Residency is a tremendously significant period of growth in a physician’s life. It is when trainees start to apply the knowledge and theory they acquired in medical school, gaining hands-on experience in taking care of patients and practicing procedures relevant to their chosen specialty. They also learn invaluable personal lessons about teamwork, communication, and their own strengths and abilities.
Match Day, which took place Friday, March 21, 2025, is the day medical students learn where they will conduct their residencies—a critical turning point that can influence the rest of their careers.
The Match is administered by the National Resident Matching Program, which reported that the 2025 Main Residency Match was the largest in its 73-year history, with 47,208 active applicants competing for 43,237 positions. Given the increasingly competitive residency match, the Heersink graduating class’s 99.4 percent match rate is all the more outstanding.
Where trainees conduct their residencies is also important, as studies have shown that most residents end up practicing within 100 miles of where they do residency. This year, 43 of our graduates matched at UAB and 68 graduates will remain in Alabama for residency. We had 233 residents match in the Main Match into 29 residency programs across our Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Selma campuses, and altogether we have approximately 365 residents and fellows entering our 100-plus accredited training programs this year. I am hopeful that many of these trainees will join Alabama’s physician workforce when they enter practice to provide care for the citizens of our state.
In recent years, our graduate medical education (GME) programs have grown. This year, two new Psychiatry residency programs launched at our Montgomery and Huntsville Regional Campuses. In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021 provided 1,000 new Medicare-supported GME positions—the first such increase in nearly 25 years. As a result of the CAA, the Heersink School of Medicine welcomed one fellow in 2023 and two fellows in 2024 in Addiction Medicine and matched four residents each in 2024 and 2025 in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Looking ahead to another medical school milestone, Commencement, which will take place May 17, I am delighted to share that Holden Thorp, Ph.D., will deliver the Commencement address. Thorp is editor-in-chief of the prestigious Science family of journals and a professor of chemistry and medicine at George Washington University. He is also the former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2023, STAT named Thorp to its STATUS list of top leaders in the life sciences. His insights are sure to be fascinating and I invite you to join us at Bartow Arena for this meaningful ceremony or to watch via livestream.
Finally, I want to thank all the faculty and staff across our school whose diligent efforts fuel our Match success and our GME recruitment efforts. From the dedicated teams in our Medical Student Services and Graduate Medical Education offices; to the residency program directors, administrators, and staff across our departments; to the faculty career advisors who play such a critical role in helping our students succeed in the Match, their commitment to our mission is critical to making Heersink the exceptional training ground it is.