Early Friday morning, March 17, like other medical students across the nation, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) College of Medicine (COM) students, their families, and friends nervously ate breakfast as they waited until the time counted down to 9 a.m. They were waiting to see where they “matched” and to find out where they would complete their residency training.
The President and CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle welcomed everyone, and College of Medicine Dean Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Associate Dean Daphne Calmes and Urban Underserved College Chair, Dr. Cesar Barba, took turns congratulating the medical students on reaching this milestone in their medical education.
All eyes, however, were on those envelopes distributed about 10 minutes before 9 a.m.
When the clock struck 9 a.m. PDT, Associate Dean Calmes instructed the students: “Open your envelopes now!” The envelopes were destroyed with eager fingers ripping into them. There were tears of joy and relief as medical students hugged family members and friends as well as CDU faculty and staff.
“This was my first Match Day at Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine and boy was it amazing,” said Dean Prothrow-Stith.
“We have such an outstanding class of seniors who have made us very proud. We got over 80% of matched students staying in
California and that’s important. A small percentage will be traveling to the East, Midwest, and the South. We have 67% going into Primary Care including 42% in Family Medicine so that’s important. We also have one student going to Massachusetts General Hospital in surgery and that’s a big deal and another to the University of Chicago, another very big deal. We have a lot going to the UCLA Medical Center and quite a few going to Kaiser Permanente and we are very excited about that. Within UCLA, we have one going into urology, one going into otolaryngology and another into orthopedics. Probably what makes us the most proud of these students is their commitment to serving underserved populations and that really fits CDU’s social justice mission. It was a great day!”
The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) announced the results of the 2017 Main Residency Match® this week, the largest in its history. A record-high 35,969 U.S. and international medical school students and graduates vied for 31,757 positions, the most ever offered in the Match. The number of available first-year (PGY-1) positions rose to 28,849, 989 more than last year.
The students that attend CDU’s College of Medicine are part of the CDU/UCLA Medical Education Program, and some are students of the PRIME program. These students spend much of their first two years of medical education at UCLA and their 3rd and 4th year at CDU.
