DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Matthew Haley hugged his fiancee, Amanda Behling, on Thursday after she found out that she was matched up with the University of Hawaii medical school. She is going to go into adult primary care, internal medicine. Haley and Behling have been engaged for several months and plan to marry in May.
University of Hawaii senior medical students waited anxiously for white envelopes holding their future for the next few years. UH Match Day charts
medical students’ futureBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comThe envelopes, handed out to most of the 52 senior students Thursday at the John A. Burns Medical School, contained results of their choices for residency programs.
"It's not every day you get a letter that tells you where you will spend the next three to five years of your life or perhaps your whole life," said Dr. Damon Sakai, associate dean.
Kalama Niheu, receiving her envelope with her husband, Bill, and their 2-year-old son, Welo, was delighted to get her first choice.
She had asked for the UH Family Practice Residency Program in Wahiawa, allowing her family to remain in Hawaii. Her husband, whom she met 10 years ago on their first day as classmates at Hampshire College, Mass., farms taro in Waiahole.
"Me, too, if I have a day off," she said.
The National Resident Matching Program conducts a computerized program to rank student choices for residency programs, and Match Day is held simultaneously across the nation to release the results.
Dr. Edwin Cadman, dean of the UH medical school, told the students the day he learned of his residency "was one of the most exciting days of my life, and it is for you. ...
"You will be surprised at how well prepared you will be to be an intern," he said, describing the UH school's problem-based teaching system as "far superior" to training of new physicians at other places.
"You will be confident. You will be astounded at how much you know compared to fellow residents."
Before distributing the envelopes with Sakai, class president Thane Hancock asked the students to bow their heads "for a moment of silence and reflection, both for our people in the Middle East and the Iraqi people as well."
Students seemed to have more questions than usual when Sgts. Drew Radke and David Jozwiak, U.S. Army Health Care recruiters, described Army medical career opportunities. They also hosted lunch for the students in the courtyard to celebrate the occasion.
Despite their anxiety, students were asked not to open the envelopes as they received them, one at a time, but wait and open them all at once.
Some were disappointed but many were jubilant, hugging and kissing classmates.
Joseph Kamai said he wanted to stay at UH but got his second choice, the Emmanuel Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Ore., to study internal medicine.
He said he went to the mainland for the first time for an interview with the hospital. Although he dreads moving, he said, "I'm happy because the two programs are the ones I really wanted."
Haven Malish will go to the University of Southern California, his first choice for internal medicine. Hawaii was his second choice, he said. "I figure if I'm going to practice here, it's the last chance to go somewhere else."
Jared Hamamoto is headed for New York University, explaining he has to go away because there is no residency program here in anesthesiology. He chose that specialty, he said, "because I enjoy doing procedures in the operating room and being able to focus on the patient."
Bill Johnson and his girlfriend, Reiko Kayashima, were matched in a couples program, both going to the University of Washington in Seattle. He plans to study general surgery, then specialize in transplant or reconstructive surgery. Kayashima is interested in family practice.
Wendy Hamura and Damien Arafiles also were matched as a couple, both going to the Phoenix Children's Hospital and Maricopa Medical Center in Arizona. She is going into pediatrics, and he is pursuing family practice.
Hancock said he was fortunate to get his top choice, UH, because it has a lot of connections to the Pacific and he wants to work in Micronesia. He and an adopted brother from Micronesia have started a nonprofit organization, Oceania Community Health, to take health care to Micronesia, he said.
The students also voted for a class member to receive an "Ideal Physician Award" from the Friends of the Medical School. Julie Woo, representing the Friends, suggested the students select the person they would most want to take care of themselves or a family member.
John A. Burns School of Medicine,
University of Hawaii at Manoa
