Match Day excitement

Author

Jesef Williams

Published On

March 19, 2019

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Image: Graduating medical students at the University of Florida celebrate during Match Day, when aspiring physicians find out where they will complete residency training. — Graduating medical students at the University of Florida celebrate during Match Day, when aspiring physicians find out where they will complete residency training.

Image: Shelby Goicochea, second from left, celebrates with other UF students during Match Day. Goicochea is heading to UF COMJ, where she will train in the psychiatry residency program. — Shelby Goicochea, second from left, celebrates with other UF students during Match Day. Goicochea is heading to UF COMJ, where she will train in the psychiatry residency program.

Image: There were plenty of tears shed during Match Day, which students describe as the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. — There were plenty of tears shed during Match Day, which students describe as the culmination of years of hard work and dedication.

88 graduating medical students learn they will head to UF COMJ for residency.

Shelby Goicochea speaks fondly of the time spent in Jacksonville during her final two years of medical school at the University of Florida.

The fourth-year student came over from the Gainesville campus many times to complete rotations in obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, pediatrics and community psychiatry. Through the experience, Goicochea realized she wanted to pursue psychiatry as a profession and that the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville would be a perfect place for her to complete residency training.

On Friday, March 15, she came one step closer to her wish becoming reality.

Goicochea is one of 88 graduating medical school students who will head to UF COMJ in the very near future. The news came on Match Day, an annual event during which aspiring physicians from across the nation and abroad find out where they will complete residency training. Goicochea said the day is the culmination of several years of hard work and dedication.

“I was excited and nervous all at once,” she said. “Discovering what program I matched into was exhilarating because this is where I will start the next chapter of my life, with the residency helping mold me into the type of physician I will become.”

Match Day by the numbers

Of UF COMJ’s 88 incoming residents, 20 of them are from osteopathic medical schools in Florida and eight are from allopathic medical schools in the state. That includes two from the UF College of Medicine in Gainesville.

In all, the group represents 18 different states and three countries.

Among UF COMJ’s 13 core residency programs, emergency medicine will welcome the largest number of new residents, with 15, followed by internal medicine and pediatrics, with 14 and 12 residents, respectively. They begin training July 1.

“We are very pleased with this year’s Match Day results. A lot of talented individuals will soon start their residency training in our programs,” said Linda Edwards, MD, senior associate dean for educational affairs at UF COMJ. “We are eager to have them join our family and welcome them to campus.”

Featured Faculty

Linda R. Edwards, MD

Associate Professor
Dean, College of Medicine - Jacksonville