Thrilled with their match

For two weeks in February, fourth-year medical student Alyssa Steller worked on a medical mission in Tanzania with other College of Medicine students and faculty, including the college’s dean, Andrew T. Filak Jr., MD. There was even one day when Steller and the dean were paired together to work as a team.

Little did she know then that three weeks later Filak would pull her name at random to be the first graduating student called to the Kresge Auditorium stage on Match Day to open her envelope and learn where she would be doing her residency training.

While congratulating the 178 fourth-year students at the start of the Match Day festivities, Filak, the senior vice president for health affairs and Christian R. Holmes Professor and Dean, spoke of the six UC medical students on the Village Life Outreach Project team trip to Tanzania.

“I watched them firsthand take care of patients with compassion, with knowledge and empathy. You are very well prepared to go out and take care of people, and I would be very proud to have each and every one of you be my physician,” Filak told the audience.

Then he pulled the first student’s name and returned to the microphone with a big smile.

“Alyssa, you not only survived those two weeks in Tanzania with me, but you’re the first to come up,” Filak announced.

Filak and Steller gave each other a big hug when she reached the Kresge stage.

“I was absolutely shocked to be the first name called,” Steller says. “I had been joking with Dean Filak our entire trip that he needed to pull my name first because I would be so nervous sitting in the crowd holding my unopened envelope. As soon as he turned around with a name and started talking about working in Tanzania with this person, I knew he somehow pulled me first and was so excited! It was intimidating to be the first one up there, but I was relieved the wait was over and wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to call me up to stage.”

Steller admitted she was nervous being paired with the dean, but that quickly faded.

“As soon as I met Dean Filak, I was instantly calm and knew it was going to be one of my favorite days of the trip. He is one of the most encouraging and sweetest faculty members I have met at the College of Medicine. We quickly learned how we could work together and see as many people as possible. We ended up seeing about 20 patients together and later found out we were the providers who saw the most patients that day,” Steller recalls.

Steller was the first of about 30 students who opted to hold onto their unopened Match Day envelopes until their names were pulled at random to announce on stage where they would do their residency. Steller was thrilled that she is staying in Cincinnati for a pediatrics residency at Cincinnati Children’s.

The Ursuline High School graduate grew up in the area and says she went back and forth when deciding when she wanted to open her envelope. Ultimately, she selected to do it on stage so her family in the auditorium and others watching online could learn about her residency at the same time.

“I am absolutely over the moon to match at Cincinnati Children’s. I was a patient there in high school, which had a huge impact on my decision to pursue medicine in the first place. It feels surreal to get to say I’m going back for residency now. I’ve learned so much from every resident and faculty I’ve met at Children’s and can’t wait to see what the next three years has in store,” Steller says.

Dami Fakunle is another student who decided to learn where she was headed at the same time as did everyone else in the auditorium.

“I knew I was going to go up on stage regardless,” she says. “I wanted to share that moment with our entire class. I knew regardless of what was in that envelope, I was going to be extremely happy with the end result.”

With her heart pounding, Fakunle learned she matched to George Washington University for an emergency medicine residency when her father opened the envelope and read the result as she and her mother, siblings and friends anxiously waited on stage. A collective laugh from the packed Kresge Auditorium rose up from the silence when her dad slowly opened her envelope, paused for a moment and offered a proud “Whoa!” and then read where she Fakunle would be going.

“I could actually tell exactly where I matched based on my dad's face and excitement when he opened the letter,” she says. “Bringing my entire family up on stage was very important to me. They've been there since the beginning, my high school shadowing, premed days, hard times during medical school. They've prayed for me and supported me at every step. I wanted everyone to be next to me as we figured out this next chapter of my life.”

After the 30 students who learned while on stage where their residencies would be, most of the rest of the Class of 2024 waited until their names were called and came to the stage to announce their news. Most were accompanied by boyfriends and girlfriends, spouses and children, parents and siblings and friends. Scottie Emmert was one who decided to open his envelope as soon as he could and then wait for his name to be called to share his wonderful news. Emmert, who graduated from the college’s Medical Sciences program in 2019, is staying at UC for his orthopaedic surgery residency making him a “triple Bearcat.”

“Match Day was arguably the most exciting and best day of my life, and I wanted to first share the initial reveal of my residency training program with the people who helped me get to where I am today — my family and loved ones,” he says. “Once I found out that I matched at my top choice here at UC, I was excited to share this news with the Class of 2024 and my family and friends tuning in to the livestream.”

Emmett says he did rotations at other institutions and interviewed elsewhere but realized that he could not receive better residency training than at UC.

“As a lifelong Cincinnatian, the opportunity to complete my orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Cincinnati, learning from world-renowned faculty who cared for my siblings and me while also serving my hometown community will be one of the greatest honors of my life. UC Orthopaedics restored my function and quality of life after a skiing injury during medical school and to now be able to learn those skills to help other members of our community live active and healthy lives is a dream come true,” Emmett says.

For one fourth-year student, Match Day was a continuation of a family story that began in the fall of 1918 when Walter Vester became a student at the College of Medicine. He would receive his medical degree in 1922. His son, John Vester, MD, graduated with the college’s Class of 1947 and his grandson, S. Russell Vester, MD, received his medical degree with the Class of 1983. The fourth generation in the Vester family to complete medical school at UC will be great granddaughter Hannah Vester with the Class of 2024. Hannah will start her cardiothoracic residency at UC this summer.

“It’s a pretty incredible feeling now that I’ve had time to let it all sink in,” Hannah says about her family legacy. “Thankfully, there was no pressure to attend medical school — my dad encouraged me, my younger sister and younger brother to do something other than medicine because he knew what the training path was like and how difficult it can be for people. So, I never felt pressured to go into medicine.”

Feature photo of Scottie Emmert of the College of Medicine Class of 2024 celebrating Match Day with his family. All photos by Joseph Fuqua II.