UAB Synopsis, Vol. 25, No. 8, April 10, 2006
Nearly three-quarters of the 2006 graduating class at the University of Alabama School of Medicine matched with residency programs in the Southeast, with others pursuing postgraduate training at hospitals from New England to Hawaii, according to numbers released during Match Day, March 16. Forty-two percent of the graduates will remain in Alabama.
On Match Day, the vast majority of graduating seniors at medical schools across the country simultaneously find out where they will be doing their residency training and in what field. The program is run by the National Resident Matching Program; more than 15,000 US medical school graduating seniors participated this year.
“The 2006 School of Medicine class is well represented in the primary care fields and in surgery, continuing strong trends we’ve experienced over recent years,” says H. Hughes Evans, MD, PhD, associate dean for students. “We are especially pleased with the large number of graduates who will remain in Alabama and the Southeast. More residents staying within the state and region means better care and better access to health services for all of our citizens.”
Of the 2006 graduates, 40% will enter residencies in one of the primary care fields — internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics, or obstetrics/gynecology — with 20% pursuing training in general surgery, or a surgical subspecialty, and the remainder serving in other specialties.
Altogether more than 26,000 applicants participated in this year’s Match. That number includes US medical school seniors, physicians who had already graduated from medical school, osteopathic students, and physicians and graduates of non-US medical schools.