Contact: Amanda White

“Our senior class has been very special and has had a real heart for community service. They have donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House, Salvation Army Medical Clinic, and other community programs.

-- Todd R. Cheever, M.D.,
assistant dean for student affairs,
UK College of Medicine

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 18, 2004) -- Their futures were contained in envelopes, sealed until noon today – that is when fourth-year University of Kentucky College of Medicine students found out which programs they will join for their residency specialty training after graduation.

Forty-two students, or 48 percent of the class, went into primary care specialties including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and medicine-pediatrics.

“Our senior class has been very special and has had a real heart for community service. They have donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House, Salvation Army Medical Clinic, and other community programs,” said Todd R. Cheever, M.D., assistant dean for student affairs, UK College of Medicine.

The top specialties chosen by this year’s students were: internal medicine, 23 percent; family practice, 14 percent; emergency medicine, 7 percent; general surgery, 7 percent; and pediatrics, 6 percent. Nearly one out of three students in the class (31 percent) will stay at UK for their residency, with another 6 percent staying in the state.

Before the event, each student had submitted via the Internet a rank-ordered list of a medical specialty and locations of residency programs in which he or she would like to train.

The residency programs begin about July 1 at medical centers (including the UK Chandler Medical Center) across the United States. The UK students will be among the 24,000 fourth-year medical students across the country who participated in a Match Day program today.