National Doctors' Day

This month marks a special time of recognition and celebration for individuals who have chosen to practice medicine.

On National Doctors’ Day, March 30, we celebrate the dedication and compassionate care that transforms patients’ lives.

Merriam-Webster’s 2023 word of the year is “authentic”.

authentic | adjective | au·then·tic | true to one's own personality, spirit or character

As Shakespeare famously wrote, “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely Players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.”

The word healing has a root of whole, as does health, holy and holistic. Our authentic self is whole and complete.

On this day, take a moment to focus on and celebrate your authentic self and see through the eyes of a child. Children instinctively understand our native wholeness. Wholeness of the individual merges into the interconnectedness that three scientists described to win the Nobel Prize in 2022 for “entanglement”.

Entanglement comes from the field of quantum physics, where these three scientists made the stunning observation that everything is really intimately connected.  Our authentic selves are connected to everything else, at least at the quantum level.

Thus, our authentic self is deeply connected to each others. The Sufi poet Rumi said, “The lamps are different, the light the same. One matter, one energy, one light, one light-mind, endlessly emanating all things”.

This is why we are more powerful when we are together. In fact, the strength of one’s relationships is a key predictor of longevity.

We've made major strides in our community this year. We've witnessed breakthroughs in treatments, and we've added departments to be agile in advancing patient care and giving those who follow our steps more opportunity to learn.

On March 9, more than 100 students in School of Medicine’s Class of 2026 for the John W. Traubert White Coat Ceremony as they marked their transition from foundational science to clinical care. During the ceremony, each second-year student received a handwritten note with words of inspiration, encouragement and advice of from a WVU alum that was placed in the pocket of their coat – another symbol of the white coat serving as a cloak of compassion and induction to the art of medicine, which is healing.
 
One week later, on March 15, our graduating medical students celebrated Match Day with their peers, families, faculty members and friends on the Morgantown, Charleston and Eastern campuses as they learned in which U.S. residency programs they will continue their training. Our students were placed in 23 different specialties across 24 states and Washington, D.C.
 
I hope each of you – whether you just entered medical school, are a practicing physician or have retired and taken on new pursuits – take time to reflect on your purpose and the impact you are making on individuals and in your communities.

Be authentic, remain connected to our university, state and take pride in being part of the long blue and gold line. We are proud of you!
 
Thank you for your commitment to learning and for your remarkable efforts toward improving education and health care in West Virginia.

Happy Doctors’ Day.

Clay Marsh, M.D.
Chancellor and Executive Dean
WVU Health Sciences

The M.D. program's fourth-year medical students have placed in residency programs across the country.

Forty eight percent of West Virginia University’s graduating medical students will remain in West Virginia for their residency programs. The placement announcements were made as part of the University’s Match Day celebration, Friday, March 15, on the Morgantown, Charleston and Eastern campuses.

Match Day is a national celebration where medical students learn in which U.S. residency programs they will train for the next three to seven years. For WVU’s School of Medicine, the celebration unites more than 110 students, families, faculty members and friends on the three campuses as they unveil their “match.”

For students, the Residency Match process begins in the final year of medical school, when they apply to the residency training programs of their choice. Following interviews at programs across the country, applicants and program directors rank each other in order of preference and submit those lists to the National Resident Matching Program, which processes them using a computerized mathematical algorithm to “match” them.

Read more about WVU's Match Day