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Aaron and Jennifer Adams |
His wife, Jennifer, was going through the national residency match program Thursday, and Adams — a hat collector — wanted to wear the appropriate attire so he brought four baseball caps with him, each representing one of the four cities his wife might be going – Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston and Ann Arbor, Mich.
On Thursday, his wife and 117 other members of the UNMC College of Medicine Class of 2003 learned where they would spend the next three to six years doing their residency training.
The students matched in 30 states across the country, from California to Rhode Island and Maine to Texas. The majority – 38 percent – will remain in Nebraska, at least for their first year of residency. Overall, 63 percent will pursue primary care specialties.
Which hat?
Jennifer Adams, whose hometown is Yutan, Neb., learned she would be doing her internal medicine/anesthesiology residency at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, one of the leading academic health science centers in the country.
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Brett Hill, right, with Michelle and Matt Brester. Hill will do a residency in surgery/urology at UNMC. Matt Brester will do an internal medicine residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. |
When they returned to their seats in the Storz Pavilion, Aaron Adams, an attorney in the intellectual property office at UNMC, pulled out his Baltimore Orioles hat and proudly put it on his head.
“This is going to be great,” he said. “The Orioles are my favorite baseball team, and I’m hoping to get a job at the University of Maryland-Baltimore. If I get this job, my office will be overlooking Camden Yards (where the Orioles play).”
Surrounded by family and friends, Thursday marked a career milestone for many in the Class of 2003. Here are a few of their stories:
Unique perspective
In July, Matt Brester, who is battling thyroid cancer that has spread into his lungs, will begin his internal medicine residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.
Meanwhile, Brester will travel to Johns Hopkins Sunday for two weeks of treatments. The Dodge, Neb., native was diagnosed with cancer in 1997 while finishing his pre-medical undergraduate classes.
The experience, he said, has given him a unique perspective. “On top of sympathy for the patient, I have also have empathy,” he said. “There’s a bond there. You learn there’s more to treat than the body. I always look for the silver lining to help others through things,” he said.
Brester and his wife, Michelle, have 1-year-old twins, Abby and Josh. They are expecting their third child in August.
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Colene Andersen |
Colene Andersen of Marquette, Neb., will remain in Omaha for her primary care residency.
Having worked more than 20 years in various health professions, she finally pursued college after her children graduated from high school. She pursued an undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, as did her daughter and son.
“I hope others who are older don’t let age stop them from going to school,” said Andersen, 48. “It’s never too late. I love what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Juggling school, twins
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UNMC student Monte Christo with his wife, Jill, and 2-month-old twins, Sydney Lynn and Drew Alexander. |
Former University of Nebraska quarterback Monte Christo — his wife, Jill, and 2-month-old twins Drew Alexander and Sydney Lynn at his side — revealed he would be doing an internal medicine-anesthesiology residency at UNMC.
Bundle of nerves
Laura Vander Werff was a bundle of nerves waiting for Match Day to arrive. On Wednesday night, she called Sue Pope, coordinator in the academic affairs office, to see if she could find out where she would be doing her residency.
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From left to right, UNMC students Corey Priesman, Deepak Dev, Stephanie Randall, Sherman Holtan, Eric Rodrigo and Laura Vander Werff. |
Pope didn’t tell Vander Werff where she was going, but she did go the extra mile for her. When Vander Werff’s name was called, her feet hardly hit the floor as she broke into a half sprint en route to the podium. When Pope handed Vander Werff her envelope, she included a surprise with it – a brown bag in case she felt queasy.
Vander Werff’s nerves were calmed when she opened the envelope to find that she got her first choice – an internal medicine position at Emanuel/Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Ore.
The Hastings native was delighted, as she will be reuniting with many friends from her undergraduate days at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. “It’s perfect – just what I wanted,” Vander Werff said.
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UNMC student Jeff Raymond, center, with his wife, Kristie, and his father, Richard Raymond, M.D. Raymond will do his anesthesiology residency at Broadlawns Medical Denter in Des Moines and the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Kan. |
Tin Tran of Omaha shares a love of science with his siblings. He is the first American born of his six-member family – his parents emigrated from Vietnam to the United States in 1975, with his two older brothers and a sister. His brothers are anesthesiologists and his sister is a pharmacist. Tran will complete an anesthesiology residency in St. Louis, Mo.
Sharing the news by phone
Stephanie Randall called her father from the Match Day podium to share her news – an anesthesiology residency at UNMC. It was the family’s second celebration this week – on Monday Randall gave birth to a daughter.
Just a piece of paper?
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UNMC student Doug Niemann (far right) with his brother, John C.; father, John; wife, Kristi; and mother, JoAnn. Niemann matched in internal medicine-radiology at UNMC. |
Remembering others
In the midst of Match Day festivities, student Matt DeVries asked the crowd to “keep the men and women overseas in our thoughts and prayers” before revealing his “match” – an internal medicine-radiology residency at UNMC.
It pays to wait
Although Michael Bryan waited nearly two hours to be called to the podium, it paid off – literally. Bryan, who will do a surgery residency at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, walked away with a bag of money – courtesy of a UNMC tradition of having each ‘matching’ medical student contribute $1 with the last “match” claiming the prize.