Match Day brings excitement for FSU College of Medicine graduates

Amanda and Tamara Raymond have been through a lot together. From their premature birth to their undergraduate days as pre-med students at the University of Florida, the Loxahatchee twins have always been in sync.

Their bond held strong as they were admitted to the Bridge to Clinical Medicine master’s program at the Florida State University College of Medicine in 2020, then to the M.D. Class of 2025 the next year. With the Fort Pierce Regional Campus the closest one to their hometown, they wanted – and got – assigned there for their final two years of clinical studies.

Asked whether they do everything together, they answered in unison, “Pretty much!” But would they be together through residency, the next step in their medical education after their May 17 graduation? On Friday, they got the answer they were hoping for, matching with the FSU Internal Medicine Residency Program at Cape Coral Hospital in southwest Florida.

“We both ranked it our first choice,” Amanda said.

“We were hoping,” Tamara added.

Held the third Friday in March each year, Match Day is when medical students across the country hear “open your envelopes” at noon (ET) and simultaneously learn where they will spend the next few years. At FSU, College of Medicine Dean Alma Littles, M.D., spoke the magic words from the stage of FSU’s Ruby Diamond Auditorium, which sparked several minutes of whooping and hollering.

The process begins the previous fall when fourth-year medical students start applying to residency programs through the computerized National Resident Matching Program. Students rank the programs in their order of preference and the directors of each residency program rank the students in their order of preference. How well student and director preferences overlap determines the match.

The Raymonds were two of 57 students (51%) matching in a primary care specialty, which includes family medicine (10%), internal medicine (22%), pediatrics (4%), and obstetrics & gynecology (12%), filling areas of greatest need in Florida and beyond.

Collectively, 52 of 113 graduates will be staying in Florida (46%), a slight decrease from last year’s 48% and an indicator that even as Florida adds residency slots, more are needed. Studies show that physicians tend to set up practice within 50 miles of where they completed their residencies.

Match Day is an emotional event, with more than a few tears shed, as students thank family, friends, partners, professors, faculty and staff at both the central campus in Tallahassee and their regional campuses. Many also thanked God for helping them reach this milestone in their journey to medicine.

“I’d like to thank the admissions committee for taking a chance on me four years ago,” said Sammy Shihadeh, who matched in general surgery at Atrium Health Navicent Medical Center in Macon, Georgia.

As part of the ceremony, students, with loved ones in tow, took to the stage to reveal their matches to their classmates. Some waited until they were on stage to open their envelopes.

Riann White, on stage with her parents while her brother was present via Facetime on a smartphone, said it was only fitting that her father be the one to open her envelope.

“He has opened every piece of mail that comes into the house, with or without my permission,” she said as the crowd roared with laughter.  White matched in obstetrics & gynecology at the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville.

Logan Schulz acknowledged his grandfather, Dr. Richard Conard, who was his inspiration to pursue medicine. Conard joined him on stage with other family members. Schulz is training at the same place Conard did, UF’s College of Medicine and Shands Hospital, where he matched in surgery-preliminary. And Katarina Forsthoefel, who matched in obstetrics & gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, said she was following in the footsteps of her sister and mother. Her father is also a physician, and all three were in her entourage on stage.

Sean Gabany had his grandparents, his best friend, and his girlfriend, Katie Allen, with him. He thanked FSU for its support, which began when he was in the eighth grade in the Florida Panhandle town of Crestview. That’s when he began participating in SSTRIDE, a pathway program that helps guide promising students from underserved populations as they move up into high school and college.

“I matched at not just in pediatrics, not just in psychiatry and not just in child psychiatry,” he said, “but in a triple board combined program in all three.”

Gabany will train at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. And girlfriend Katie, with whom he has maintained a long-distance relationship since they met while he was doing research at the Immokalee Health Education Site, is joining him.

“That is the plan,” he said, grinning broadly.

This year, 14 students matched in psychiatry, 12% of the graduating class. Aanchal Shah was joined onstage by her parents, her two sisters and her boyfriend as she announced her psychiatry match at Yale University-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. Shah did an external rotation at Yale last year.

Nikki Sangha called the day “surreal” and noted she now knows “lots of future psychiatrists” adding dryly, “I’m thankful for that after this journey.” Sangha matched in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Two students were not able to attend the ceremony but had friends share their matches. Shwetha Shetty, who was visiting family in India, matched in internal medicine-primary at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Cristina Sanchez-Benitez, who gave birth to her second child the weekend before, matched in emergency medicine at Orlando Health.

Class President Sean Wimberley, who had a 10-year career as a registered pharmacist, dates his affiliation with the FSU College of Medicine to his time as the PA program’s Clinical Pharmacology IV course director. His remarks were full of gratitude, with a special shout-out to Assistant Director of Academic & Student Services Carla Dunn.

“Carla, your dedication helped make today everything we hoped it would be, and we are so grateful,” said Wimberley, who matched in psychiatry and family medicine at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

“There are thousands of students who wish they could be in our shoes today. Let’s honor them — and ourselves — by becoming the very best physicians we can be,” Wimberley said, “and by serving as proud ambassadors for the FSU College of Medicine and the mission that brought us here.”

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