Creighton Med School Graduates Learn Their Fate at Match Day

Thursday, March 17, is National Residency Match Day, when medical school graduates across the country learn where they’ll be spending the next few years of their lives. Shouts of joy, tears and hugs will be in abundance at Creighton University, where more than 100 graduates of the School of Medicine will gather to receive envelopes containing their residency matches.

For several graduates, Match Day will be the culmination of a career at Creighton that reflects a passion for charity. One group of dedicated students from the School of Medicine saw a need and went about filling that need. On their own, the medical students researched, sought and received a grant enabling them to establish the Magis Medical Clinic. Through the clinic, which opened last September at the Siena-Francis House, the students are able to reach out to homeless men women and children to provide acute care, follow-up care and referrals to existing community services. It is the only free medical clinic in Omaha open on Saturdays.

Earlier this year, the President’s Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award at Creighton University was bestowed upon the founding students of the Magis Medical Clinic, which was established by these eight dedicated students: Ann Allie, Zulma Barrios, Rick Patch, Ajay Balaram, Angie Adams, Katie Banker, Mary Rogers and Dave Rust.

According to Michael G. Kavan, Ph.D., associate dean for Student Affairs at Creighton’s School of Medicine. “One hundred percent of our students participate in voluntary service projects,” he said. With regard to National Match Day, a graduate’s community service is important, says Kavan. “Residency programs are looking for well-rounded medical students who are not only skilled clinically and academically but who have a solid commitment to serving the community,” he said.