Fifty-seven students at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, including the largest number of native Hawaiians in the school's history, whooped with joy yesterday as they celebrated the next step in their medical careers.

It was “;Match Day”; at the medical school, an annual event when seniors learn where they will go for postgraduate residency training.

Ceremonies were held simultaneously across the country yesterday for more than 15,000 graduating medical students paired with residency programs by the National Residency Matching Program.

Anxious students were instructed not to open envelopes with the destination of their residency until all were distributed in the medical school auditorium. The envelopes were opened after a drum roll, followed by screaming and hugging among students and family members.

Dr. Jerris Hedges, dean of the University of Hawaii-Manoa medical school, praised the students, saying they withstood a number of hardships — including a massive power failure, a blackout and a tsunami — and made a significant contribution to reaccreditation of the school for eight years.

He noted that the class included 16 native Hawaiians, 11 of whom are Kamehameha Schools graduates.

Marcus Iwane, 25, one of those graduates, was the first native Hawaiian and one of only 12 students in the country to receive an American Medical Association Minority Scholars' award of $10,000 in 2008. He co-founded a medical student group focusing on health care for Hawaiians.

“;Hawaiians historically suffer the highest prevalence of chronic diseases,”; he said yesterday. “;Having more native Hawaiians in the medical field hopefully will help Hawaiians be more aware of their health and bridge the gap between Western and traditional medicine.”;

Iwane got his wish to study internal medicine at the UH medical school. His goal is to become a primary care doctor and practice in a rural neighbor island area.

Twenty-five students, 44 percent of the class, are interested in family and internal medicine and pediatrics; 30 students, or 54 percent, chose primary care and obstetrics/gynecology; and 33 students, or 58 percent, are going into primary care, OB/GYN and emergency medicine — areas where critical shortages exist.

About 90 percent of the graduating students are Hawaii residents.

California residency programs attracted 17 students, while 15 are remaining here. Six are going to institutions in Oregon. The others are scattered across the mainland.

“;It's a very familial, very humble class,”; said class President Jordan Lee, 27, who will go to Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego to study internal medicine.

Kapua Medeiros plans to study family medicine in Hawaii, which makes her husband, Joshua Martin, an electrical engineer, happy. Attending the ceremony with their 7-month-old daughter. Li'ulani Martin, he said, “;It's wonderful that we don't have to move. We can stay home and make our family bigger.”;

Joshua Hvidding, 29, explaining he is half Samoan and half European, will train in psychiatry at Tripler Army Medical Center. He grew up in Waianae and wants to work there “;in areas of need,”; such as child psychiatry, he said, pointing out there are only about 4,000 child psychiatrists in the United States. About 20,000 are needed.

Max and Vee Concepcion of Waipahu watched as daughter Jennifer learned she will go to Children's Hospital in Orange, Calif., to study pediatrics.

“;We're very proud, so proud,”; Vee Concepcion said. “;We want her to come back here and work here.”;

Foster care recipient trains with hope of helping needy

Gloria Tumbaga, 32, one of five children who grew up in foster care after their mother died, said she “;just wanted to do something with her life”; and decided to go to college.

She was 8 years old when she and her siblings were separated and placed in foster care, she said.

She earned scholarships and worked two jobs to get a nursing degree from the University of Hawaii.

She decided to go into medicine after her sister was “;stabbed in her neck”; by someone on crystal methamphetamine, she said.

“;I thought life was short and I don't want to live with any regrets.”; She took the prerequisites and was accepted for Imi Ho'ola, a UH post-baccalaureate program for disadvantaged students to enter medical school.

“;Being from a disadvantaged background,”; she said, she wants to be a rural and international surgeon “;to help those who can't afford surgical care.”;

She is working toward that goal as a 10-year volunteer with the Aloha Medical Mission and has gone on eight medical missions.

She will go to the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for her residency, with a preliminary year of general surgery training. “;I hope I'll be good enough that I can stay there,”; she said, explaining five years of training is required.