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Match Day for University of Maryland students

Posted at 6:19 PM, Mar 17, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-17 18:19:32-04

As any child what they dream of being when they grow up and more than likely, one of them will answer "I wanna be a doctor."

For students at University of Maryland, after years of medical school studies, match day is finally here. 

Match Day is when graduates of the medical school find out where they'll be placed for residency programs. 

For some graduates, practicing medicine runs in the family. 

"Yes, my mom is a physician, so it was really great having her as a role model growing up," Sheila Razdan, a McDonough High School grad said.

Razdan is not only graduating from medical school, but she shouldered an additional challenge. She took last year off to get a Masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins.

"I think my Masters really helped me focus on child health, focus on pediatrics and it's going to help me be a better advocate for my patients," she said. 

Crystal Bae also took a year off, working in Africa helping doctors there improve emergency medical training, which she plans to make her specialty. 

In a field where less than 1,000 African American men enter per year, Chuma Obineme, who's studying internal medicine, really wants to make an impact. 

"I think it's exciting and I think you sort of feel that when you see patients who many times are very skeptical of the medical field in general just because of a complicated history," he said. "So I think it's an honor to treat people and treat them well, especially patients that are African American who sort of look to you as not just their doctor, but to be a leader in the community as well."

The childhood dream for these students is becoming a reality. A lot of hard work and perseverance has brought them to this point, but there's a message in this for the young dreamers of Baltimore. 

"There's nothing special about me in particular, any of these young men who want to become a physician one day like they can do it and you just need to believe in yourself," Obineme said. "And you need people to come alongside of you and believe in you as well."

 

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