CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
At the University of Hawaii Biomedical Building, medical school graduates found out yesterday where their residencies will be. Shannon and Ethan Small were happy after learning that Ethan is going to study internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
CORRECTION
Friday, March 26, 2003>> Leila Okinaka, a graduate of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, has a pediatrics and internal medicine residency at the UH. A Friday story on Page A7 incorrectly reported she was going into a family practice program.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.
UH’s doctors-to-be
get word of matches
Holding their envelopes up to the light didn't help Sabe Enos or Charles Arakaki read the letters inside.
"I saw 'match results,' then it says 'congratulations,'" Enos said.
"It doesn't say anything else," she said. "It's folded."
The two were among 64 University of Hawaii-Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine graduates who learned yesterday where they will go for their residency.
The students chose faculty members Richard Kasuya, Sandy Tsuhako, John Hardman and Julie Rosenheimer to assist Damon Sakai, associate dean for student affairs, with presenting the envelopes and leis.
Sakai handed out the envelopes two at a time, and the anxious graduates had to wait and open them all at the same time. Barry Mizuo, the last called to get his envelope, was rewarded with the traditional $1 donation from every student, and loud applause.
Medical school graduates across the United States compete annually for residency openings, and all open envelopes at the same time on "Match Day."
Students' choices are linked with choices of residency programs in a computerized National Residency Match Program.
They are told earlier in the week if they got at least one of their choices, and, if not, they had a day to look at programs with openings.
The students screamed and cheered, exchanging high fives after ripping open their envelopes in the UH biomedical building auditorium.
Enos, studying pathology, and Arakaki, interested in obstetrics-gynecology, both got what they wanted: to remain at UH.
About half of this year's graduates chose to stay here for their residencies, an unusually high number, said Sakai. Most of the others are going to the West Coast, he noted. Nine are headed for East Coast hospitals.
Sakai feels students who chose to stay home were drawn by family and community ties and the culture. "It's very good for UH. We're very, very happy that our residency programs are filled with these students."
Nohea Kaawaloa said he and Kanani Texeira chose UH for family practice residencies because they "have a mission."
"We're both interested in serving the Hawaiian community," Texeira said.
Leila Okinaka also is staying at UH for a family practice residency, saying she has a lot of family here and "I want to practice here."
Among those wanting to go to the mainland was Meituck Hu, who nervously waited to open her envelope with her husband, Gabriel Vitelli, their daughter Saffron, almost 2, and Hu's parents, Pinakee and Wai Inn Hu. The family was overjoyed that she was chosen to study internal medicine at the Legacy Health System in Portland, Ore., her top choice.
With the tense hours of waiting for their match over, the graduates celebrated with refreshments and phone calls to their families.
Max Miranda immediately called his wife, Laurie, to tell her they're going to Yale University where he'll train in gastrointerology at its Greenwich Hospital.
"It was a matter of life and death," said Miranda, father of Max, Luke and Jonathan, 3-week-old triplets. He said the program "has the best benefits: free everything, housing, medical and everything."
