BY JENNIFER L. BERGHOM
EDINBURG — The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has gained another 42 medical school graduates from around the country who now will begin post-graduate training as UTRGV resident physicians in Valley hospitals.
The 42 residents in training were chosen through a computer-based selection process generated by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), which matches each medical student with a hospital with a residency program.
The day residents and medical schools find out who will enter their residency programs is called Match Day.
With this latest group, UTRGV now has 100 medical residents training at three area hospitals.
“Match Day is considered by many to be the most exciting day of the year,” said Dr. Yolanda Gomez, associate dean of Graduate Medical Education at UTRGV’s School of Medicine. “This is the second year UTRGV has participated in the match, and we look forward to training this next group of physicians who will serve our community.”
UTRGV received six new residents each for its Family Medicine residency programs at McAllen Medical Center (MMC) and Doctors Hospital at Renaissance; 10 residents for its internal medicine residency at Valley Baptist Medical Center (VBMC); 12 for its internal medicine residency program with Doctors Hospital at Renaissance; and four each at its obstetrics and gynecology and general surgery residency programs at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.
“We are eager to welcome our new residents this summer and excited that our residency programs continue to grow,” said Dr. Francisco Fernandez, inaugural dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine.
“Thanks to our residency collaborations with area hospitals, we are able to train each new group of medical residents to become top-notch physicians,” he said. “And that means we are constantly moving closer to improving the lives and well-being of the people of the Rio Grande Valley.”
Last year, UTRGV welcomed 42 new residents, in addition to the 27 it had through previous residency programs that the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen had with VMBC and MMC. Of the original 27, 11 have now completed their residencies.
Nationally, this year’s match was the largest on record, with more than 42,000 registered applicants vying for more than 30,000 positions, according to the NRMP.
UTRGV’s medical residents will begin their orientation on June 23-24, and their programs begin July 1.
