Inside Duke Medicine

Match Day brings stellar residents to Duke

When Match Day envelopes were opened across the country last month, Duke University Medical Center’s residency training directors were elated to learn that all of Duke’s slots were filled up. That good news capped off a system-wide effort to recruit some of the most competitive candidates from among the nation’s graduating medical students.

Duke was the institution of choice for 163 high-caliber students, who will begin their graduate medical education at Duke this summer. Match Day is the annual day in March when graduating medical students across the country learn where they will spend the next three to seven years of their training.

“The applicants come from excellent schools all over the country,” said John Weinerth, M.D., associate dean
of graduate medical education (GME). He said Duke invigorated its efforts to attract the best and the brightest candidates by promoting Duke’s richly varied GME opportunities.

That was echoed by Harvey Jay Cohen, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine. Cohen said he was pleased with the very strong applicant pool and even more pleased with the ultimate cohort that matched to the department.

“We went to considerable lengths in the recruitment process to explain what our program is about, and to have candidates meet with the residents currently in the program,” said Cohen.

The department received 3,354 applications, and interviewed 407 candidates for its 51 slots. House staff, faculty members and School leaders, including Dean Nancy Andrews, M.D., Ph.D. and Chancellor Victor J. Dzau, M.D., also met with the candidates to share what attracted them to Duke.

“One of the key things that people always look at is the character of both the house staff and faculty here, and how they interact,” said Cohen. “I think the applicants got a good feel for this being a place where people enjoy working together.”

After last year’s match, Weinerth commissioned a survey to determine what factors could be accentuated to ensure Duke’s competitive appeal to top students.

“We learned that more personal contact, better communication about the advantages for spouses and families, and sharing the special aspects of Durham would improve our recruitment,” said Weinerth.

Even Hollywood played a part, with the NBC television drama E.R. in January featuring a storyline in which a Duke Medicine clinical faculty member — wearing an official Duke name badge, no less — praised Duke and Durham as a great place to train, live and raise a family.

The extra attention to recruitment efforts paid off. “It’s an extreme blessing to be matched to Duke,” said Christopher Jones, a medical student from the University of California at San Francisco. “What Duke is doing in orthopaedics is amazing, and my prayers were answered.”

Jones matched to Duke’s orthopaedic residency training program, and will spend the next five years here. He credited his decision to a warm and inviting welcome from William T. Hardaker, Jr., M.D., director of the program, and Jim Nunley, M.D., chief of orthopaedic surgery, as well as the smart facilities, didactic curriculum and Duke’s storied sports and undergraduate academic traditions.

Duke’s well-deserved reputation is key to continued success at Match Day, said Michael Cuffe, M.D., vice dean for medical affairs.

“Our success is directly attributable to the strengths of our departments, and the commitment and excellence of our current faculty, house staff, and educators,” said Cuffe.

The widely recognized excellence of Duke’s clinical faculty and the School of Medicine, a commitment to GME through endowed funds, and recent initiatives such as the Global Residency Program and a new MD/MBA management track have only made Duke a more desirable institution at which to train, he said.

Up to five of the new residents may qualify for that new management track, said Dev Sangvai, M.D., MBA, aassociate program director of the Duke Medicine Management and Leadership Pathway for Residents. This track will combine rigorous clinical training with formal project-based rotational opportunities across the system — clinical care, research, and education.

“While many Duke students choose to continue their medical education in another location, a significant number of our graduates chose to stay with us,” said Weinerth.

Twenty-six Duke graduates will remain here for their residencies, while others will complete their training at Harvard University, the University of Michigan, UCLA, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and other schools.

“Our students did quite well, with most matched to highly competitive fields or programs,” said Ed Buckley, M.D., vice dean for education.

All of Duke’s 102 graduating medical students matched to top-level residency programs, in specialties from internal medicine to pediatrics to neurosurgery.

The National Matching Resident Program reports that this year was the biggest Match Day on record, with more than 15,000 graduating medical students applying