NYITCOM Medical Students Meet Their Matches

Old Westbury, NY (03/23/2022) — On March 18, students from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) Class of 2022 discovered what their futures hold after medical school.

During this annual event, known as Match Day, NYITCOM students join future physicians across the country in learning of their "matches," or where they will spend the next several years completing their medical residencies.

Upon completing medical school, physicians must complete a residency to obtain their license to practice medicine in the United States. Residencies typically last three to seven years, depending on the specialty. Matches are determined by a computerized algorithm and kept top-secret from both the future doctors and the matching hospitals until they are opened. Earlier this year, several students also participated in the military match, committing to complete their residencies by serving in a branch of the armed forces.

NYITCOM's Match Day ceremony was held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, N.Y. Following remarks from NYITCOM Dean Nicole Wadsworth, D.O., the medical students ripped open envelopes with the location of their residency match. Screams of joy and hugs ensued as the Class of 2022 celebrated the long-awaited news.

For future physicians like North Bellmore's Mahmoud Elhagagy, medicine runs in the family. Elhagagy is a student in the Emigre Physician Program (EPP), a unique program that retrains physicians born and educated outside the United States to become doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) in the U.S. He was inspired to follow in his father's footsteps, a hard-working and passionate urologist who practiced in the family's home country of Egypt. Following graduation in May, Elhagagy will complete a residency in urology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine after graduation. The timing of this news was also especially meaningful for him, as he recently lost his father to COVID-19.

"This is just as much his success as it is mine, and I wish more than anything that he could live this moment with me," said Elhagagy. "Matching into the urology field means everything to me. It is the best way to honor my father's legacy, including giving back medically to my community in Egypt and working with the underserved population in my new home country, the United States. I am grateful for the Emigre Physician Program, which gave me a chance to become a U.S. medical graduate and have a future in this competitive and wonderful surgical specialty."

Here is a sample of the many impressive residencies earned by NYITCOM's Class of 2022:

Anesthesiology - Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, University of Massachusetts, Yale-New Haven Hospital

Dermatology - Hackensack Meridian Health

Emergency Medicine - Baylor College of Medicine, Duke University

Family Medicine - Emory University, St. Louis University, University of Tennessee

Neurology - Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Temple University

Pediatrics - NYU Langone, Penn State-Hershey Medical Center, University of Wisconsin

Urology - University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

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