‘Open Your Envelopes!’ With Nerves and Tears of Joy, Med Students Celebrate Match Day

Posted in News Stories| Tagged Match Day, Match Day 2024, medical education

(March 16, 2024) - Tears of joy and screams of excitement filled the air at Georgetown's annual Match Day celebration, as graduating medical students learned where their journeys would take them next for residency training in a tradition that plays out at medical schools on the same day across the country.

The lively in-person celebration in the Healey Family Student Center stood in great contrast to the challenging virtual start for the School of Medicine's Class of 2024 - roughly 200 first-year students began their medical education in August 2020 on Zoom as the COVID-19 pandemic thrust all Georgetown students into the virtual learning environment.

Now, four years later, they stood together with family and friends on March 15 to open their envelopes revealing where they would each go after Georgetown.

"We are so incredibly proud of you," said Lee Jones, MD, School of Medicine dean for medical education. "While you learned a lot from us, we learned a lot from you over these four years."

"Open your envelopes!" Jones announced.

Friendship Journey

Ruba Omeira (M'24) credits friendship with her fellow classmates for making her medical school experience special.

Before the start of classes, her mentor stressed the importance of having friends to lean on and share experiences.

"You can't do this alone. On the first day of classes, the first thing you do is find your people," Omeira recalls the advice.

As a mother and medical student, Omeira had doubts about forging meaningful friendships. "Who would want to be friends with a stay-at-home-mom turned med student?"

But that wouldn't be her only barrier.

"Little did we all know, the landscape of medical education would drastically change with the onset of the COVID pandemic, thrusting everything into a virtual world. While Zoom sufficed for lectures, establishing genuine connections [with classmates] amidst a sea of screens seemed nearly impossible."

But Omeira recalled being drawn early on to a particular classmate with a shared background, Rimsha Rana (M'24), after reading a story where she described her experience as a first-generation immigrant student.

Rana and her family dreamed about her going to Georgetown medical school. She recalled that on her father's commute to and from work, he would pass Georgetown and pray, "Dear God, please give my children a chance to study at this great institution."

The story reminded Omeira of how her father used his "excruciatingly long, traffic-laden commutes" to his meat-cutter job for prayer, supplication and reflection.

"I took a chance and I reached out to her privately, asking if she would like to study over Zoom together. To my delight, she enthusiastically accepted."

Omeira says from that moment on, her medical education journey was transformed.

"Together, we navigated the highs and lows of medical school and forged an incredibly special bond that carried us through block exams, Step 1, clinical rotations, hundreds of hours of studying, Step 2, fourth-year rotations, ERAS, interviews and all the way to now… Match Day."

Omeira will be pursuing her residency in emergency medicine at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and Rana will be going to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital for her internal medicine residency.

"I am filled with gratitude for her presence, as I couldn't have imagined this journey without my med school bestie and sister," Omeira said.

Challenging the Status Quo

"From the moment I stepped onto the campus for my medical school interview, I felt at home," said John "Jake" F. Whitney Jr. (M'24), who chose a Georgetown education because of the emphasis on social justice and location in the nation's capital.

"I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded," he said.

Whitney selected emergency medicine for his residency and will continue training at UMass Chan-Baystate Health. He says the field has a deep need for physician advocates.

"We are dealing with unprecedented hospital crowding, dramatically increased incidents of violence against emergency department staff, and further cuts to Medicare, among other pertinent issues across the country," Whitney said. "It is my hope to continue to be involved in effecting change through the law and learn from my mentors during residency and beyond."

Whitney says he's hopeful that his generation of physicians will be more determined to change the status quo in medicine.

"No one else will fight for our patients, and decisions are made every day that change the way physicians can practice," Whitney said. "Advocacy and health policy have been my passions throughout my time at Georgetown."

Defining Priorities

In the week before Match Day, Lauren Havens, MS (M'24), said she felt overcome with gratitude and awe. She is struck by how much her class had built a strong community in the midst of a start that was socially isolated.

"I have been inspired by my peers and mentors to prioritize racial justice and community health equity, not only when it is convenient or easy, but more importantly, when it feels most challenging. Sharing that energy while working for racial justice and caring for patients alike has allowed me to find joy in the work, even when the day's progress may feel insignificant," she said.

Havens will do a residency in family medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Residency typically begins soon after graduation. The School of Medicine commencement is on May 19.

"After being apart due to COVID restriction, they pulled themselves together and built community," Jones said. "And I have to say, I also believe that many of us are better people because of knowing them."

"I feel such immense privilege to pursue family medicine, to learn from and serve my future community, and to continue to find and share the joy I feel with others," Havens said.

"Today, I am sad to leave my friends and mentors from medical school," Whitney concluded, "but I feel ready to start the next chapter of my medical education to become the physician I aspire to be."

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