Today, the fifth class of physicians graduated from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. The journey for these 55 graduates began in 2015, when up against an amazing set of odds, they were selected from more than 4,300 applicants.

The fact that the Class of 2019 achieved a 100 percent residency match – during a time in which two got married, four got engaged, and one became a father – speaks volumes about their talent and commitment to their calling. In addition to the traditional recitation of the Hippocratic Oath, 17 graduates were hooded by parents, siblings, spouses – and for the first time in Schmidt College of Medicine history, grandparents – who are physicians. The ceremony also featured the commissioning of Benjamin Childs, who will serve as a physician in the U.S. Army.

Twelve members of the class will remain in Florida for their residencies. Others placed in some top institutions nationally, including Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire; Northwestern McGaw/Lurie Children’s in Chicago, Illinois; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois and University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Congratulations to our newest Owl Doctors! We are very proud of you!