‘I matched family medicine in Bismarck!’: Fourth-year UND medical students respond to residency match results
GRAND FORKS, N.D.— “I’m super excited. I got my number one choice.”
Wiping away more than a few tears, Anya Edwards had just announced to her classmates that she’s headed to the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics Iowa City for an internal medicine residency.
Although the graduating medical student considers herself “from Grand Forks,” she was born in Iowa City, she said, “because my mom went there for medical school.”
Smiling at her daughter’s side was that mom – Altru Health System-based anesthesiologist Renée Koltes-Edwards, M.D.
“The first place [Anya] visited as a newborn was the Iowa medical school library,” smiled Dr. Edwards, who said she was pregnant with Anya during her second year of medical school and has been helping train UND medical students for more than 20 years. “The UND students are excited to learn and ambitious – but also respectful. They are knowledgeable, mature, appreciative, and humble. Mostly, I commend them for understanding that being a physician is an honor, and we are privileged to be able to care for others on such an intimate level.”
The Edwards family was among several gathered in a classroom in the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences in Grand Forks last week for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) medical student Match Day. At medical schools across the United States every March, graduating students learn where they will complete their post-graduate residency, a three to seven year period of advanced intensive training in their chosen medical specialty, before embarking on independent practice as a physician.
At noon (EST) on Friday, March 21, such residency matches were given out to a total of 40,764 medical students in the United States – out of a total of nearly 53,000 applicants, the largest Match Day cohort in history.
UND’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) was no exception, seeing 57 total residency matches this year.
“I matched family medicine in Bismarck!” beamed Edwards’s classmate Ethlyn Voorhies, whose U.S. Air Force parents moved a lot when she was a child before ending up in North Dakota. “I’m so excited to be a future primary care provider and to be a home-base for my patients’ medical care. I am so lucky to be able to continue my education through UND, and I’m proud of my classmates and all the hard work we put in to get to this point. I can’t wait to see where life takes us!”
As Voorhies suggested, North Dakota’s only medical school emphasizes primary care training for rural and underserved populations.
Out of UND’s 57 residency matches this year, nearly half – 27 students, or 47% of the M.D. Class of 2025 – are entering the primary care specialties of family medicine (6), internal medicine (13), obstetrics and gynecology (5), and pediatrics (3).
UND also saw matches for a variety of other specialties, including anesthesiology (4), emergency medicine (6), neurology (4), otolaryngology (1), psychiatry (2), urology (2), surgery (including neurosurgery), and a whopping ten radiology matches.
One of those radiology matches was Cody, Wyo., native Johnathan Beaudrie.
Bouncing an infant on his hip, Beaudrie credited his classroom teachers and clinical preceptors for helping him match into diagnostic radiology at Mayo Clinic – which first requires a “transitional” year.
“It’s amazing – we can’t believe it,” admitted Beaudrie, looking to his spouse. “This was my number one option. I did my rotations in Hettinger with Dr. Mark Kristy. He was my inspiration.”
Calling the successful match of 10 UND medical students into radiology “a significant achievement for these students, the School, and our state,” the Chair of UND’s Department of Radiology, Dr. Erica Martin-Macintosh, beamed.
“With a state and national shortage of radiologists, it is more important than ever to support and train the next generation of imaging specialists,” said Martin-Macintosh. “We hope they each consider a return to North Dakota when they look to establish their careers post-training.”
One such student already looking to stay in North Dakota to practice is Bismarck native Lauren Hollingsworth, who matched into UND’s own Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Fargo, N.D.
“I really like the flexibility of psychiatry – the practice location and patient population,” Hollingsworth said. “I love the ability to explore reproductive or child psychiatry. There are fewer than ten adolescent and child psychiatrists in North Dakota, so we need more.”
Hollingsworth is among the eleven UND graduates entering residencies in North Dakota.
“Match Day is a momentous achievement for our students, as they step into the next chapter of their careers,” added SMHS Dean and UND’s Vice President for Health Affairs, Dr. Marjorie Jenkins. “We’re proud to celebrate the Class of 2025, with half of the class matching into primary care – a large part of our mission at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences. By training the next generation of physicians, many of whom will return to serve the people of North Dakota, we are ensuring the health and well-being of our communities.”
Kendra Roland agreed.
The South Dakota native, who came to UND in part due to the reputation of its Indians Into Medicine (INMED) program, matched in anesthesiology at the University of Iowa, where she’ll be joining Anya Edwards.
But – Roland emphasized – she won’t be gone long.
“I think we’ll come back here [after residency],” she remarked. “North Dakota is pretty much home now.”
Read the full 2025 Match Day list online.
# # #
Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
School of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of North Dakota
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | med.UND.edu