CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARBULLETIN.COM Yesterday's medical "Match Day" at the John A. Burns School of Medicine kept 52 seniors anxious as they received envelopes telling them where they will be heading for residencies. Kina Jones, above, hugged fiance Jason Fleming with joy over his acceptance at the University of Massachusetts.

Match made in
medical heaven

UH medical students learn
of their residencies in
a day of excitement

---

By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

They squealed, shouted, high-fived and cheered as they learned where they would be spending the next few years.

Janette Javier, 28, of Hilo was literally jumping with joy to learn she was accepted for a family practice residency at the University of Colorado. "I was actually very nervous," she said.

She was one of 52 graduating students of the University of Hawaii-Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine opening envelopes yesterday to find out if their first choices for residencies were accepted.

Javier said she listed eight choices. "I wanted to cover my bases."

More than 16,000 graduates of medical schools across the country competed for residency slots and opened envelopes at the same time during "Match Day" to get the results, said Dr. Kay Bauman, associate dean of the UH medical school.

A computerized National Residency Match Program matches students' choices with choices of residency programs.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARBULLETIN.COM Malia Ramirez, in red below, was relieved to be going to the University of California-San Francisco and was congratulated by Joson Isa as Kiyoko Yamada, far left, and Maile Sera looked on.

"It's very exciting and very scary for students," Bauman said.

Earlier this week, they were told if they got at least one of their choices; if they didn't, they had a day to look into programs that had openings, she said.

Alison Motosue, 26, and her boyfriend, Michael Chow, 27, were "very happy" that both were accepted at the University of California-Irvine, although she said it was their fourth choice. Motosue applied for pediatrics training, and Chow for surgery.

Class president Kalani Raphael called students one at a time in the medical school auditorium to receive their envelopes from his 5-year-old daughter, Nohea.

Some opened them right away. Others went back to their seats and held them a few minutes with nervous anticipation.

Raphael was one of seven students who were spared the anxiety. They had early matches because of their fields of ophthalmology, neurology and military. He is going to the University of Utah for the neurology residency program and will be the first Hawaiian neurologist, he said.

Dr. Edwin Cadman, dean of the medical school, told the students he remembered excitedly tearing open an envelope to learn where he was going for his residency.

"This will define for most of you your professional career," he said, stressing the importance of the occasion.

"This is a great party day," he said. "I hope you don't have any classes."

Bauman recalled her "Match Day" 29 years ago when she graduated from the University of Michigan medical school.

"I will admit to you publicly that I got third choice," she said, noting all three of her first choices were in the same city to be with her husband.

She soon realized her third choice was the best, she said, because an internship in the county hospital led to nine years of work with the medically underserved population where she learned Spanish and cross-cultural issues.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STARBULLETIN.COM Vanessa Eaglin, right, celebrated her announced residency with the University of Hawaii as classmates applauded during yesterday's medical "Match Day."

If she had gone to larger hospitals, she said, "My whole path in medicine and life would be different."

Rafael asked students as they picked up their envelopes to each put $1 in a bag to be given to the last one called. "If you don't have a dollar, borrow one from someone going into radiology," he said, getting a big laugh.

The winner of the bag was Vanessa Eaglin, 25, of Hilo, who also won a UH residency -- her first choice.

Darren Lum, 30, of Oahu, will go to the University of Wisconsin, taking his wife, Celeste, and their four children. It was his first choice out of a dozen, he said.

Asked how he manages to support his family and his medical education, he said they have a lot of support from parents and grandparents.

Patrick Fujimoto, 28, was accepted for a UH transitional program. After a one-year internship here, he is going to the University of California-San Francisco for an anesthesiology residency. "I was really hoping. ... It is considered the best program," he said.

Malia Ramirez, 27, the first student to receive an envelope, said she had listed nine choices and was "very surprised" to get her top one for internal medicine at UC-San Francisco because it is so competitive.

She said she believes the UH School of Medicine "really prepared me well, and it's a very happy place to train."

"Some of these are incredibly prestigious, competitive programs," Bauman said.

For instance, she noted Wendy Hara, 28, obtained a coveted residency in radiation oncology at Stanford University.

She said Hara established a "wonderful" research track by taking two years off between her second and third years in medical school to do research on gastric cancer in Japan as a Crown Prince Akihito Scholar.

"I am lucky," said Hara, who wants to practice medicine but also do research "because it is the only way to improve medicine."