School of Medicine

 

Fifty-six percent, or 98 of 175 LSU Health New Orleans graduating medical students participating in the National Resident Match Program this year, chose to remain in Louisiana to complete their medical training. Seventy-eight percent of those staying in-state will enter an LSU Health residency program. The LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine residency programs in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles and Bogalusa will accept 219 new residents.

 

“The pandemic has starkly shown the value of dedicated and skilled physicians,” notes Dr. Larry Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health New Orleans. “Their valiant and tireless efforts have saved many, many lives over the past year. We are so proud of LSU Health New Orleans medical faculty and of our graduating medical students, the majority of whom will soon join these heroes to take care of Louisiana patients.”

 

The percentage of LSU Health New Orleans medical graduates going into primary care is 56% this year. Primary Care specialties include Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Medicine-Preliminary, Medicine-Primary, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Medicine-Pediatrics. OB-GYN is not always included in primary care data; however, in some Louisiana communities the only physician is an OB-GYN.

 

“Match Day this year was an entirely different experience for our fourth-year medical students and their families,” adds Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the School of Medicine at LSU Health New Orleans. “The excitement of reaching this milestone has been tempered by this unprecedented health crisis. We could not hold a ceremony, so our medical graduates received their letters electronically. They privately celebrated the news of where they will go to complete their medical training, and we are pleased that over half of them will stay right here at home.”

 

Of the 69 accredited residency and fellowship programs under LSU Health New Orleans, 35 participated in the Main NRMP Match. They are Anesthesiology, Child Neurology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Family Practice (Kenner, Bogalusa, Lafayette and Lake Charles), Internal Medicine (Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans), Interventional Radiology, Medicine-Preliminary (Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans), Neurological Surgery, Neurology, Obstetrics-Gynecology (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Radiology, General Surgery, Surgery-Preliminary, Vascular Surgery, Medicine-Pediatrics, Medicine-Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics-Emergency Medicine.

 

“LSU Health New Orleans medical graduates are in demand,” adds Dr. Cathy Lazarus, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. “Those who pursue different experiences at this stage of their training are going to some of the most prestigious out-of-state programs. Many of them will bring the benefits of these experiences home when they return to Louisiana to practice.”

 

LSU Health New Orleans medical graduates who matched training programs in other states will be going to such highly regarded programs as Johns Hopkins, Emory University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Michigan, and Stanford University, among others.

 

The Match, conducted annually by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), is the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at U.S. teaching hospitals and academic health centers. The choices of the students are entered into a software program as are the choices of the institutions with residency programs. All U.S. graduating medical students find out at the same time where they "matched" and where they will spend their years of residency training. National studies have found that a high number of physicians set up their permanent practices in the areas where they have completed their residency programs, but Louisiana is different from many states. A high percentage of LSU Health medical graduates come home to establish their practices. The vast majority of physicians providing care to the citizens of Louisiana are LSU Health-trained doctors.

 

The National Residency Matching Program was established in 1952 to provide an orderly and fair mechanism to match the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with residency program choices of applicants. The program provides a common time for the announcement of the appointments, as well as an agreement for programs and applicants to honor the commitment to offer and accept an appointment if a match results.

 

Residency programs are scheduled to begin on July 1, 2021.