Medical students prove they can be anything at Match Day celebration

As they excitedly awaited the magic hour on Friday, fourth-year medical students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM) were similar to thousands of others across the country, reminiscing about the journey that brought them to Match Day. Their raucous and hard-earned celebration at Roanoke’s Jefferson Center, though, proved to be one-of-a-kind.

The VTCSOM students were clad in sparkling pink shirts, cowboy hats and sunglasses to fit the year’s Barbie theme, empowered by the belief they can be anything. After the clock struck noon and the 42 students learned of their residency program matches, they screamed, they cried, and they hugged. Most of all, they showed their appreciation for those who helped them on their medical school journey.

“The Class of 2024 started medical school in July of 2020 before COVID vaccinations were available and faced many uncertainties that tested their resiliency and adaptability.  We celebrate their hard-earned success matching into first-choice specialties in Virginia and across the country!” said Lee Learman, dean of the school. “I am immensely proud of these students and look forward to following their continued progress in their medical careers.”

After the students learned of their residencies, family, friends, classmates and faculty cheered as they each announced their next destination from a microphone on the stage and pinned their picture on a map of the U.S. They used markers to write on the backs of their shirts, “This Hokie is going to be a …” neurosurgeon or dermatologist or an ophthalmologist, or another specialty.

Once she found out her match was with the University of Southern California in anesthesiology, California native Vemmy Metsutnan ran out to the hallway to call her mother and share the news.

“I’m super excited to be going home! It was my top program, but even more than that, it was the hospital that saved my mom’s life. She had a medical emergency in the past year and went there,” she said. “After everything we’ve worked for the past four years, it’s like it was meant to be!”

Prominently featured on the Barbie-styled shirt was a picture of Aubrey Knight, who presided over his final Match Day in the role of senior dean of student affairs. It was another 100 percent match of VTCSOM students.

“After having the honor of participating our Match Day ceremony for 11 years, this is a bittersweet moment for me. But I am delighted to see all the amazing places our students will go to do great work and carry on the legacy of VTCSOM,” he said.

According to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), the 50,413 applicants who registered in the 2024 Main Residency Match was an all-time high and an increase of 2,257 or 4.7 percent over last year. The national match rate for M.D. seniors was 93.5 percent.

Seven of the upcoming VTCSOM graduates will complete their residencies in Virginia, with a five remaining in Roanoke with Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM. 

“I’m really excited to be a future neurosurgeon and be part of the VTCSOM family for at least seven more years. I really love Roanoke and it will be like staying home,” said Abhishek Bhutada, who grew up in California. “We have a great new chair of neurosurgery [John Jane Jr.] and amazing residents here. I’m so glad to become part of that team.”

In her time at VTCSOM, Lauren “LB” Canary has immersed herself in organizations and causes dedicated to serving those less fortunate such as the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition. She will be staying in Roanoke as part of the family medicine residency at Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM.

“I’ve had the chance to work with team members of the family medicine program, providing wound care to patients in the community. I’m very happy to continue the work I’ve been doing here, taking care of underserved patients,” Canary said at the ceremony alongside her wife, Danny Clawson. “We love it here and are thrilled to be staying.”

The most represented specialties among VTCSOM’s Class of 2024 were: internal medicine, 8; emergency medicine, 4; dermatology, 3; pediatrics, 3; family medicine, 3; obstetrics and gynecology, 3; and radiology, 3. 

The most dermatology matches in a single year previously for VTCSOM was one. Casey Engel and Douglas Murray were overjoyed to both match in dermatology at Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM.

“We are best friends, and both of us wanted to specialize in dermatology,” Engel said. “So, we were able to go through it together, working on the application process, and now we will get to be co-residents together!”

Murray added: “I think it really says a lot about the quality of VTCSOM and the support and preparation that we get that we were both able to match in this very challenging specialty. We are so excited to be sticking here.”

The graduating students will enter 17 specialties in 19 different states (plus Washington, D.C.) and 40 different academic health centers. This year, the school had its first matches in West Virginia as well as Nevada. Since its first class in 2014, VTCSOM students have matched in 35 states and D.C. 

Kasen Hutchings, whose son Xander toddled around the ceremony wearing a shirt that read “My dad matched in radiology,” became the first VTCSOM student to match in Nevada. He will soon be moving to Las Vegas with his wife, Brittan, and their son.

“We both grew up in southern Utah and moved here to go to my dream school of VTCSOM,” Hutchings said. “It has been great here, but it will be nice to move back west, where we are a few hours from family.”

Erika Robertson will also be headed closer to where she grew up, going to the Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education in Jacksonville, Fla., for family medicine.

“I grew up on the Gulf Coast and my husband and I both loved Florida and being close to the ocean. After I learned more about the Mayo Clinic and their patient-first ethos, it just really felt right,” she said. “I guess you could say it was meant to be, and being down in the warm sunshine is going to be pretty nice too!” 

After the Match Day ceremony was complete, the students danced their way out of the Jefferson Center all sparkly and pink, primed to take on their next adventure.