Students at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership participated in a “Virtual Match Day” at noon March 20 to receive their postgraduation assignments for residency programs.

In past years, students and faculty gathered in George Hall on the UGA Health Sciences Campus to celebrate with family and friends, but plans were altered this year due to growing concerns over the recent coronavirus infectious disease pandemic and requirements for social distancing. This year, students had their own private celebrations with family and friends. Students shared videos and photos to social media and had the option to share their good news through an online virtual map.

An annual event, Match Day takes place after students participate in interviews and visits to residency programs in Georgia and across the country. To determine the postgraduation assignments, the students ranked residency programs where they would like to complete their training, at the same time the residency programs ranked the student applicants. The lists are then submitted to the nonprofit organization National Resident Matching Program in Washington, D.C., which uses an algorithm that aligns the choices of the applicants with those of the residency programs. Most students were matched via the NRMP, but some students participated in smaller match programs, including the ophthalmology and urology matches.

The final pairings were announced simultaneously across the U.S.

“Graduating Medical College of Georgia students from the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership experienced their ‘rite of passage’ today when they learned where they will spend the next several years on their journey to becoming licensed physicians,” said Dr. John Francis, campus associate dean for student and multicultural affairs. “The match is representative of all the hard work these students have accomplished over the past four years. We are so proud and fortunate that these students are part of our campus and community.”

“This is the seventh successful match in Athens at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership,” said Dr. Michelle Nuss, the campus dean. “The accomplishments of the 37 MCG students that spent the majority of their time learning medicine at the Medical Partnership have landed them at top-tier residency programs across the nation. The students will be going to 18 different states in 18 different specialties, with 62 percent staying in the southeastern United States and 54 percent joining primary care programs. Thank you to the faculty, administrators, staff and physician mentors in our community who have devoted their time and efforts to educating our future physicians.”

Some of the most popular specialties this year included internal medicine (9), family medicine (5) and pediatrics (5), with 27 percent of all matched students doing an internship or residency program in Georgia.

AU/UGA Medical Partnership participants in Match Day 2020 received the following residency appointments. They are listed by name, residency institution and program name:

• Yasmine Alkhalid, University of Chicago Medical Center, Illinois, neurosurgery

• Avi Aronov, University of Illinois College of Medicine – Chicago, Illinois, internal medicine

• Nicholas Austin, Emory University School of Medicine, Georgia, internal medicine

• Caleb Botta, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Ohio, pediatrics

• John  Collar, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Connecticut, plastic surgery (integrated)

• Benjamin Daniel, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, North Carolina, interventional radiology (integrated)

• Zachary Dattilo, Memorial Health-University Medical Center, Georgia, general surgery

• Jakob Feeney, Providence Health, Oregon, internal medicine

• Charles Gober, University of Tennessee College of Medicine – Chattanooga, Tennessee, family medicine

• Hannah Harrison, Medical University of South Carolina, neurology

• Kenneth Hearn, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Florida, pediatrics

• Lacy  Heberlig, Emory University School of Medicine, Georgia, pediatrics

• Stephanie Hernandez, University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital, New York, emergency medicine

• Kathleen Herring, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, North Carolina, internal medicine

• Naser Ibrahim, Tulane University School of Medicine, Louisiana, neurosurgery-preliminary year

• Hajun Jeong  John Peter Smith Hospital, Texas, family medicine

• Chan Lee, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee, anesthesiology

• Martha Marks, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, North Carolina, obstetrics-gynecology 

• Silki Modi, Prisma Health-Midlands/University of South Carolina School of Medicine, obstetrics-gynecology  

• Danny Montenegro, Medical College of Georgia, family medicine

• Nsona Koyagialo, Floyd Medical Center, Georgia, family medicine

• E'Lexus Okafor, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia, internal medicine        

• Ronke Olowojesiku, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, D.C. pediatrics-primary care track

• Arishna Patel, Stanford University Medicine, California, pediatrics

• Michael Quinet, West Virginia University School of Medicine, orthopedic surgery

• Kyle Royalty, PGY1 Medical College of Georgia, medicine-preliminary, PGY2 Dean McGee Eye Institute at Oklahoma University  , ophthalmology

• Matthew Schwartz, University of Southern California, medicine-pediatrics

• Michael Scott, Stanford University Medicine, California, urology

• Navdeep Singh, PGY1 Redmond Regional Medical Center, Georgia, transitional, PGY2 New York University School of Medicine, anesthesiology

• Sabina Sorondo, Stanford University Medicine, California, vascular surgery

• Richard Yi, PGY1- Northside Hospital Gwinnett, Georgia, transitional,  PGY2 Prisma Health-Midlands/University of South Carolina School of Medicine, ophthalmology

• Carl Zainaldin, University of Alabama Medical Center-Birmingham, Alabama, internal medicine

• Jimmy Zhou, Olive View - UCLA Medical Center, California, internal medicine

Class of 2019 residency appointments

• Travis Anderson, University North Carolina Hospitals, internal medicine

• Jaiwoo Chung, Prisma Health-Midlands/University of South Carolina School of Medicine, family medicine      

• Ricardo Lopez Hanson, East Tennessee State University, general surgery

• Sara Whyte, White River Health System, Arkansas, internal medicine