The following is a joint statement from E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and Manish Suneja, MD, Vice Chair for Education and Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program.
The Department of Internal Medicine is proud to introduce our incoming class of interns for the 2020–21 academic year. We filled all of our preliminary and categorical positions directly in this year’s Match, and although it would be unusual if we did not, we celebrate this milestone, reflect on the efforts of our education team in recruiting such an outstanding class, and breathe a collective sigh of relief for such a remarkable outcome. The recent graduate school rankings released by U.S. News & World Report confirm our confidence. For the third year in a row, since the publication has been measuring medical training programs, Internal Medicine at Iowa is one of only seven programs in the Midwest to be ranked with other nationally renowned programs like Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, San Francisco. Regardless of their methodology, we are pleased that—even as this list has expanded every year and other programs have dropped off—we remain ranked. Our persistence here entirely reflects the efforts of our outstanding faculty and their innovation and dedication. Just as class after class of graduating residents knows, our incoming residents will soon find out just what makes us one of the elite programs in the nation.
Who are our incoming interns? These 34 newly minted physicians are among the most accomplished graduates from the best medical schools in the country. In fact, they come from 21 programs in 14 states, including 11 graduates from the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. This group also includes 4 interns entering our Physician-Scientist Training Pathway, 3 entering our Medicine-Psychiatry Residency, and 8 prelims who plan to go on to other specialties. Many of our incoming residents already have at least one peer-reviewed publication to their credit and anyone who does not yet will be hard-pressed to avoid earning one by the time they leave our program. Opportunities abound here for whatever tailored training experience our trainees envision as necessary to achieve their career goals. Even in a year like the one that lies ahead for all of us.
There are many things that have been disrupted this year, from conferences to symposia, but the necessary cancellation of Match Day festivities is a particularly painful one to bear. Match Day is the pinnacle of a medical student’s experience, celebrating with their cohort as they take the next big step in their careers. Though this year might look a little different from previous years, the achievement of our medical students still deserves pause and praise. We will repeat a call that was sent out earlier to submit your congratulation videos for our graduates, who have had to give up so much this year.
To you, graduating M4s, we hope that today’s Match has placed you where you want to go. We also hope that as you look back over your last four years that you feel a sense of accomplishment and of preparedness for the challenges ahead. No matter where you go next, we hope that you hold Iowa in a special place, one where you learned not only just what you could do, but that you could push yourself further than you thought possible. We cannot wait to see what you do next.