They’ve seen the pandemic up close, yet they’re still excited about becoming doctors

Aaron Shepherd ran up to the stage set up in a parking lot at Florida International University’s main campus in southwest Miami-Dade, opened an envelope and shouted: “I’m going to Emory.”

Shepherd was one of more than 100 graduating students from FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine who participated Friday in FIU’s Match Day Drive-In.

Match Day is an annual event held on the same day at medical schools across the country, as graduating students learn which residency programs they’ve been accepted into, the next phase of their medical career. This year’s class set a record with 36,179 residency positions filled, an increase of 921 over last year, according to the National Resident Matching Program in Washington.

“Match Day is something we have been looking forward to since the very first day of school,” said Shepherd, originally from Oklahoma City, who will attend the residency program at Emory University in Atlanta.

“I am blessed to have the opportunity to go there,” he said. “This is the culmination of so many years of hard work and dedication. It’s an amazing feeling.”

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Broward held their ceremonies over Zoom. UM had 197 students get matched, with students heading off to Harvard, Yale, Stanford and John Hopkins to complete their residencies, UM officials said.

The students are graduating at a time when the coronavirus pandemic, which just marked its year anniversary, has taken the lives of more than 2.6 million people worldwide and nearly 540,000 in the United States, as of Thursday.

Additionally, the nation is facing a looming shortage of doctors, as older doctors retire and others have called it quits amid the pandemic. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will face a shortage of between 61,700 and 94,700 physicians by 2025.

But for the med school students and their families, Friday was a cause for celebration.

Molly Hulbert and her mom were on the verge of tears when they found out she’s heading to the University of California in San Diego. Originally from San Diego, Molly’s brother also attends that school.

“It makes all the difference being around everybody. It’s such an incredible thing they did for us,” said Hulbert, who attended the FIU ceremony.

Even though the day began with heavy rain, that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of friends and family, who, wearing masks, stood with umbrellas in the parking lot to celebrate the rite of passage.

“The rain made it better,” said Molly’s mother.

Last year, FIU had a drive-through event in which students were given their residency envelopes inside their cars. This year, administrators hosted the event in person as there are few people on campus and the med school students had been vaccinated. They also followed social distancing protocols, including mask wearing.

“It’s a big moment for us,” said FIU senior events manager Sofía Farías-Horta. “We are still a new college of medicine, and it is very exciting to have this turnout.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 7:00 AM.