Medical School Graduation

The medical school awards luncheon and commencement ceremony were held Saturday, May 9, 2015, at the Chester Fritz Auditorium on the UND Campus in Grand Forks. Fifty-four new physicians received their Medical Doctor degrees, with 12 (22 percent) of them entering General Surgery or surgical subspecialties. Although the surgical specialties are highly competitive residencies, UND students continue to do well in matching in their desired specialties at very competitive programs. The students graduating in 2015 entered several competitive surgical specialties including one in General Surgery, four in Anesthesiology, one in Ophthalmology, two in Orthopedic Surgery, one in Otolaryngology, and one in Plastic Surgery. The faculty of the Department of Surgery is commended for their continued support and inspiration of the medical students who desire careers in surgical specialties.

The Match, a national computerized program through the National Resident Matching Program, is held each year in March and matches prospective residents with residency programs based on their top choices. This year, the following UND students matched in surgical specialties.

• General Surgery
  • Mathew Malek, M.D., University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Anesthesiology
  • Thomas Botsford, M.D., Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Sean Cooley, M.D., University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minn.
  • Nathan Hoaglund, M.D., University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Medial Education Program, Pittsburgh, Pa.
  • Kyle Wilebski, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Ophthalmology
  • Michael Jordan, M.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Orthopedic Surgery
  • Joshua Johnson, M.D., Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minn.
  • Lucas Teske, M.D., Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.
• Otolaryngology
  • Philip Gardner, M.D., University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas
• Plastic Surgery
  • Andrew Mills, M.D., Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Rochester, Minn.