Zucker School students celebrate Match Day

Graduating students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/ Northwell learned where they would spend the next phase of their medical training during the school’s Match Day ceremony on March 17.

Clutching small white envelopes containing their “match,” the 91 graduating students that make up the Class of 2023 eagerly awaited the stroke of noon, the time all medical students nationwide open a personalized letter from the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) revealing their residency results. This rite of passage is the culmination of years of preparation, hard work and determination.

“Everything you’ve worked for and accomplished has been preparing you for this moment,” David Battinelli, dean of the Zucker School of Medicine, said when addressing students and their families moments before opening their residency letters. “You are headed to some of the fnest residency programs in the country. More hard work will be ahead, but you are more than ready to face any challenges. Our faculty, staf and the entire medical school community will continue to support and cheer you on as you take this next step in your journey.”

Here is the Match Day 2023 breakdown for the Zucker School of Medicine’s 91 participating students:

100% secured residency positions

23 students matched to Northwell Health residency programs

Students matched into 20 specialty areas. The top three specialties were internal medicine, radiology and anesthesiology, with students also matching into various sub-surgical specialty matches, such as urology, plastic surgery, thoracic and vascular

Residency spots were obtained in 14 diferent states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Chicago, California and South CarolinaThree couples participated via the “Couples Match,” where pairs of students, including engaged and married couples and close friends, can apply for residency together with the goal of matching in the same program and/ or region for their training

MD/PhD candidate Muhammad Shoaib will become the frst physician and scientist in his family. While in medical school, Muhammad served as president of the Young Investigator’s Society at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, was involved in over thirty scientifc publications and received a $50,000 research grant from the ZOLL Foundation for his groundbreaking study on improving survival rates for people immediately following cardiac arrest.

Muhammad, who will be entering his residency in emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, wanted a program that would provide him with both the time and support to continue to pursue research.

“COVID has shown that EM doctors are the frst to face everything and anything that walks into the hospital,” Muhammad said, who is from Astoria, Queens. “I want to use this quality of emergency medicine as a strength to engage in meaningful research that can be readily applied in the emergency setting to help us better care for our patients in the sickest times of their lives.”

Muhammad credits the medical school’s