As a basketball player at The University of Toledo, Michaela Rasmussen was part of the team that went to the NCAA tournament in 2017.
Friday, on the eve of the conference champion Rockets’ appearance in this year’s tournament, the one-time Toledo forward learned she had matched with the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to continue her medical training toward becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.
Fourth-year medical students, from left, Stephanie Ong, Karen Bach, Joshua Ng and Rebecca Kuang at The University of Toledo learned where they’ll embark on their residency training during the annual Match Day celebration on Friday, March 17.
“There’s a lot of emotions. All of a sudden you know what the next five years of your life is going to look like at the opening of an envelope,” said Rasmussen, who returned to UToledo to study medicine after graduating in 2018. “I’m definitely excited to go and start the next phase of my life. Working with my hands, getting people back their normal function, giving them mobility back was just such a huge inspiration for me to go into this field of medicine.”
Rasmussen was one of the more than 150 fourth-year medical students who learned their residency placements on Friday during UToledo’s annual Match Day celebration.
After months of interviewing with potential residency programs, students gathered with family and friends at the Stranahan Theater in downtown Toledo to learn where they had matched. Joining peers across the country, they waited for the clock to strike noon so they could tear open the envelopes that contained their information.
“It really is a very special day,” said Dr. Christopher Cooper, dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. “This is the culmination of four years of hard work, and seeing those students ready to begin training in their specialty going out into the world to make a difference is just an unbelievable feeling.”
Michaela Rasmussen, right, a one-time forward on the Rockets basketball team, learned she matched with the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to continue her medical training toward becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.
For James Wesley, matching in internal medicine at Trinity Health Ann Arbor represents something of a homecoming. It will not only bring him back closer to his family and in-laws but he was born in that very hospital.
Upon seeing he’d matched with his No. 1 choice, he embraced his wife, Renee, and their five-month-old daughter, Miriam.
“I rotated there last year for internal medicine, and I could definitely see myself in the program at that time,” he said. “I fell in love with internal medicine when I rotated as a third year. The complexity of patients, getting to know everything about each patient that I see, being the primary caregiver for all of their medical issues — I love the continuity of care and the depth that you get to go into with patients.”
In addition to the students who learned their residency placements on Friday, several UToledo students already had matched with the U.S. Armed Forces and other early-decision residency programs, bringing the total match to 172 students.
Of those, 21 matched with the UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, including Adam Koenig who will be specializing in psychiatry.
“I was born and raised in Ohio, I’ve been in Toledo for both undergrad and medical school and I’m so happy to stay here,” he said. “I think that mental healthcare is so important. We were growing up in a time where we were learning how to break the stigma against mental health, we were equipping students in high school to talk about mental health. That really laid a strong foundation for my interest.”
A little less than half of the students matched with residency programs in Ohio. Michigan was the second most popular state, with 14, followed by Illinois and North Carolina with eight each. In total, students matched with 21 different medical specialties in 28 states.
Students get to rank their destinations, but there’s no guarantee they’ll go to one of their top choices.
Renee Wesley, the wife of James Wesley, reacts after finding out James matched in internal medicine at Trinity Health Ann Arbor, which will bring them closer to both of their families.
At the same time students are filing their wish list, academic and community-based health systems also are ranking their top student choices. A computer algorithm administered by the National Resident Matching Program then matches students and residency programs together.
Samar Ayoub, who grew up in Toledo and earned an undergraduate degree at UToledo, was lucky enough to match in anesthesiology with the University of Virginia — one of her top choices.
“It seems so surreal. Being a doctor is something I’ve always dreamed about. I can’t believe the day is finally here and it’s actually happening,” she said. “We had a really strong camaraderie in our class from day one. Even with COVID it persisted. Toledo has a really supportive environment, and I hope residency will be like that too.”
