

Story by Sarah Worth, and photos by Sandra C. Roa, USF Health Office of Communications. 

Graduating medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine celebrated the next step in their careers at Match Day Friday – but first they and leading advocates took time out to call for increased support of graduate medical training.

Without increased federal funding for graduate medical training, the nation’s looming physician shortage will get worse, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said Friday at USF’s Match Day celebration. With more medical school students and no increase in residency slots, it’s getting harder each year for students to “match” into a residency space.

“Medical schools expect to graduate more students, but the number of available residency training slots will not keep up with this trend unless Congress invests in developing our residency programs to meet the health care needs of our aging population,” U.S. Rep. Castor said. “Giving teaching hospitals the opportunity to grow their training programs makes sense in their mission to provide quality health care and makes economic sense for Florida because doctors tend to remain in the region where they complete their medical training.”

L to R: Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and Alicia Billington, a graduating USF Health medical student, at Match Day 2014.

Just before USF Health’s Match Day celebration began, Rep. Castor (D-FL) announced that she and U.S. Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) introduced the Creating Access to Residency Education (CARE) Act of 2014 on Friday. The CARE bill aims to create a $25 million CMS grant program that would allow hospitals in states with a low ratio of graduate medical education (GME) training slots – including Florida – to apply for matching funds to support increases in slots.

USF Health leaders and students applauded Rep. Castor’s support of increased funding.

“We congratulate our students for reaching this milestone in their medical careers. On Match Day, we want to celebrate this culmination of their hard work and drive,” said Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “We’re also mindful today that the path they have traveled is becoming more difficult to navigate. We’re so grateful to have U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor with us today to push to increase federal funding and ensure that future medical students, both here in Florida and across the country, can enjoy this same success.”

Graduating students came to Match Day to learn their fates, finding out at Match Day where they would spend the next several years of their careers. Despite the suspense, students found time to be advocates. They chose to highlight the GME funding crisis on their Match Day T-shirts this year, which read “#save GME” across the back.

Before the Match Day celebration began, Congresswoman Castor announced the introduction of proposed legislation to support more residency training slots. Billington, right, is one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased graduate medical education funding.

“We decided to do this after realizing, ‘What is the best present you could give to your classmates?’ A residency slot,” said graduating student Alicia Billington, one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased GME funding.

“We stand in solidarity for your future Match Day,” Billington said Friday to future medical classes at USF. “We’ve got your back.”

Billington, who will graduate with an MD/PhD, learned Friday that she matched in plastic and reconstructive surgery – one of the country’s most competitive specialties – at her top choice, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Billington interned in Washington, D.C., with the American Medical Association and has focused her political efforts on increasing funding for GME.

National medical leaders thanked both Rep. Castor and Billington for their support of increasing funding, saying change is needed to avert a physician shortage that will limit access to health care.

“Match Day is a day of excitement, enthusiasm, and joy for medical students around the country,” said Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). “While we celebrate with these students, we also look ahead to the next decade when our nation will face a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians of all types.  This makes increasing federal support for graduate medical education a critical priority. The AAMC applauds the efforts of Rep. Kathy Castor, who is a true champion on GME and physician workforce issues.  And we thank student advocates like USF medical school senior and GME advocacy champion Alicia Billington for their hard work educating their communities about these important issues.”

In recent years, medical school enrollment has increased, while the federal funding that is the main funding source for the nation’s residency programs has remained capped. Last year, 528 medical students did not match – more than double the number of unmatched students the prior year.

“Not every medical student in the United States is going to get a spot this year,” Dr. van Loveren said to the USF Health students assembled for Match Day Friday. “Can you imagine going through all this and no residency training?”

Castor flashes the USF “Go Bulls” sign as Billington, recipient of the first match letter, finds out she’ll be doing a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at her first choice — the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Florida has only 19 medical residents per 100,000 state residents, well below the national average of 26.8 residents, according to a 2012 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges. While Florida is the 4^th most populous state, it ranks 42^nd in the number of graduate medical residents per Florida residents.

