Military Match Day 2021: Student Spotlight

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For military medical students, today marks the culminating moment of their white coat journey—Military Match Day! The military match process is similar to what other medical students experience—months of applications, interviews, ranking and waiting to find out which residency program they matched into. The only difference is that military medical students can opt to do their rotations and residencies at military medical facilities, or select civilian rotations and residency programs. Today, military medical students opting for residencies at military medical facilities will learn their matches.

For the past several years, the college’s OMS-IV military students have achieved a consistent 100% match rate. The college is incredibly proud to count military students, who are serving both their country and their communities through health, among our cohort of future physicians.

This year, the college is rooting for its eight military students who are eligible to match, representing the Air Force, Army and Navy.

To celebrate this exciting milestone, the college is highlighting a few military students.

Ryan Hodgeman, OMS-IV and a second lieutenant in the US Army, is hoping to match into an emergency medicine residency program. He plans to focus his medical career on improving global health by engaging communities in partnership to develop sustainable, community-based solutions because “I really love the community-building aspect of health.”

“Global health requires creativity because the resources potentially aren’t there,” he explains. “We have to use an out-of-the-box holistic approach to help patients to the best of the community’s ability. And that’s drilled into us through our osteopathic training.”  Ryan has been involved in several international medical trips while at the college, which have turned out to be his favorite experiences so far. In addition to his interest in global health, Ryan, who will be promoted to captain upon graduation, is grateful for the unique opportunities a future in Army medicine has in store.  

Christian Przeslawski, OMS-IV and an ensign (01) in the US Navy, will have to wait a bit longer than his military colleagues to find out his top match because he has opted to rank a civilian residency program as his first choice and those results will come out in March.

“I hope to match into general surgery—I really like that general surgeons find the problem and fix it,” he says. “You’re in an intricate team in and out of the OR.” He continues, “I’m looking for a community-based program in an underserved area where I get along well with the other residents, develop meaningful relationships with the attendings and can get to know everybody,” he says. After residency, he hopes to work in trauma and critical care. “It would be a privilege to treat wounded marines and get them back to their families,” he shares.
Christian enjoyed the five-week military training at the start of the program because “I came out feeling more confident in myself overall.”

Christa Kerbow, OMS-IV and ensign (01) in the US Navy, shares that “I always wanted to be a doctor, but I was a first generation college student so I never thought it would be an option.” Christa, who has four young children—two of whom were born during medical school—started off as an EMT but wanted to learn more about medicine.

Upon graduation, Christa will become a lieutenant (03). She hopes to match into an internal medicine residency program at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, participate in a fellowship in infectious disease and then commit her career to serving underserved populations. Growing up mostly without health insurance herself, and later working with underserved populations in the military, has given her an appreciation for providing high-quality medical care to those without regular access to it.

She is grateful for funding from the Navy’s HPSP scholarship program which covered her tuition, as did funds from her GI Bill.

Congratulations to all our military students finding out the next step in your #WhiteCoatJourney today!

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