Striking a Match

Date: April 15, 2013

photo by Keith Weller

On March 15, surrounded by family members, classmates and professors, fourth-year students at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine opened an official letter to learn which hospital residency program accepted them—where they’ll begin their medical career after graduation this spring. Match Day is conducted on the same day every year at medical schools around the country. The National Resident Matching Program administers the complex matching process to pair the wishes of the students with the needs of hospitals’ residency programs. The emotional Match Day ceremony is a traditional rite of passage for med students. At Johns Hopkins this year, 113 students applied to the match program in hopes of being accepted at one of their top choices to pursue their desired specialty. In one of many simultaneous joyful moments (captured right), Johns Hopkins’ Neelam Shah, left, learned that she matched at Brigham & Women’s Hospital for a combined medicine and pediatrics residency. Lila Worden, right, will head to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she plans to specialize in pediatric neurology. Rejoicing with the two rising physicians is the Department of Medicine’s David Levine, director of postdoctoral fellowship programs and one of the student advisers. The most sought-after residency specialties among Hopkins students this year were general internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, ophthalmology and general surgery.

—Ellen Beth Levitt