Future UA Doctors Learn Fate at “Match Day” in Phoenix

Fourth-year Phoenix Medical Students Celebrate Matches into Programs at Banner Health, Maricopa Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix Children’s, Mayo Clinic, UCLA, Duke, Georgetown University and Others

Eighty University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix fourth-year students celebrated with streamers, confetti, balloons and tears of joy as they found out where they will spend the next few years on their journey as physicians-in-training.

Match Day 2018 capped five months of interviewing and traveling for the students, who hoped to match with a residency program in their chosen specialty. The morning was a mix of anxiety and adrenaline, and family members watched with anticipation as the students opened their envelopes precisely at 9:00 a.m.

They were among the 18,818 seniors at U.S. allopathic medical schools who entered the Match program.

Of the graduating UA College of Medicine – Phoenix students, a little more than one third are pursing primary care fields, the most critical shortage facing Arizona, and 29 will train in Phoenix or Tucson. Overall, the students will continue their studies at programs in 20 states.

Students matched into prestigious programs at UCLA Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Tulane University School of Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine, and close to home at Banner – University Medical Center, Maricopa Medical Center, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, HonorHealth and Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education.

UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Dean Guy Reed, MD, MS, congratulated the students, saying this is a day of joy.

“We know that you will make a difference in so many people’s lives,” he said. “We know you will make us proud.”

Susan Kaib, MD, associate dean of student affairs, said the Class of 2018 is “everything we could have hoped for in a class. They are kind, compassionate, genuine and overall amazingly nice individuals. They will make excellent future physicians.”

Haig Aintablian, who hopes to be a flight surgeon, matched into UCLA Medical Center’s emergency medicine residency program.

“It feels like all the hard work over the last four years culminates into one day of extreme excitement and amazingness,” he said. “I’m excited I get to go back home for residency. It was my number one choice.”

Aintablian received a master’s degree in molecular genetics and biochemistry from USC, in association with CalTech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he studied the evolution of small biological molecules in space and in nutrient-poor regions on earth. He also has done research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and with their flight surgeons to study pathologies that occur in space.

After his residency, he hopes to continue his training in aerospace as a flight surgeon. An aerospace flight surgeon takes care of astronauts, helps in the planning of space missions, does research on the human body in space and makes sure those in space are healthy.

Narry Savage and her classmate Alona Sukhina announced together that they matched into pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

“I’m very excited to have matched at Phoenix Children’s Hospital,” Savage said. “Their program is amazing, and I have a couple fellow medical students who matched there as well. We are all just really excited. The celebration was surreal. In the past three years, I’ve seen the other classes match into their residency programs, and it was amazing to finally be the class that is matching.”

Tears flowed for Ralph Mohty and Stephanie Amaya when they found out both matched to the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City. They entered the program as a couples match — Mohty for internal medicine and Amaya for obstetrics and gynecology.

The two met while volunteering at the college’s Summer Scrubs program when their anatomy demonstration tables were next to each other.

In February, students submit their list of choices in order of preference — at the same time residency program directors submit their rank-ordered lists of preferred candidates — to the National Residency Matching Program headquarters in Washington, D.C. An algorithm matches each student to the residency program that is highest on the student’s list and that has offered a position to the applicant.

“I’m so relieved,” Mohty said. “Our goal was to match together. We are ecstatic. It was our top choice.”

Residency programs vary in length from three years for general medicine/family practice specialties to seven years for the most specialized surgeons.

The UA College of Medicine – Phoenix admits 80 students per class and has graduated 354 MDs. Last year, it received more than 6,781 applications. The medical school’s mission is to prepare its students for the first day of residency and ensure that they will be compassionate physician scientists. Match Day is the culmination of four years of hard work in the classroom and in clinical training.

Videos and Photos from Match Day 2018

• Match Day Highlight Video.
• Match Day Live Stream Video.
• Match Day Photo Gallery.

Graduate Medical Education Celebrates New Residents

Congratulations on the very successful match for the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Graduate Medical Education Residency Programs for Academic Year 2018-2019.

"We once again had a successful residency match this year, and each of our programs filled with top-notch candidates from around the country. We congratulate our program directors, faculty and staff at the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix on this accomplishment," said Alan I. Leibowitz, MD, FACP, associate dean for Graduate Medical Education.