A medical student at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine received life-changing news Thursday when he learned he successfully matched into an ophthalmology residency program.
M4 Vincent Le was notified he matched at California Pacific Medical Center – San Francisco (CPMC). Le said he had ranked CPMC his number one choice after doing an away elective with the program that he said “felt like home.”
Early matches apply to specialties not affiliated with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), which annually holds its Match Day the third Friday in March (on March 20 this year). Military and urology programs also have early matches.
“It’s a bit surreal … I don’t know if it’s entirely set in,” Le said Thursday afternoon.
“The first thing I thought about is how grateful I am to be in this spot,” he said. “I'm really fortunate to be where I am and to have the support has really shaped who I am today.”
Le added that he feels “whatever success that I have achieved now is largely the result of the support that I've received from my mentors, my peers, my family, and my loved ones.”
“People have supported me throughout this journey,” he said. “The accomplishment that I may have achieved today is really just a result of accumulation of that support that I've received.”
Le grew up near San Francisco and earned an undergraduate degree from University of California-Berkeley.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Le worked for two years as an ophthalmology tech, which is how he fell in love with the specialty. In fact, Le said that he wrote his initial medical school application essay about his experiences in that job.
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Le worked for two years as an ophthalmology tech, |
He said he applied to medical schools “pretty broadly” and decided to attend OUWB largely because of its home ophthalmology program and “the sense of community I felt when I interviewed and toured.”
“I interviewed at one place where the medical school building was one seven-story building in the middle of the city and that’s very different from the way OUWB feels,” he said. “Here, you have people moving around, doing things, interacting with each other … a real sense of community that has been really important for me throughout my time as a medical student.”
Le gave a special shout-out to mentors he has worked closely with while at OUWB including Lori Stec, M.D., an ophthalmologist at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital (WBUH) in Royal Oak, program director for ophthalmology residency, and director of WBUH’s ophthalmology consult service, and Adam Weiner, M.D., OUWB ’15, an ocular oncologist at WBUH, assistant professor at OUWB, and a PRISM mentor for the Class of 2029.
“I was thrilled to hear (Vincent) matched at such a great program,” said Weiner. “Ophthalmology is an incredibly competitive specialty to match into and I am thrilled in particular for students, like Vincent, who I have the opportunity to support. I know Vincent to be a kind, thoughtful, highly motivated student, qualities that will serve him well in residency. CPMC is fortunate to have matched a fantastic student.”
Le also thanked Kenneth Mitton, Ph.D., associate professor of Biomedical Sciences, Eye Research Institute, Oakland University.
Mitton recalled one example of how Le is “naturally curious,” and loves learning and ophthalmology. As a newer medical student, Le was offered to serve as first author on a key review paper about Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy — a review that has been cited numerous times in other publications.
“Ophthalmology is a hard field to match, but I am not surprised that (Le) would match,” said Mitton. “I am happy to see that the things we teach (students like Le) have a role in getting them on their way into their field of interest.”
“It means a lot to see their success.”
For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, senior marketing specialist, OUWB, at [email protected].
To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.
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