Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Has First 'Match Day'

NUTLEY, N.J., March 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The envelopes are open, and the first students from the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine have discovered where they will have their residencies to start their medical careers. These first members of the 2018 cohort are on track to complete their three-year medical education at the School, with the first-ever commencement planned for June 3.

The students from the inaugural class are among an estimated 44,000 who found out today where they will "match" through the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP).

In the COVID-19 era, they were unable to gather in person, due to social-distancing recommendations.

Instead, the students today celebrated Match Day® by tearing open their envelopes – then toasting one another from afar, via video conferencing, with champagne flutes sent to them by the School.

"Match Day is cause for great excitement every year as the graduating class discovers where they will begin training in their chosen medical specialty," said Bonita Stanton, M.D., the School's founding dean. "But words cannot adequately describe the excitement of a medical school's first Match Day and a Match Day for those students graduating after completing a three-year curriculum rather than the traditional four-year curriculum. Every graduating class is special – but this class feels especially special – although I am pretty sure that next year's class will also feel 'especially special' as well!"

"We have so many talented students coming through our School," said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., vice dean of the medical school and a professor of pediatrics.  "We cannot wait to see what their careers will do for our health network – and the medical world at large."

According to the NRMP, the Program is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. Each year "the Match" encompasses more than 44,000 registrants and 37,000 positions through its Main Residency Match, along with Fellowship Matches for more than 65 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service (SMS).

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine students still have to graduate. But their "matches" are across a variety of specialties including Anesthesiology and Internal Medicine, among others, where they are expected to spend their residencies to finish their medical training.

The new residents are a subset of the inaugural class who will graduate as part of the three-year option available through the School. The other students in the class have opted for a four-year track to their studies.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Hackensack Meridian Health assumed its independent operation in July 2020. The school's vision is that each person in New Jersey, and in the United States, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, will enjoy the highest levels of wellness in an economically and behaviorally sustainable fashion. The School's unique curriculum focuses on linking the basic science with clinical relevance, through an integrated curriculum in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. The school prides itself on outreach, through programs like the Human Dimension, which is active in communities across New Jersey.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH
Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 36,000 team members, and over 7,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker's Healthcare's "150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2019" list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine opened in 2018, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its third class of students in 2020 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

SOURCE Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine

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www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org