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SUNY Upstate Medical University students get matched with residencies on national Match Day

SYRACUSE, N.Y. —At noon today (March 17), 156 fourth-year students from SUNY Upstate Medical University's College of Medicine joined graduating medical students from across the country in learning where they will spend their first year of training (or residency) in their chosen specialty.

This annual rite of passage, known as Match Day, was established in 1952 by the National Resident Matching Program of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The matching program provides an orderly and fair way to match the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the residency program's choice of applicants. It also provides a common time for the announcement of the appointments, as well as an agreement for programs and applicants to honor the commitment to offer and accept an appointment if a match results.

At SUNY Upstate Medical University:

? 100 percent of SUNY Upstate's fourth-year medical students received residency appointments;

? 45 percent of the fourth-year medical students will enter the primary care specialties comprised of internal medicine (20 percent), family practice (eight percent), pediatrics (13 percent), obstetrics and gynecology (three percent) and a combined medicine/pediatrics program (one percent);

? 49 percent will remain in New York state; and

? 16 first-year residents will remain in Syracuse: 11 at University Hospital and five at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center. Five students will perform their residencies at SUNY Upstate's clinical campus in Binghamton at Wilson Hospital.

In addition to matching its students to programs throughout the country, SUNY Upstate must also fill its own residency positions.

According to Sara Grethlein, M.D., associate dean for SUNY Upstate's graduate medical education, SUNY Upstate has filled all but three of its 105 specialty and subspecialty residency positions. She expects to have those positions filled within the next few days.

Since 1952, the NRMP has served as an initial indicator of the career interests of U.S. medical school graduates and other physicians who seek training in U.S. residency programs.

In the months prior to Match Day, students submit resumes and interview at hospitals. In February, both hospitals and students rank their choices for placement. The match process is conducted primarily through the Web —a computer center in Washington, D.C., the National Resident Matching Program —generates the matches.

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