After years of studies, clinics and rounds at ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, 75 medical students learned during the school’s annual Match Day ceremony on Friday where they will be completing their residency trainings.
In keeping with Brody’s mission to tackle North Carolina’s need for more primary care physicians, especially in rural and underserved areas, nearly 60 percent of the graduates – all of whom were North Carolina residents when they were admitted to Brody – will be entering primary care residencies. And nearly half of the total class was matched to residency programs within the state of North Carolina.
Before they can independently provide direct patient care, U.S. medical school graduates must complete a three- to seven-year residency program accredited in a recognized medical specialty. The National Resident Matching Program places applicants for postgraduate medical training positions into the various residency programs at teaching hospitals across the nation. Thousands of graduating medical students nationwide learned their destinations Friday.
“I was so nervous I couldn’t even open my envelope. … I’m super excited. A lot of hard work is paying off.”
– Nick Koutlas: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC - Internal Medicine.
Approximately 15 percent of the graduates will remain at Vidant Medical Center, Brody’s affiliated teaching hospital, for their residency training.
“We’re very excited that once again this year, as in past years, over 50 percent of Brody graduates are entering primary care fields in their residency training. Even more exciting is this year we have 47 percent of our students staying in North Carolina to do their residency training, and that’s up from previous years. … A student who does their medical school training in North Carolina and stays in state to do their residency has a very high likelihood – upwards of 70 percent – of practicing in North Carolina when they finish all of their medical training. When the State of North Carolina is investing in the training of medical students, they’re getting a return on investment at Brody in meeting the health care needs of people living in North Carolina, especially in rural and underserved areas.”
- Dr. Elizabeth Baxley, senior associate dean for academic affairs at Brody
“A lot of what I learned at Brody teaches about leadership qualities and innovative thinking that goes beyond the traditional medical school education. And because the program I was matched with is new and they want us to be innovators and think in terms of where medicine is heading in the future, Brody really prepared me for that.”
Elizabeth Ferruzzi: Novant Health Cornelius, N.C. – Family Medicine
Thank you for supporting our Pirates!
Credits:
Words by Rob Spahr, Spaine Stephens and Angela Todd | Photos by Cliff Hollis, Rhett Butler and Jay Clark | Video by Rich Klindworth