UM School of Medicine Celebrates 2024 Medical Residency Match Day

After years of hard work and steadfast perseverance, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) medical students gathered at the M&T Bank Exchange at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center in Baltimore, Maryland on Match Day, March 15, 2024, to recognize their 2024 residency matches with a celebratory reception.  Each year on Match Day, graduating medical students from around the country and at UMSOM discover where they will begin their careers as physicians.

“Match Day marks the culmination of years of hard work and dedication for medical students as they discover where they will continue their journey in residency,” said Kerri Thom, MD, MS, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at UMSOM. “It is both an ending and a new beginning -- a moment filled with anticipation, nervous excitement, and joy as the envelopes are opened alongside family, friends, and mentors to reveal their future paths in medicine.

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) has reported that the national 2024 Main Residency Match had record high applicant participation in NRMP’s history, with an increase of 2,257 more registered applicants as compared to 2023. Match rates remained steady with less than a one percentage point difference compared to the 2023 Main Residency Match. A total of 41,503 certified positions were offered. Of the 38,494 postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) positions offered, which includes preliminary and transitional year positions, 35,984 positions were filled for a rate of 93 percent.

"We share something that is our superpower, and that is resilience. Resilience comes from being prepared, owning knowledge of your patients, of medicine. It comes from sustaining, nurturing and developing emotional relationships with our families, our loved ones, with friends, new friends, with our colleagues," said Mark T. Gladwin, MD, the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine who spoke at the event.

This year, 140 UMSOM senior students matched at 62 different healthcare facilities in 21 states for a match rate of 100%, compared to 74 different healthcare facilities in 26 states in 2023. A full 36 percent (51/140) of the Class of 2024 will stay in Maryland for their residency training, compared with 34 percent of students last year.

Among UMSOM’s graduating students is Class President Darby Moore, MD Candidate ‘24. Her interest in medicine was sparked through a transformative experience during her undergraduate studies. “My interest solidified in college due to my experience of working with the team physicians on the National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s soccer team at the University of Maryland, College Park,” she said. “It was then that I decided that I wanted to pursue orthopedic surgery, and although that has since changed, I am incredibly grateful for that initial exposure to the field of medicine.”

Ms. Moore will complete her residency in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD.

For first-generation Nigerian-American student Chinenye Onyima, MD Candidate ‘24, her initial calling to medicine was rooted in experiences that highlighted the stark contrasts between access and quality of healthcare in Nigeria compared to the United States. “I have witnessed firsthand the loss of life due to the consequences of inadequate resources or medical attention,” she said. “These experiences allowed me to discover the manner in which I aspire to be present in the lives of others, through the embodiment of compassion and the application of medical expertise in critical circumstances.”

Ms. Onyima ultimately hopes to provide the interventions necessary to heal and restore quality of life to patients living in underserved communities, both domestically and abroad. She will complete her residency in Anesthesiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. Alongside her medical career, she is in the process of establishing a nonprofit foundation called Closet Without Borders, which aims to foster creative expression in Nigeria through the donation of clothing.

Michael Sikorski, PhD ‘22, MD Candidate ‘24, initially developed his passion for global public health while conducting research abroad as a student in the MD/PhD dual degree program. “During the course of my PhD studies, I worked in Santiago, Chile for nearly four months on a multi-site clinical study of gallbladder carriers of Salmonella Typhi and ultimately completed my PhD on the genomics and epidemiology of typhoid fever in the small South Pacific island nation of Samoa, where I accrued approximately five months in country,” he said. “Upon returning to the clinical years of medical school, I reconnected with my passion for patient care, particularly in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, leading me to pursue a career as a physician-scientist.”

Dr. Sikorski maintains an active family life outside of medicine and science. He is a loving husband and a new father to his daughter, Roya, born last December. He matched into the combined Internal Medicine Research Track and Gastroenterology Fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), where he will join his wife, Katayoun Eslami, MD '19, who works in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology & Nutrition.

As a first-generation American, Mariela Trejo, MD Candidate ‘24, understands the great sacrifice her parents made when they left their homes in El Salvador to come to the United States in pursuit of the “American Dream”. “I am the daughter of two Salvadoran immigrants, and I am the first in my family to pursue a medical degree,” she said. “There were countless times when I witnessed family members with limited English proficiency or low health literacy fall through the cracks of our fragmented healthcare system. As their translator and healthcare advocate, I worked to bridge language and cultural barriers to minimize the possibility of adverse health outcomes that disadvantaged populations often face.”

Ms. Trejo is a champion for health equity and hopes to serve as an advocate for the most vulnerable patient populations. She will complete her residency in Internal Medicine at New York University in Manhattan, NY.

Presenting sponsors for the event included Whiting-Turner and the Medical Alumni Association of the University of Maryland. Southern Management Companies was an event sponsor.

Watch the Match Day 2024 Video:

Match Day 2024 Image Gallery: