There is a day that falls in mid-March that fourth-year medical students at Suwanee’s PCOM Georgia campus work toward from their first day of orientation — on Match Day, students learn where they’ll be spending their next three to five years in residency training.
More than 99% of PCOM Georgia’s doctor of osteopathic medicine students matched into 19 specialty areas in the National Resident Matching Program, the Military Match and the urology or SF (ophthalmology) matches.
““PCOM Georgia campus students excelled in the 2022 match cycles, with close to 100% of our students moving on to graduate medical education programs in Georgia and throughout the country,” said Tina Woodruff, EdD, PCOM’s senior advisor to the provost for the doctor of osteopathic medicine program/career residency planning. “The healthcare community will benefit from the clinical skills and compassion these outstanding PCOM Georgia graduates will bring to the patients they will serve.”
Fifty-eight percent of those students matched into what the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce considers primary care and core specialty areas. These specialties include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, general surgery, emergency medicine and psychiatry. Other students matched into specialties including anesthesiology, dermatology, neurology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and radiology.
“We are very proud of our osteopathic medical students for their outstanding Match this year,” said Andrea Mann, DO, FAAP, dean and chief academic officer of the PCOM Georgia’s osteopathic medicine program. “The majority have chosen to pursue specialties in primary care. Furthermore, an impressive percentage of our students have elected to continue their training in Georgia to meet the state’s healthcare needs.”
Twenty-one percent of PCOM graduates will stay in Georgia to complete their residency programs in cities including Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Gainesville, Lawrenceville, Macon, Marietta, Rome and Savannah.
Instead of paying tuition to attend medical school, first-year residents are paid an average salary of about $59,000, depending on their specialty area. On-the-job training takes place following two years of classroom learning and two years of clerkships or “rotations” with physicians and hospitals.
In addition to PCOM Georgia’s osteopathic medicine students matching to residency programs, two doctor of physical therapy students and 10 doctor of pharmacy students matched to residency programs. While residency programs are not required for pharmacists and physical therapists, these programs are chosen when the health care professionals plan to pursue specialty areas.
Since 2005, PCOM Georgia has trained doctor of osteopathic medicine students from Georgia and the surrounding states. The Suwanee campus operates the only osteopathic medical school in Georgia.
FEATURED PHOTO: From left, student-doctor Sarah Lewis of Decatur matched to a pathology residency at Tulane University in New Orleans, while Silvia Cherian of Lawrenceville matched to an internal medicine residency at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. Photo courtesy of PCOM Georgia.
