Jessica Fanelli jumped up and down, surrounded by family and friends as she read the envelope charting her future.
The Lenoxville native matched with Geisinger Health System in Northeast Pennsylvania for her medical residency.
“Not many people are able to train and then do their residency where they're from,” Fanelli said. “I feel really blessed to have that opportunity.”
Fanelli was among students at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine celebrating National Match Day on Friday, March 21 with the rest of the country.
Students ran around a ballroom in the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple, looking for the balloon that had an envelope with their name on it.
Their families and friends crowded around, eager to see where the fourth-year students would land.
Festivities started at 11 a.m., with students counting down the last few seconds until the clock struck noon so they could open their envelopes with medical students around the world.
What is match day?
National Match Day takes place annually during the third week of March. The celebration marks the day that the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) releases its results and medical students learn their residency placements.
Students rank their top choices. The hospitals and health systems pick their preferred students, too. Then, NRMP matches students using an algorithm to U.S.-based programs.
Residency comes after completion of medical school. Programs vary from three to seven years. Physicians work full time in a training capacity during their residencies.
Geisinger’s fourth-year students will graduate in early May and start their residencies in late June or early July.
Geisinger’s statistics
According to Dr. Julie Byerley, Geisinger College of Health Sciences’ president and the medical school's dean, all 115 graduating students matched.
“These are dreams coming true for these students,” Byerley said.
Forty-five percent of the class matched to primary care residencies. Eleven students matched with psychiatry programs.
Geisinger will welcome back 16 students as residents this summer. Kyle Kidd will complete his residency at Geisinger in Danville. Kidd, originally from Harveys Lake, wanted to stay at Geisinger.
“It was a long journey to get here, and it's a good day. It's a good feeling,” he said.
‘It’ll feel like a homecoming’
The Abigail Geisinger scholars program ensures that doctors will return to work for Geisinger once their residencies are complete.
Joanna Bernatowicz is an Abigail Geisinger scholar from Jefferson Twp. She matched to her top choice in family medicine at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.
“I'm excited to kind of spread my wings before coming back to serve my community,” Bernatowicz said.
“I think it'll feel like a homecoming,” she said of returning home to practice after residency.
Bernatowicz is grateful for the opportunity to have studied medicine so close to home.
“The amount of support that I felt from going to a local hospital, knowing the faculty, the staff, it was just an incredible experience,” she said.
Including Bernatowicz, there are 43 Abigail Geisinger scholars in this year’s graduating class.
“We especially need more doctors here in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania, and so we're so proud to produce them,” Byerley said.
Geisinger will also welcome 148 new physicians from other institutions that matched there.
“It's a big day on the giving end, and it's a big day on the receiving end,” Byerley said.