With 3,898 medical students but only 3,769 residency and fellow positions, Florida also doesn’t have enough slots to go around. That means Florida is a “net exporter” of medical students – many students train here, but must go elsewhere for graduate training. Because so many students stay where they receive graduate training, exporting students means Florida loses future physicians.

That needs to change, Castor said Friday to USF Health’s Match Day crowd.

“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon,” she said, pointing to Dr. van Loveren, “to know we need talented doctors here in the state of Florida.”

Of the 121 USF Health students participating in Match Day, 39 percent will stay in Florida; 30 percent of the class matched at USF Health. Other students scattered across the country, going everywhere from Massachusetts General Hospital to UCLA Medical Center.

Every USF Health Morsani College of Medicine student participating in this year’s Match was matched to a residency slot. On the flip side, the College of Medicine also filled every one of its available residency slots with graduating medical students.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

ACH and USF Sign New Affiliation Agreements

St. Petersburg, FL (Oct., 2012) — All Children’s Hospital and the University of South Florida have signed new affiliation agreements that extend and enhance their longstanding collaborative efforts in pediatric medical education and research. The resulting expansion of pediatric research programs will benefit both institutions, create new jobs, drive economic development, and spur entrepreneurial growth in biomedical sciences while advancing understanding of pediatric health issues.

The eight-year agreement is the first renewal of the affiliation after All Children’s became a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine last year, and signals commitment to a long-term relationship.

“This sets the stage for ACH and USF to establish a critical mass for pediatric research and academics,” said Jonathan Ellen, MD, president and vice dean, All Children’s Hospital. “It promises an academic culture that will foster the generation of new ideas and avenues of inquiry to ultimately benefit children throughout the Tampa Bay area and beyond.”

“This is a new day for our relationship,” said Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “It provides for a unique residency experience for our pediatric residents between All Children’s and Tampa General and the colleges of USF Health.”

“Now, our world-class endowed chairs at the Children’s Research Institute will work along with investigators from All Children’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins in a collegial and collaborative environment,” Dr. Klasko said.

Collaboration between the two institutions dates back to 1973, with the creation of an endocrinology clinical and research program headed by Allen Root, MD. It grew in the 1980s to include pediatric immunology and molecular genetics. In 1996, USF pediatric residency programs in St. Petersburg and Tampa combined into a single program in which resident physicians received training on both sides of the bay.

USF residents will continue to benefit from participating in the care of children with acute and complex medical conditions and intense exposure to pediatric subspecialties through rotations at ACH.  The agreement reaffirms that USF medical students and residents in surgical specialties can continue to train at ACH for pediatric experience. In addition, All Children’s will continue to provide support for ongoing USF clinical programs in pediatric allergy/immunology and pediatric nephrology at ACH.

“The USF residency, established in the early 70’s has trained over half of the pediatricians in the Tampa Bay area,” said Dr. Patricia Emmanuel, chair of the USF Health Department of Pediatrics. “This affiliation will continue the excellence of the training program, and perpetuates the legacy of our Department. We have the benefits of all aspects of our University to help create future pediatric leaders.”

The agreements further define how ACH and USF will move forward collaboratively to grow a shared pediatric research mission based at the Children’s Research Institute (CRI). The CRI, a USF Health facility adjacent to ACH that was built with a combination of ACH donations and state matching funds, opened in 2000. Several CRI-based researchers who hold endowed chairs (established through gifts from the All Children’s Hospital Foundation) in the USF Health Department of Pediatrics will continue their investigations.

Funds from two endowed chairs that remain unfilled will be redirected to support a collaborative research enterprise and expanded research infrastructure that will benefit both institutions. Through the agreement, All Children’s will lease space within the CRI.

“The new agreement leverages the existing endowed chairs and the CRI building and facilities in order to expand research programs and infrastructure,” Dr. Ellen said. “This will enhance the impact of the original gifts from generous All Children’s Hospital supporters.”

“Greater collaboration among investigators and programs within the Children’s Research Institute will contribute further to scientific advancements achieved by USF investigators and create new research opportunities aimed at improving children’s health,” Dr. Klasko said.

