Match Day Guides UAMS College of Medicine Students to Next Career Path

By Ben Boulden

Fourth-year UAMS College of Medicine students Franchesca Lau, left, and Nathan Schandevel, husband and wife, hold up their Match Day t-shirts at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock.

Matt Williams of Fort Smith and Hannah Henson of Hot Springs were married Dec. 20, as were Nathan Schandevel of Paragould and Franchesca Lau of Little Rock. Both couples were among College of Medicine students who participated March 20 in the Match Day ceremony held at the Embassy Suites.

After opening the sealed envelopes that held their future, Williams and Henson celebrated that they will both serve their residencies at UAMS — Williams in anesthesiology and Henson in psychiatry. Schandevel and Lau learned they both will be serving residencies in family medicine at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. All four were pleased with their matches.

In March each year, 155 medical schools across the United States simultaneously announce the results of the competition for residencies through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Students in their fourth year apply to programs, interview and then send a ranked list to the centralized matching service. Residency programs also submit a list of preferred candidates, and an NRMP computer, using an algorithm, reconciles the lists as best as possible.

About 145 students matched with residencies at this year’s event in the ballroom of the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. Students’ names were called randomly in groups of five to 10, then one by one went to a podium and microphone to tear open an envelope and announce their match. The audience of more than 300 included students, spouses, children and parents.

Richard Wheeler, M.D., College of Medicine executive associate dean for academic affairs, has been coordinating Match Day at UAMS for many years.

A UAMS student enthusiastically announces her match from the podium. David Nelsen Jr., M.D., second from right, and Dan Knight, far right, enjoy spending time with UAMS medical students.

“Although I’ve been to many Match Days, it’s always an eventful and notable day in the professional lives of these students who are soon to graduate from UAMS,”Wheeler said. “They and we among the faculty and administration all feel this is a special day, not just for themselves but for their friends and family.”

Hillary Williams of Ferndale, another fourth-year student, also will go through residency at UAMS. Her residency will be in neurology.

Williams in 2010 won the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsujiu Federation world championship in the Brown/Black Belt Female Division at middleweight, but said she was more nervous before Match Day than before a bout because Match Day determined what she would be doing and where for the next four years.

Schandevel and Lau applied and interviewed with a dozen different residency programs in the hope they would both be chosen by the same one.

“Couples who had matched told us to pursue more than we would normally do,” Schandevel said. “I think we might have done just as many if we hadn’t been together, just to figure out where we wanted to go.”

Richard Wheeler, M.D., holds the envelopes containing the Match Day results.

Both expect the program at Texas A&M will equip them with the skills that will enable them later to do medical mission work overseas.

Lau said their next step will be finding a place to live in College Station. House hunting will start after May graduation and before they are scheduled for orientation there in late June.

Williams and Henson said they were glad to be able to stay within driving distance of their families.

Both couples said they were relieved.

“I knew what I was getting into getting married, and was happy about it,” Williams said. “This was more of an unknown until today.”