A Perfect “Match” for Recent Graduates
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An innovative new program at the School of Medicine is crossing generational divides — and thousands of miles — to bring mentors and students together. MATCH, Matching Alumni to Caring Hoyas, is pairing newly graduated seniors with medical alumni practicing in cities where the new physicians are serving their residencies.
The program is the brainchild of alumnus John C. Riggs (COL’81, M’85), an ob-gyn in the New York City area with a deep family connection to Georgetown for decades, who “started the conversation with the alumni office last year,” says Stephen Ray Mitchell, MD, Georgetown’s dean of medical education. “It just took off from there.
“There has been a long-standing interest among alumni to reach out to students, and students have always wanted to connect with alumni. And there have been lots of avenues for them to meet and talk. But MATCH is the first program to formalize the mentoring relationship,” Dr. Mitchell says.
Riggs’ concept was to provide helpful advice to young physicians starting out in their careers — but Dr. Mitchell thinks the program represents so much more.
“With all the changes in medicine, young physicians want to understand just what it is like in the real world of practice. Many face huge financial debt, but continue to be passionate about their work — and are trying to figure out how they can have an impact. The MATCH program is ultimately about connections — and that is really what medicine is all about — personal relationships,” Dr. Mitchell explains.
“Local alumni have always been very active, hosting lunches and dinners with students, attending the Fall Reunion and getting involved with the students’ Social Justice Journal Club. But both alumni and students wanted something else,” Dr. Mitchell adds. “Medicine is a bit beleaguered today and students are sometimes asked, ‘why did you go into medicine.’ They come into school with real goals of conscience and sometimes need to hear from those who have walked their path before them that they can still do it.”
MATCH is now recruiting alumni from across the country and hoping to soon connect them to many of the 185 graduates in the class of 2009. “This is a great group of young people who so want to be relevant,” Dr. Mitchell says. “And I’m confident they will.”
For information about the MATCH program, or to volunteer as a mentor to a resident in the Washington, D.C., area, contact Libby Bell at 202-687-7348.
By Emily Turk
Excerpted from the Summer 2008 issue of Georgetown Physician Update
