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Vital Signs:
For DMS students, Match Day 2004 was a homecoming

"There's no place like home," said Dorothy, as she clicked her heels in The Wizard of Oz. The members of the DMS M.D. Class of '04 were echoing Dorothy's mantra in mid-March as they headed to the Upper Valley for the annual Match Day ritual.

"It's like coming home for Thanksgiving dinner-that's the only way I can describe it," said Gary Maslow, one of 49 '04s who gathered at DHMC shortly before 12:00 noon on March 18 for the ceremony at which he and his classmates would find out where they'd spend the next three to seven years of their lives. The DMS '04s were joined by six fourth-years in the Brown-Dartmouth Program who drove up from Providence, R.I., to get their Match results at Dartmouth. Lien Le was one of them. "I'm glad I came back to Hanover for Match Day," she said. "It feels like home here."

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Elation was the emotion of the day for these members of the M.D. Class of 2004 getting their residency assignments: 1 Allison Goldkamp (one of several students in the Brown-Dartmouth Program who came north for Match Day); 2 Gary Maslow (holding aloft the dollar-filled fishbowl that goes to the last student whose name is called, as Dean Steven Spielberg applauds in the background); 3 Sarah Pitts (in red, getting a hug from Assistant Dean Susan Harper); 4 Lien Le (left, another Brown- Dartmouth grad) and Ndidi Onwubalili; 5 Bethany Lovejoy; and 6 Amanjit Dhatt (left) and Eimaneh Mostofian.

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Choice: After two years of being dispersed all over for their clinical rotations, "it's wonderful to have everyone here who you started medical school with," said Maslow. He'd applied to 11 programs in pediatrics and child psychiatry, with his first choice being Brown's triple-board program in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry.

"Being here is exciting," agreed Symeon Missios. He'd spent many hours researching programs in neurosurgery, looking closely at each institution's research opportunities and case diversity. He applied to 20 programs and was interviewed by 12 of them.

Some students, like Chunbai Zhang, brought their laptops so they could e-mail their parents as soon as they received word where they would be going. "I interviewed at seven programs, all north of the Mason Dixon Line," said Zhang, "but I'll be happy wherever I end up."

Envelopes: At 12:00 sharp, a smiling dean, Dr. Stephen Spielberg, and assistant dean, Dr. Susan Harper, arrived. Harper, holding up the stack of white envelopes that contained the students' residency assignments, said, "There are many wonderful opportunities ahead for you." And Spielberg reassured them by adding, "It's good news. You all did very well."

Without further ado, Harper read-in random order-the names of 47 of the '04s (two students in the class are deferring residency). As each one approached, the room filled with applause. And, per DMS tradition, every student placed a dollar in a glass bowl-with the pot going to the last student called up. Gary Maslow was happy to have his name be the final one read and waved the bowl victoriously. But he was even happier by the news in his envelope: he'd been accepted at Brown. "All part of my goal to treat kids with chronic illnesses," he said afterwards. "It's amazing to be going there. I'm really excited."

Le, too, was pleased with her match; she got into the internal medicine program at Boston University. Missios and Zhang were also thrilled; both were accepted into advanced programs -Missios at DHMC in neurosurgery, and Zhang at Cornell in anesthesiology.

Nationally, 2004 saw an increase in applicants to surgery, pathology, and psychiatry; DMS mirrored the trend in surgery, with 14 graduates entering surgical disciplines. Another 14 are entering primary-care specialties -internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. Eight graduates will stay at DHMC- seven in surgery and one in pediatrics- making New Hampshire the most popular destination; Massachusetts was a close second, with seven. (The DMS and Brown-Dartmouth graduates' residency assignments are listed on page 6.)

Incoming: Match Day is an exciting time for DHMC's own residency programs as well. More than 60 first-year residents matched to Dartmouth programs and an additional 40-plus residents with advanced standing will be continuing their training at DHMC. (The incoming residents are listed on page 7.) All the programs were very satisfied with their results. Dr. James AuBuchon, chair of pathology and the director of the pathology residency program, noted that his department was "very pleased with the outcome of the Match. We had three times the number of applications worthy of interview." Anesthesiology, dermatology, plastic surgery, obstetricsgynecology, and psychiatry also did extremely well.

Matthew C. Wiencke

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