March 20, 2020 — For Xiomara Brioso Rubio, a fourth-year UF medical student and a first-generation college student in her family, matching into a residency means more than where she will spend the next handful of years training. It’s the culmination of the determination and drive exercised by her entire family, who moved from Peru when Brioso Rubio was a child to obtain access to American education and health care.

Under normal circumstances, Brioso Rubio’s family would attend the UF College of Medicine’s ceremony and then host a family gathering for Match Day. Amid concerns of the COVID-19 virus spreading rapidly around the globe, however, Brioso Rubio and her immediate family will celebrate from the confines of their own home, and she will share the results of her match with her classmates virtually.

“It is extremely saddening that celebrations of not only my hard work but my family’s will be overshadowed by this health crisis. However, as part of the medical community, I understand the severity of the situation and the need for cancellations,” Brioso Rubio says. “I feel so proud to be part of a community of selfless individuals who are putting their fears and emotions aside and going in to work every morning to look after their patients.”

Pride is top of mind for associate dean for student affairs Patrick Duff, M.D., as well, as he shares news that each and every member of the UF College of Medicine class of 2020 successfully matched into a residency program in the specialty of their choice. He says this is a great accomplishment, as a relatively fixed number of available residency positions and increasing numbers of graduates have created a competitive and uncertain environment for graduate medical education.

“This is the first year in recent memory that all of the UF graduates have found secure residency positions by the end of Match Week,” Duff says. “This successful outcome is certainly a tribute to the excellent academic records of our students.”

Paul Campbell is a former U.S. Marine who looks forward to a residency in anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine, a career he was inspired to pursue after spending a few years as an emergency medical technician in South Georgia. As an EMT, he became enthralled by the “short and intense interactions with people at really vulnerable times in their lives” that he experienced, and he wanted to expand his toolkit as a physician. During his medical training, Campbell has learned the importance of balance, as he juggles being a father of two young children with his studies.

“I loved getting to see both of my kids being born here at UF,” Campbell says. “My son was born at the end of my third year, and I was friendly with many of the obstetrics and gynecology physicians and residents at that point. Being an active participant in the birth of my child was one of the most powerful things I have ever experienced.”

Kathy Ehresmann applies lessons in communication and teamwork that she learned as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy to her medical training. Ehresmann’s career has included helicoptering resources to New Orleans and performing search and rescue missions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as well as operating a communications center to coordinate relief efforts in Tohoku, Japan, after it was hit with a tsunami and earthquake in 2011. The wife, mother of three and former medical evacuation pilot in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom aims to continue her service to others as a resident in general surgery at the UF College of Medicine before beginning a promising career in an academic medical setting.

“During my third year of medical school, I learned that I was passionate about the field of surgery, Ehresmann says. “Despite the early mornings and longer days of my surgical rotation, I returned home each evening energized from the day’s events and eagerly wanted to learn through reading and practicing technical skills. The field is intellectually stimulating, strikes an appealing balance of clinical knowledge and technical skills, provides the opportunity to lead large interdisciplinary teams and encompasses longitudinal patient care from acute presentation through problem resolution.”