College of Osteopathic Medicine Students Earn Outstanding Match Results

More than 250 NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine students matched successfully to residencies in New York and across the country, with half of the group headed to family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatric placements.

Initial placement following the national Match Day event on March 20 was nearly 100 percent, with soon-to-graduate students bound for residencies that begin in June and July—a result Dean Wolfgang Gilliar, D.O., called “phenomenal.”

“We are pleased with this excellent outcome given both the breadth and depth of placement, and we are absolutely confident that we'll get as close to 100 percent as possible, as we did last year,” said Gilliar, referring to a secondary placement process that follows the initial match.

Among the institutions where students matched are Yale New Haven Hospital, St. Lukes-Roosevelt, Maimonides Medical Center, Tufts Medical Center, Brown Medical School/Memorial Hospital, and the Cleveland Clinic. About 160 new doctors will remain in the Long Island-NYC metro area, many at NYITCOM's network of affiliated hospitals and institutions.

During a packed celebration at NYIT de Seversky Mansion’s main ballroom in Old Westbury, N.Y., Gilliar called each student by name, distributing envelopes and handshakes.

“If I tell you that I’m proud, it’s an understatement,” he said. “I am moved.”

After the last envelope was handed out, Gilliar asked the students to silently thank those who helped them on their medical education journey. Then he gave the signal to open envelopes together.

Cheers, applause, and bear hugs followed as students discovered their matches, many of them their first choices, from primary care specialties and emergency medicine, to orthopedics and orthopedic surgery.

“I enjoy the relationships internists have with their patients,” said Marwah Ibrahem, 25, who will start an internal medicine residency at Yale New Haven Hospital on July 1. “You can become your patients’ confidante, and they can view you as their advocate.”

Renata Kuperman, 25, said her internal medicine residency at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn was “the perfect fit” for her personality and career goals.

“I strive to achieve my goals but I kind of go with the flow,” she said. “In internal medicine, you have so many paths you can take.”

As they enjoyed lunch after the main event, Kuperman said she and Ibrahem studied, cried, and laughed together during their four years at NYITCOM and found cherished relationships with faculty members who served as mentors and friends.

Class President Jeff Jett was one of two students nationwide to match to an orthopedic surgery residency at Valley Consortium for Medical Education in Modesto, Calif.

Smiling broadly as he pointed out his new home state on a large map in the room, Jett said he was thrilled with his first-choice match.

“I love everything about it—the patient outcomes are just phenomenal,” he said, noting how he looked forward to someday helping patients in pain or with troubled joints experience dramatic improvements. “You do one surgery and they’re walking like a new person.”

In the coming months, Jett will prepare for graduation and hooding, exchange wedding vows in Maine with his high school sweetheart on June 19, and head west for orientation on June 22.

“I’m excited,” he said. “I love the stress.”