The CRI endowed chairs are:

• The Andrew & Ann Hines Chair in Molecular Genetics – Gary Litman, PhD
• The Robert A. Good Endowed Chair in Immunology – John Sleasman, MD
• The Mason Endowed Chair in Translational Cardiology – Kersti Linask, PhD
• The Maurice A. and Thelma P. Rothman Chair of Developmental Pediatrics – Tanya Murphy, MD, MS
• The All Children’s Hospital Guild Chair in Child Development – Eric Storch, PhD, MS
• The Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Chair in Translational Diabetes – Michael Shamblott, MD

The two new collaborative research program endowments are:

• ACH / USF Program Endowment in Health Services Sciences
• The Andrews/Daicoff Program Endowment in Pediatric Cardiology at ACH

About All Children’s Hospital

Children are the sole focus of All Children’s Hospital and its million-square-foot St. Petersburg FL campus devoted to pediatric specialty care.  The ten-story, 259-bed All Children’s Hospital and its adjacent Outpatient Care Center (dedicated in January 2010) replaced an existing 42-year old facility just two blocks away. All Children’s Hospital is a proud member of Johns Hopkins Medicine. All Children’s is the only US hospital outside of the Baltimore/Washington D.C. metroplex to achieve that distinction. It is also the only hospital on Florida’s West Coast totally devoted to children’s care – a leader in pediatric treatment, education, research and advocacy. As a regional referral center for children with some of the most challenging medical problems, All Children’s draws patients from throughout Florida, all 50 states and 36 foreign countries.  The mission of this private, not-for-profit hospital is rooted in its beginnings in 1926 as Florida’s first Crippled Children’s Hospital for polio victims. All Children’s understands that it’s not enough to treat disease — that true progress comes from teaching and research to cure disease. All Children’s shares its pediatric expertise through research & education affiliations with 70 different institutions including Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of South Florida (USF Health) as well as Moffitt Cancer Center, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

About USF Health

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. The University of South Florida is a global research university ranked 50th in the nation by the National Science Foundation for both federal and total research expenditures among all U.S. universities.

Media Contacts:
Ann Miller, ACH Media Relations Manager, (727) 767-8592, millera@allkids.org
Lisa Greene, Director of Strategic Communications, USF Health Communications, lgreene@health.usf.edu or  (813) 974-4312

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgYzCcaacDI

“>

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgYzCcaacDI

Today, the class of 2012 arrives at Skipper’s Smokehouse to find their fortunes.

It is Match Day, that annual ritual where medical students across the country find out where – and in what specialty – they will do their graduate training, or residencies.

It will be a whirlwind of exhilaration and devastation and uncertainty and change. Some students will get to see the culmination of their years of dreams and hard work. Others must find new directions for their careers and their lives. Some will leave home; others will head for unfamiliar vistas. Parents and spouses and children are all at the mercy of the Match Day algorithm, waiting to see where students will go and whose lives will be turned upside down.

Nicholas Governatori reacts as when he finds out he matched in emergency medicine at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. Associate Dean of Student Affairs Steven Specter looks on.

Three of these students of 2012 never expected to see Match Day.

Alexandra Feliciano was told she couldn’t be a doctor.

Priyanka Kamath didn’t want to become one.

And Harry Lomas took 20 years to make it to medical school.

Yet here they are.  And they, too, are waiting to see their fate.

* * *

Alexandra Feliciano was 10 when she passed out on the playground.

The incident turned out to be nothing serious; she may have overheated. But it marked a pivotal point in her life – because she received a heart scan.

“Seeing my own heart beating and hearing that ‘whoosh, whoosh’ – I was completely engrossed,” said Feliciano, now 28. She began dreaming that day of a career in medicine.

Money was scarce, and dreams were scarcer. Well-meaning adults dispensed pragmatism with heavy doses of doubt upon Alexandra’s ambitions.

“Well, you know, that’s really hard,” they would tell young Alexandra when she said she wanted to become a doctor.

