The Future in Residency: NYITCOM Class of ’17 Meets Their Match

On March 17, 282 students finally met their match.

Around 12:30 p.m. that day, envelopes were ripped open and screams of delight were heard throughout the packed Camelot ballroom of the Swan Club in Roslyn, N.Y. For the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) Class of 2017, Match Day was a peek into their future as students learned where they would spend the next several years completing their medical residency training.

“Wherever you go is where you are meant to go,” said Dean Wolfgang Gilliar, D.O. “Wear the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine emblem with pride, distinction, and compassion because you will be our ambassadors and will open doors for the classes behind you.”

Before envelopes were opened, he congratulated the Class of 2017 and wished them success in their new professional ventures.

“This year’s match, once more, was absolutely outstanding. Not only are we in line with an impressive legacy of four consecutive years of 100 percent NYITCOM match/placement, but the breadth and depth of the hospitals is impressive,” Gilliar said. “Our students have done so exceedingly well, in part, because we foster teamwork and put our complete trust into their tremendous abilities and dedication. We could not be happier.”

Student Vivian Chan, who specializes in psychiatry and matched at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, faced a momentary bout of premonition before opening her envelope.

Vivian Chan will be completing her residency training at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

“There was a moment right before opening it that I thought to myself, ‘Please say St. Luke’s,’” she said. “To see it actually written out was really an incredible experience. I immediately started crying because it was so overwhelming.”

Following the NYITCOM Hooding Ceremony on May 22, Louisa Sethi will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to join the pediatric residency program at Nationwide Children's Hospital. “This was my number one choice," she said. Her residency match, Sethi added, “checked all the boxes of everything I was looking for.”

Additional Class of 2017 Match Day statistics included:

• 53 percent will work in primary care, which includes family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric care;
• in total, 60 percent of students matched will remain in New York; and
• among the medical centers where some students will train are Los Angeles County + University of Southern California, Georgetown University Hospital, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia, and Johns Hopkins University Medical Center.

For student Richard Pizzo, who will be heading to Jersey City Medical Center to begin his career in orthopedic surgery, Match Day fueled him with pride, not just for himself but for classmates as well.

“I made some lifelong friends at NYITCOM,” he said. “I’m proud to call them my future colleagues.”