On March 21, I had the pleasure of attending my 14th annual UNMC Match Day ceremony.
At exactly 11 a.m. CDT, our graduating students and their fellow medical students from around the country opened envelopes whose contents told them where they matched for residency training. At UNMC, each student then comes up to the stage to announce to their classmates, friends, and families what specialty they will be entering and where they will be going for residency.
As part of the event at UNMC, as the student is progressing to the stage, some slides that they have chosen are projected on a large screen behind the stage, and a few measures of music are played from a song the student has chosen.
This year, as in past years, I was impressed by the range of music selected by the students, which spanned from songs from when I was a student (and to which I could easily have sung along) to contemporary ones that, perhaps not surprisingly, I did not recognize.
Enjoying the ceremony, I found myself thinking that most of us are creations of the music of our youth. It struck me that the music selected by our students is perhaps emblematic of the practice of our profession.
Modern medicine and medical education are built on the foundations established by our predecessors, symbolized by the classic songs of the 60s and 70s in this year’s Match Day program. These foundations include our commitment to the well-being of our patients and using advances in science and technology to improve that well-being.
But medicine, like the newer songs in the Match Day repertoire, moves forward continuously, enhancing longevity and health. Our graduating seniors will simultaneously be at the forefront of advancing the current state of medical care but will also be creating the foundation for the medical students who will be graduating decades from now.
From what I have seen from our class of 2025, which has had many unique obstacles to overcome during their time at UNMC, the future of medicine is in great hands.
Congratulations to the UNMC College of Medicine Class of 2025.