But the discouraging words only cemented her resolve. That determination only grew as Alexandra saw how her family’s circumstances limited their access to healthcare. They were living in rural Florida, and Alexandra’s mother would have to travel an hour to visit a doctor.  She would bring Alexandra along to translate.

Alexandra wanted to make it better.

Alexandra Feliciano announces her match.

In the end, she persevered. Feliciano trained first as a nuclear medicine technician, but found it didn’t offer the connection with patients that she wanted.

And today, Alexandra Feliciano will find out where her future lies – but she already knows she will dedicate her career to helping those less fortunate.  She is seeking to match in family medicine.

“I want to give back to the underserved population,” she said. “I feel like there’s a need there. And they are so appreciative of anything you can do for them – even when all you’re doing is speaking in their native tongue.”

She also wanted a specialty that would allow her to focus on working closely with her patients.

“I love people,” she said. “I need that personal contact. To me, that’s medicine – reaching out and listening and touching.”

Feliciano has already made working with underserved populations, particularly migrant workers and other Latino groups in need, a priority during medical school. She has been a co-president of the Latin American Medical Students Association and received the Philip T. Gompf Award for Perseverance and Social Justice.

She plans to continue that work wherever she goes – but she has no idea where that will be. While many medical students seek a particular program or region to match in, Feliciano approached the Match as her “opportunity for adventure.” She’s applied for family medicine programs in several states, all of which offer proximity to the populations she wants to help. Her top choices are in North Carolina and Tennessee – especially because two of her sisters live there.

“But I’ll be happy wherever I end up,” she said.

And for now, she plans to return to Florida after residency. She knows there are patients here who need her help.

* * *

Harry Lomas joined the U.S. Army Rangers straight out of high school.

It was what he always wanted to do, and he was good at it. He jumped from planes and invaded Panama.

But his goals changed after his mother got cancer. Lomas cared for her until she died.

He then returned to the Army, joined Army Special Forces and went to Haiti.

Through the Army, Lomas became an emergency medicine physician assistant, and then got a master’s degree.  When the war started, he spent a week helping out at Ground Zero, and then returned to active duty, and eventually deployed to Iraq.

Lomas then transferred to MacDill Air Force Base. Married with a child by now, Lomas still found time to take organic chemistry and physics as prerequisites for medical school, all while still in the Army.

Finding time to apply to med school was a bit harder. USF had to move up Lomas’ interview because he was scheduled to redeploy to Iraq.

Harry Lomas, congratulated by Dr. Specter, accepted his match envelope with his family.

Lomas returned from Iraq and arrived at medical school at age 37, making him one of the older entering students. He came in determined to keep an open mind about what path he would take – but “oncology was always in the back of my mind,” he said.

Working in the operating room with Dr. Richard Karl in surgical oncology further developed his desire to work with cancer patients.  Dr. Sarah Hoffe introduced him to radiation oncology and his affinity for physics and clinical research made it a good fit.

And, most of all, Lomas became passionate about helping cancer patients talk through the complex treatment choices they have to make and the unique fears they experience. Aggressive surgery might be best for one patient, watchful waiting for another.

“Dr. Karl is a fantastic mentor,” Lomas said. “He really gets it…What is best for that patient? What are the implications for them? How does it affect their lives?”

Now 41, Lomas knows he’s already matched in this very competitive field – but he doesn’t know where. It could mean a big change for him, his wife Stephanie, and their three children: Josephine, 6; Lilah, 3; and Harry V, 1. Lomas will do a preliminary year in one program and then go on to a radiation oncology residency somewhere else.

Lomas has ranked nine programs; his top choice is in Virginia, with Moffitt Cancer Center a close second. Depending what happens, the family could need to sell their home – fast.

“We’ve been packing like crazy,” he said.

But they’ll find out today whether they should keep packing up boxes.

* * *

This isn’t Priyanka Kamath’s first Match Day. When Kamath was a junior at Hillsborough High School, she came to USF’s Match Day – to see where her mother would match. The stakes were high: a match elsewhere could have meant Kamath would have had to spend her senior year in a new school.

