Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine faculty and staff gathered with members of the inaugural class of medical students (CUSOM 2017) Friday, March 17 to celebrate the residency match results for students who participated in the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). Among 35,969 applicants, the soon-to-be Campbell physicians learned where they will continue their medical training in residency.
Students returned to campus from the five regional clinical campuses throughout North Carolina where they have completed their 3rd and 4th years of medical school in clinical rotations at Campbell affiliate hospitals:
- Region 1: Lumberton Regional Campus: Southeastern Health in Robeson County
- Region 2: Fayetteville Regional Campus: Cape Fear Valley Health in Cumberland County
- Region 3a: Wake Regional Campus: Wake Med Health and Hospitals in Wake County
- Region 3b: Harnett Regional Campus: Harnett Health in Harnett County
- Region 4: Charlotte Regional Campus: Novant Health in Rowan & Mecklenburg Counties
- Region 5: Goldsboro Regional Campus: Wayne Memorial Hospital and Sampson Regional Medical Center in Sampson & Wayne Counties
The celebration featured the display of a map indicating the location of the hospitals and health systems from Hawaii to Maine where they will continue their training following graduation on May 20th, 2017 as well as the announcement of statistics as to what areas of medical specialty the future Campbell physicians will practice. Dr. John M. Kauffman, Jr., dean of the medical school, and Dr. J. Bradley Creed, President of Campbell University congratulated the students at the celebratory reception.
“Campbell University is proud to announce the match results for our inaugural class,” said Dr. Creed. “You all are the pioneers – here at CUSOM from the beginning – and you have led the way successfully at every milestone. Congratulations!”
“We are pleased – 100% of the graduating class were offered residency positions – 53% are going into primary care and 74% are going into one of the seven areas of medicine in greatest need of physicians,” said Dr. Kauffman. “We have students going into residency programs at Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, ECU, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Cone Health, Southeastern Health, Cape Fear Valley Health – university and community hospitals across North Carolina and the United States.”
“Match Day was a great time to realize really for the first time the fruits of hard work endured during medical school,” said Blake Taylor, who is bound for a Family Medicine residency in Provo, Utah. “Just knowing where you match is a relief and a joy. It was a time to reflect on the previous journey through medical school and, with anticipation, hope for the successes of residency. Family medicine is caring for kids, taking care of mothers, and managing the “bread and butter” medical needs of chronic illness; I can’t wait to build on my CUSOM trained focus of rural medicine and hope to take my training to the rural communities of Utah.”
In addition to primary care, forty-seven percent of the class matched into subspecialty areas such as neurology, anesthesiology, and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
“I matched into neurology at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio,” said Eric Creed. “I chose neurology because I find the brain fascinating – I see neurology as one of the final frontiers of medicine since there is still so much we don’t understand about it.”
“It was a wonderful day,” concluded Dr. Kauffman. “To see the curriculum and hard work result in an outstanding match – it truly doesn’t get any better than this.”
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About Medical School and Residency:
Residency is the phase of three to five years of training where physicians refine their skills in a specific area of practice – family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, etc. – and, upon successful completion, become fully licensed physicians. Students apply to residency by interviewing with various residencies during their 4th year of medical school and submit a rank list to a national database. In the spring prior to graduating from medical school, the application process is completed with what is called ‘the match’.
Inaugural class members who participated in the Military Match announced their results in December.