Med students meet
their matches

53 graduating UH students
find out where they will go
for their residencies

Honolulu's chief medical examiner was among the proud parents watching 53 graduating University of Hawaii medical students cry and shout with joy as they learned where they will go for their residencies.

Dr. Kanthi De Alwis' son Ravi Gunatilake beamed when he opened an envelope yesterday telling him he got his first choice for an obstetrics-gynecology residency at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Arizona.

Although some are leaving OB-GYN practices because of high malpractice insurance premiums, Gunatilake, 26, said, "I just felt it was the most rewarding specialty in medicine. It is a privilege being part of a birth."

Thousands of graduates of medical schools, including the John A. Burns School of Medicine, competing for residency slots nationally open envelopes on "Match Day" each year to get results of their choices. A computerized National Residency Match Program matches students' choices with residency programs.

Because of recent flooding at the medical school on the Manoa campus, the UH Class of 2005 met at Tokai University to learn their futures. Many observed St. Patrick's Day with stovepipe green hats.

"Almost exactly a year ago, I talked to you about applying for a residency," Associate Dean of Students Damon Sakai told the class. "I told you JABSOM graduates are as good as any in the world. How proud we are of all of you."

Dr. John Hardman, professor and chairman of pathology, and Dr. Julie Rosenheimer, associate professor of anatomy and reproductive biology, gave the graduates leis and hugs as Sakai handed them sealed envelopes with instructions not to open them until they were all distributed.

Given the signal, they ripped open the envelopes, whooped, cheered and embraced each other. Some ran to phones to call family and friends.

For some, not getting first choice was a lucky break.

Trissy Chun had wanted an OB-GYN residency at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, Calif., but received one at UH. "My husband is very happy," she said.

"It was a dilemma," said her husband, Derrick, noting he has just started a new job as project manager at Pacific Wireless Communications. "It would be a little tough to move," he said, adding that he would "do whatever is best for her."

Class president Jason Kaneshige, 26, of Waipahu was happy to get UH as his first choice for an orthopedic surgical residency. He said it is a good program, and he wants to be home because his grandparents are getting older.

Bryan King and Taryne Imai plan to marry May 21, one week after graduation, and go to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for their residencies -- King in internal medicine and Imai in general surgery. It was one of their top choices out of a possible 75 combinations for couple matches, Imai said.

De Alwis said she is thrilled that her son chose the OB-GYN field. Gunatilake wants to continue with a fellowship in maternal and fetal medicine and return here after six years of training.

"It's very ironic," she said, noting she was studying OB-GYN and gave it up when her son was born so she could spend more time with him. She shifted to pathology at UH-Manoa from 1980 to '84, studying with the same professor -- John Hardman -- whom her son has had, she said.

Students traditionally each put $1 into a pot that goes to the last one to collect his envelope. Yesterday, that was Raymond Salazar of Waipahu, who will train in pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.

Classes will start April 4 in the new medical school at Kakaako, and the graduating students will be brought together there during their last three weeks so they can be part of it, Sakai said.