Friday, March 17, 2017 remains one of the most important days in the professional lives of graduating medical students from the U.S. and international medical and osteopathic schools. On this highly anticipated day, known as Match Day, the National Resident Match Program (NRMP) announces the results of the Main Residency Match.  This year ended up being the Largest Match on Record.

CHRISTUS Health‘s residency and fellowship programs scored a big win this year by attracting all of CHRISTUS Health’s top choices of graduating medical students and residents to fill all 52 available positions for academic year 2017-18. The programs serve communities in Northeast Texas, South Texas, Northern New Mexico and Southwest Louisiana.

It wasn’t that long ago that Melissa Jacaman was a young resident at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa in San Antonio.  It was four years prior when she received a warm welcome message from one of the chief residents welcoming her to the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program.  Dr. Jacaman made the journey from Texas A&M College of Medicine to the busy clinical rotations of CHRISTUS Santa Rosa – Westover Hills.  She completed her CHRISTUS Family Medicine Residency in San Antonio in 2016 and joined the CHRISTUS Family Health Center in Santa Rosa after her residency graduation.

“A significant reason why I value my training  and chose to stay with CHRISTUS was due to the example of excellence portrayed by some of my mentors,” explained Dr. Jacaman. “Their influence on my education helped me aspire to become a better physician and engaged member or the community.”

Doctor Jacaman’s practice is in downtown San Antonio where she does obstetrical care and inpatient medicine along with a variety of cases in clinic. She now serves a diverse patient population in San Antonio and sees a variety of family medicine cases at her new practice.  It keeps her busy, but it is work that she loves.

 

I love being a practicing physician. I enjoy the relationships that I build with patients and the new challenges every day brings,” explained Dr. Jacaman. “Being a Family Medicine physician is particularly rewarding because we treat such a wide variety of patients and conditions. We are privileged to be a part of family’s lives from pregnancy through end of life care.”

The opportunity to learn from faculty physicians in a range of clinical settings is why the CHRISTUS Residency programs remain some of the more competitive clinical training programs in the U.S.

This is something the new Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for CHRISTUS Health’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) is particularly proud of.

“The results of this year’s match demonstrate once again the strength and the excellent quality of our residency programs,” said Sohail Rao, MD, MA, DPhil.

Doctor Rao had his own version of a successful match on March 17, 2017.  That’s when he officially took the lead in heading up the residency and fellowship programs sponsored by CHRISTUS Health.

“We would like to extend our special thanks to the program directors, faculty, current residents and fellows and CHRISTUS Associates in the GME office for all their hard work and continued commitment and support to educate and train outstanding physicians to serve our communities.”

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recognizes CHRISTUS Health System’s residency and fellowship programs in internal medicine, emergency medicine, family medicine, rural family medicine, sports medicine, geriatric medicine and podiatry. CHRISTUS Health has strong academic affiliations with many schools including;

Texas A&M Health Science Center, University of Texas Health Science Center, University of New Mexico Health Science Center College of Medicine, University of Arkansas School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Incarnate Word College of Osteopathic Medicine and Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

CHRISTUS Health actively participates in the training of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and other allied health sciences. This is part of CHRISTUS’s continued commitment to develop a quality workforce for the delivery of outstanding health care in communities that CHRISTUS is honored to serve.