Match Day Brings Great News to WCMC-Q Medical Students

Students of the largest graduating class in WCMC-Q history celebrate a
success on match day.

There was great news for members of the Class of 2011 of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar last week when many of the students applying to residency programs in the U.S. learned where they will go for specialty training after graduation.

“WCMC-Q students were accepted into residency training programs at some of the best teaching hospitals in the United States, competing successfully with graduates of American medical schools,” said Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCMC-Q. “This is the largest graduating class and the best match in the history of our school.”

Twenty-three WCMC-Q students were matched to U.S. teaching hospitals to begin the next phase of their medical careers. They have selected a broad range of specialty programs, ranging from surgery, radiology, neurology, and obstetrics/gynecology to internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine, and family medicine.

The students matched to residency programs at Johns Hopkins, NewYork–Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, Case-Western, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Rochester General Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Rochester General Hospital, and the University of Connecticut Health Center, among others.

“This is an extraordinary achievement for this group of young people,” said Lyuba Konopasek, M.D., associate dean for medical education. “It’s also a great accomplishment by the entire WCMC-Q community which helped the students get to this point.”

There are 32 graduating students in the Class of 2011, the largest graduating class in the history of the medical college. The graduates who do not go onto to residency programs in the United States may stay in Qatar for residency programs with Hamad Medical Corporation or pursue research fellowships.

Match Day takes place annually in the United States on the third Thursday of March. It is the day when students in medical schools across the country who are applying for residency training programs learn the name of the hospital where they will receive advance training in their medical specialty.

The assignments are made by a non-profit organization, the National Resident Matching Program, using a computer algorithm to align the preferences of students with those of the residency programs. Students submit their residency choices, and the participating hospitals rank their preferred resident candidates. Sophisticated software does the matching, and the results are delivered to medical students simultaneously.

By Kristina Goodnough