Ganiru Anunike stood eying the table where an envelope bearing her name held the next step on her path to becoming an attending physician.
“Today is everything that I’ve ever worked for coming to fruition, coming to light. It’s a crazy feeling that my fate lies right there,” she said. “It’s an unreal feeling.”
Fourth-year medical student Ganiru Anunike celebrates with her mother, Oby Anunike, and sister, Adaora Anunike, after matching at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, during Friday’s Match Day.
It was Match Day for Anunike and her fellow fourth-year medical students at The University of Toledo — the day they learn where they’ll begin residency training in their chosen specialty.
At noon, she and her classmates tore open the white envelopes and scanned the paper within. Anunike’s said Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
“It’s just surreal. They were so kind to me. They have from the beginning told me they were going to train me to be the best neurologist possible. They’re going to take care of my wellbeing, they’re going to care for me,” she said. “It’s just an incredible dream. Honestly, Toledo has been amazing. They have prepared me so well and I feel so confident and ready for the Mayo Clinic.”
Celebrated at medical schools across the country, Match Day is one of the most anticipated moments for aspiring physicians. Fourth-year students spend months interviewing with hospitals and universities across the country then wait to learn where they’ve matched.
At UToledo’s event, held Friday, March 15, a total of 163 students matched into 19 medical specialties.
Sarah Kearney was beaming after matching into diagnostic radiology at the UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences — her top choice.
A native of Cincinnati, she first came to Toledo for the college’s master of science in biomedical science program with the anticipation of going to medical school.
“I wanted a profession that was fulfilling and had that classic ‘I help people’ kind of thing. It became even more personal as you see loved ones needing care,” she said. “These are people’s lives. To be in such an important profession was something that drew me in.”
Kearney’s father died from cancer in 2018 just before she completed her undergraduate degree. Her brother’s death three years later, after her second year of medical school, was another major challenge.
“The support that I got from everybody in the medical school to help me come back after that and eventually end up here for residency, it feels unreal,” she said. “I’m so excited for the future. I really hope to be in Toledo long term. I love it here, love the city, love the people, love the community.”
Students rank their top destinations, and academic and community-based health systems rank their top student choices. A computer algorithm administered by the National Resident Matching Program then matches students and residency programs together.
“It’s bewildering. It’s a whirlwind,” said fourth-year student Jean Llenos. “Waiting was the worst part but opening the envelope was awesome.”
Llenos matched with Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he’ll embark on a pathology residency.
As an artist, writer and fantasy gamer, Llenos said he sees pathology as a natural fit.
“I think it’s the most artistic medical specialty. A lot of it has to do with visual literacy, pattern recognition. I feel like it’s kind of a way to marry the things I love doing in my spare time with my profession,” he said. “Medicine is a science but it’s important for it to be a bit of an art. It’s science in the context of humanity.”
Andrew Slembarski, a fourth-year medical student who grew up in Bowling Green, also felt that sense of bewilderment. Would he and his wife, Bethany, be moving to North Carolina, Florida, Texas or staying in Ohio?
In the end, they aren’t going far. He matched at Ohio State University in anesthesiology.
“We’re really happy,” he said. “Seeing patients who are super nervous in pre-op, being able to comfort them, get them through their procedure and see them in post-op is really a blessing.”
For Anunike, the move to Minnesota and becoming a doctor is in some ways bringing her family full circle.
Her father, Emmanuel Anunike, came to the United States from Nigeria with his wife, Oby Anunike, some three decades ago with the goal of becoming a physician. Circumstance got in the way, and he ultimately became an architect, earning his master’s degree at Minnesota State University.
“I’m just overwhelmed,” he said. “There’s a fulfillment there for me, almost like I’m living vicariously through her. She’s so passionate about medicine. She and I would talk about what else could she have done. She said ‘Dad, I don’t know if there’s anything else I could have done.’ And I believe that. This was her calling. She’s fulfilling those dreams.”