Fortunately for Kamath, her mother matched at USF, and the family stayed put. Her mother, Dr. Kanchan Kamath, now practices internal medicine in Tampa.

She has been an inspiration for her daughter.

“I saw that passion for practicing medicine in her,” Priyanka Kamath said. “She loves it so much. She has never taken a second of it for granted.”

But it wasn’t always that way.

Kamath says her mother always took wonderful care of her two children, even after she started medical school when Kamath was in eighth grade. She loved how her mother would meet her at Barnes & Noble or Panera, and the two would sit and do their homework together.

And Kamath was always proud of how her mother pursued her dream later in life, even after her parents’ more traditional views on appropriate choices for women initially kept her from pursuing a medical career.

“It was watching her work so hard,” Kamath said. “I didn’t know if that was the right thing for me.”

So Kamath looked for other paths. She majored in economics and anthropology. She thought about optometry school. She traveled to India, where she worked for an organization that helped women forced into prostitution.

And gradually, Kamath’s views began to change.

Priyanka Kamath watched her mother, now an internal medicine physician in Tampa, match at USF. Today, she opens her own envelope.

“Easy isn’t always the best thing for people,” she said. “Finding something that challenges you and is exciting is important. It just took me a couple of years to figure that out.”

Once she did, Kamath didn’t look back. She decided she wants to become an OB/GYN so that she can advocate for women.

But first she has to get through Match Day. Kamath and her fiancé, Vimal Patel, plan to marry in just a few weeks. And the high school sweethearts have been in a long-distance relationship for a decade.

Patel, now finishing his MBA in Texas, has been offered a job in New York. So Kamath’s top two choices are there, so they can be together.

If those don’t work, Patel will follow her. Her other choices are in Austin, Texas, so Patel won’t have to move, and then Chicago and Washington, DC, where it would be easier for him to find work. Except, of course, for one other place on the list: USF.

That would be just fine, too. Then there would be two Dr. Kamaths in town.

* * *

By this morning, students had already packed Skipper’s Smokehouse long before noon, when Match Day was set to begin. The air hummed with tension. Lomas and his wife brought all three children; Kamath’s mother is back at the site of her own Match Day; Feliciano’s mother is her, while her sisters are watching USF Health’s live stream of the event from their computers.

When her name is called, Anna Wouters practically runs to the stage. “How hard is it to open an envelope?” William Carson asks his classmates when it takes him too long to open his and find out that he’s going to UCLA and then UCSF.

Then it’s Feliciano’s turn. She takes a deep breath before she looks, then turns to the camera.

“My sister, are you watching? Are you watching?” she yells. “Family medicine at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga!”

It means Feliciano will be in the same town with her sister Yajaira, with sister Eleida nearby.

More names are called. Nicholas Governatori is so excited that he jumps up and down screaming out his match: St. Lukes-Roosevelt in New York. Nobody has any doubt that this is exactly where he wants to be.

Then it’s Lomas’ turn. He brings up the whole family, with the girls in pink sundresses and little Harry V in his arms. Dr. Steven Specter, associate dean of student affairs, opens the envelope for him. Lomas kneels down to read it next to his daughters: Riverside Regional Medical Center for a year, then Virginia Commonwealth University. His top choice. Stephanie Lomas and the girls start doing a happy dance.

“You guys get to see SNOW!” she tells them as the girls dance off stage.

“I’m so excited,” she says as they pack up the kids. “I’m overjoyed. I’m so proud of him. I’m so happy.”

Lomas grins.

“It’s what we wanted,” he says.

Of course, it does means they’ll have to sell the house.

Soon it’s Kamath’s turn. She opens the envelope and reads with a smile: University of Texas, Southwestern. Not New York, but it means her fiancé won’t have to move.  It’s the next best thing.

Next Christiana Bernal chokes back tears when she finds out she’s matched in pediatrics at her top choice, Vanderbilt. Sherif Said throws his hands in the air to call out his match – anesthesiology at the University of Southern California. Timothy Miller is quieter as he reads his match: neurosurgery at Duke.

