Match Day success for WCM-Q’s future doctors

Medical students at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have ‘matched’ at some of the world’s leading healthcare institutions, securing places in residency programs to continue their clinical training after they graduate in May.

The annual Match Day event, which pairs soon-to-graduate medical students with U.S. residency training programs, saw WCM-Q students gain positions at elite hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic, NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Match Day is highly competitive, with more than 42,000 students across the world vying for just 30,000 residency positions at US hospitals. Nineteen out of 21 WCM-Q students who applied and interviewed for residency secured a place in a program, giving a match rate of more than 90 percent.

Students and their families of the Class of 2016 attended the Match Day ceremony held at WCM-Q to hear the results of their applications soon after they were announced by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) in Washington, D.C.

Student Perola Lamba matched at NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Weill Cornell Medical Centre where she will join the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

“I am absolutely delighted to be doing my residency at NYP,” she said. “It was my first choice because it is a wonderful institution but also because I have felt so at home as a member of the Cornell family for the past four years, and I want to continue to be a part of that family. I hope to one day give something back by teaching the next generation of Cornell students, and I also want to help generate new medical knowledge for our community by undertaking research.”

Match Day marks the culmination of four years of medical training for WCM-Q students, who are awarded Cornell University M.D. degrees.

Student Mohamed Al-Hajjaji matched at Hamad Medical Corporation and will join the Pediatrics residency program there after graduation. He said:

“I am very happy and excited to have completed the Medical Program and to be continuing my training in the specialty that I love. I am also very happy to be able to stay here in Qatar to be with my family and to make a contribution to our community.

My time at Weill Cornell has been wonderful and challenging. It was very hard work but with patience, support and careful time management I managed to complete the program, which I am very happy about. I am now looking forward to moving to the next stage of my career."

Student Vignesh Shanmugam matched at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he will join the Pathology Residency Program. Shanmugam is the first WCM-Q student to match at Brigham and Women’s, which is affiliated with Harvard University and is regarded as one of the world’s best hospitals. Shanmugam said:

“I am absolutely thrilled about starting a pathology residency training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. During medical school, I always enjoyed understanding the mechanisms of disease and using these insights to generate meaningful information in a clinical laboratory to guide patient care. No other specialty career option was nearly as intellectually stimulating and satisfying for me as pathology. The training program at the Brigham historically takes great pride in training the next generation of ‘physician-scientists’ and, given my strong passion for research, it was a perfect fit for me.”

Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q, warmly congratulated the students.

“Every member of the Class of 2016 has shown great dedication to learning their craft, and they have been justly rewarded for their efforts by securing places on some of the very best residency training programs in the world,” he said.

All of us at WCM-Q are immensely proud of their efforts and achievements, and we look forward to seeing them continue to excel as they move on to the next phase in their careers. Well done to all of you.”