Lerner College of Medicine students Celebrate Match Day

On March 19, our Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM) students experienced “Match Day,” the day all medical students across the nation find out where they are headed for residency. Match Day couldn’t be held in person because of the ongoing pandemic, so social media channels exploded with photos of students holding up premade signs and t-shirts upon which they announced their Match results.

CCLCM student Shadi Ahmadmehrabi, who matched at the University of Michigan in otolaryngology, addressed her mom in her post, announcing that she’s coming home.

Scott Anjewierden, who matched at Mayo Clinic in pediatrics, posted that he could not be more excited. “We’re moving to Minnesota!” he wrote.

Bethany Bruno posted, “After 1,722 days of 466 miles between us, we are DONE with long distance!” She is returning to the South with her significant other to train at the Medical University of South Carolina in ob/gyn.

Sidra Speaker shared the excitement about the couples match, posting that “The couples matched worked. Could not be happier to finally be together again after so long.” She is headed to the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, to train in emergency medicine.

All CCLCM graduating students matched. The top residency programs chosen by our students this year are internal medicine, general surgery and pediatrics. Of the program’s 31 graduating students, 10 are staying in Ohio for their residencies, six of whom will train at Cleveland Clinic. Of the 203 total Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine students who matched (which include the Lerner College Program, University Program and Medical Scientist Training Program), 12 are coming to Cleveland Clinic for training.

Each student received a Match Day swag bag that included a Match envelope with a personalized Match letter and a blank space for the Match information. At noon on Match Day, a friend or family member could log into the student’s National Resident Matching Program account, record the Match result on the letter, seal it inside the envelope and then present it to the student so they could experience the tradition of “opening the envelope.”

Later, some students participated in a socially distanced celebration at the Health Education Campus, where they exchanged elbow bumps and long-distance high fives, and others joined a virtual celebration, with specially designed Match Day backgrounds, hosted by Christine Warren, MD, MS (’09), Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs.

Destinations for the 2021 CCLCM graduating class include such prestigious organizations as Cleveland Clinic; Brigham & Women’s Hospital; Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania; Massachusetts General Hospital; Mayo Clinic; New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center; University of California, San Francisco; and University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine.

Matching to these esteemed organizations is a testament to the students’ achievements and to the outstanding faculty support found at CCLCM.

View the entire Match list.

The Lerner College of Medicine graduating class will be honored by their families, faculty, staff and fellow students in a virtual celebration on Saturday, May 15, at 6 p.m. The students will formally graduate on Sunday, May 16, from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, at which time they will receive their degree that reads “Medical Doctor with Special Qualifications in Biomedical Research.”