Robert Rossi’s name is called near the end. He arrives at the front and talks to the camera: “Hi Mom. Love you.” Then he yells out his match: the University of Chicago.  “Oh my God. I got it! I got it!” he says. Friends line up to hug him.

The last few names are called, and then the suspense is over. All that’s left to do is huddle up for the class picture.

The class of 2012 has matched.

Everybody gets a match! The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2012

– Photos by Eric Younghans, and video by Amy Mariani, USF Health Communications

RELATED STORIES:

• Class of 2012 Match Day List
• Highest Match Rate for U.S. Medical Seniors in 30 Years

A Match Day tradition: As the last student called up to open the match envelope, Tawanna King wins the cash box containing the dollar bill or bills contributed by each student before her.

The beginning of the next stage of their life starts now.

Soon, the medical students of the class of 2012 will criss-cross the country, dressed in their business best, nervously anticipating curveball questions and first impressions, as they start their interviews.

The interviews will chart the course of their future, as they are a key step in determining where they will go to receive their graduate medical education.

“It’s a little nerve-racking,” says Jayme Mitchell, a fourth-year USF medical student who hopes to become an OB/GYN physician. “But it’s also exciting.”

Mitchell and her fellow would-be OB/GYNs are receiving a little help tonight, thanks to USF’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and several faculty members. Seven students have dressed in their interview clothes this evening for a full round of mock interviews.

The department’s leaders do the mock interviews each year to try to give the students a little extra practice before they head out to residency programs around the country. USF’s Office of Student Affairs also coordinates a program of mock interviews with volunteer faculty members.

“They always worry,’’ said Dr. Jimmy Mayer, associate professor and director of Undergraduate Women’s Healthcare Education. “They always have a ton of questions about the interview itself.”

Medical students have become experts at taking written tests over the years, but the thought of this new kind of assessment fills some with dread. They ask Dr. Mayer about all their uncertainties.

What questions will they ask me? What should I tell them? How many interviews should I do?

The mock interviews are designed to soothe nerves, give students a boost of confidence and a better idea of what to expect.

The timing couldn’t be better for student Delaura Patel.

“My first interview is on Friday,” she said. “I’m flying to Arizona. This is like the real thing.”

The department tries to make the interviews as much like the real thing as possible, said Dr. Mayer and Lauren Shaw, coordinator of Undergraduate Women’s Healthcare Education. Dr. Mayer warns students that each program is different; others may not run their interviews in the same way as USF’s. To avoid potential bias, any students who do mock interviews will be matched with other faculty members if they interview for USF residencies.

The students are so hungry for extra experience that they have juggled busy clerkship schedules to be here. Robert Rossi is working nights right now and went to bed at 9 a.m. But he’s here this evening in his best suit.

“I like this,” Rossi said. “I need the practice.”

There are advantages to practicing on the home court. When Mitchell walks into her final interview, it’s easy to greet Dr. Soha Patel, a first-year resident, with assurance.

“Obviously, we’ve never met before,” joked Dr. Patel.

Dr. Patel grills Mitchell on her medical interests: Why do you like the program here? Are you concerned that your experience might be more narrow if you stay in one place? Where do you see OB, as a field, going ten years from now?

She throws in a few offbeat, more personal queries as well: Who inspires you? Who do you rely on most? Tell me about your favorite childhood moment. What’s the last thing you Googled?

Mitchell handles the curve balls with ease. Staying put doesn’t worry her, she says, because USF is constantly changing and adapting. And the person closest to her: Mom.

The students also get other tips about what happens outside the interview room. Cluster your interviews by location so you don’t have to buy as many plane tickets. Remember coats and shoes for winter weather. The reception the night before can be just as important as interview day – and if residents don’t show, that may be a red flag that they’re unhappy with the program.

Mitchell has wanted to become an OB/GYN since shadowing a family friend in high school.

“It’s exciting, it’s fast paced,” she said. “I feel like I can connect with the patients – and that they trust me. It’s fun delivering babies, but there’s a lot more than that too.”

– Story by Lisa Greene, photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications