Fourth year osteopathic medicine students rejoiced with friends and family as they learned their residency program matches.
It was a reunion of sorts as about 80 fourth year PCOM Georgia osteopathic medicine students, some with significant others, gathered at the SweetWater Brewing Company in Atlanta on Saturday, March 16, 2019. They took a moment to celebrate and share their news with each other after finding out where they will spend their next three to five years completing residency programs in their selected specialties.
Friday was the National Resident Matching Program鈥檚 Match Day, although some students had participated in earlier programs such as the Military Match and the American Osteopathic Association Intern/Resident Registration Program. Pharmacy students at PCOM Georgia who desire to complete a residency will participate in the ASHP Resident Matching Program and will receive their results on April 10.
Jordan Moss (DO 鈥19) who matched at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, was ecstatic. 鈥淚鈥檓 very excited. I鈥檝e been there the last couple of years for my rotations. I already feel like part of the family and I鈥檓 excited to stay!鈥 she said.
Shannon Philipps (DO 鈥19), who will move on to a neurology residency at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University after graduating in May described the sensation. 鈥淚 feel like the weight that has been sitting on my chest for four years is gone. It鈥檚 an indescribable feeling.鈥
Kaitlyn Banning (DO 鈥19) agreed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a massive ton of bricks has just been lifted off your back.鈥 She is looking forward to completing an OB/GYN residency at Detroit Medical Center in Michigan. 鈥淚鈥檓 super thrilled. It was a really good option for me.鈥
She explained that she participated in a couples match with Jeffrey Aguiar (DO 鈥19), her significant other, who matched to a general surgery residency at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital near Detroit. 鈥淚 found love and a medical career at PCOM Georgia,鈥 she said smiling, noting that her parents moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, from Georgia and she鈥檒l be within a four hour drive of them.
Banning shared her thoughts on the last four years. She explained, 鈥淵ou apply to medical school thinking that the MCAT is the hardest test you鈥檒l ever take and you鈥檙e like, shoot yeah, I鈥檓 over that hump. I鈥檓 good to go. And then you get into medical school and you see Step 1 looming in the future and you鈥檙e like the MCAT has nothing on this exam. And then you take Step 1 and well, there鈥檚 Step 2, and then you take Step 2 and you鈥檙e like, I have to get into a residency and do all these interviews. I think that鈥檚 kind of a nice analogy for life. There鈥檚 always a harder next step. It really never ends, but we chose this and it鈥檚 a lifelong educational path.鈥
She added, 鈥淥ur time at PCOM Georgia has gone by so fast in a broad, look-back-at-the-whole-experience kind of way. But each year was really challenging and hard in its own way. You鈥檙e so busy, you鈥檙e not even thinking about time. You鈥檙e just thinking day to day. You鈥檙e so entrenched in it that, looking back, it did fly by.鈥
Although some students will be traveling many miles to reach their residency sites, Georgia Tech graduate Nida Jiwani is staying close to home. She matched in family medicine at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia. 鈥淚鈥檓 super excited to start there,鈥 she said. I鈥檝e grown up in Gwinnett County so it will be nice to serve my community once again.鈥
Besides congratulatory hugs and high fives, the celebration, hosted by Institutional Advancement, also featured 鈥淚 Matched鈥 t-shirts, a photo booth and Fox Bros Bar-B-Q.
PCOM Georgia has been serving students and the community for 20 years as a branch campus of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), a private, not-for-profit, accredited institution of higher education established in 1899. Located in Suwanee (Gwinnett County), PCOM Georgia offers doctoral degrees in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and physical therapy. Graduate degrees are offered in biomedical sciences, medical laboratory science and physician assistant studies. The campus joins PCOM South Georgia in Moultrie in helping to meet the healthcare needs of the state. Emphasizing "a whole person" approach to care, PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the community. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500. The campus is also home to the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, an osteopathic manipulative medicine clinic, which is open to the public by appointment. For more information, visit .
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