Match Day 2024: Medical Students Succeed Thanks to Scholarships

Match Day is one of the most important days in the life of a medical student.  

On Friday, March 15, graduating medical students across the country will come together with their classmates to learn where they have matched for residency training in their chosen specialties.  

For many medical students, this milestone moment would not be possible without the assistance they’ve received from scholarships.  

“I would not be here without scholarships,” said Justin Davis, who will participate in Match Day this year and graduate in May. “Scholarships give me opportunity — the opportunity to serve and to become the person my community needs me to be.” 

Davis hopes to one day return to rural Appalachia where he grew up to serve his neighbors and community as a physician. This future is only attainable because he has received financial support through multiple scholarships: the School of Medicine Class of 1999 Lorna M. Breen, M.D., Memorial Scholarship; the Stephen C. and Marie F. Cenedella Endowed Scholarship; and the Dr. E. John Saliba Jr. Scholarship. 

The Lorna M. Breen, M.D., Memorial Scholarship was established in 2020 by her fellow graduates from the Class of 1999 who wanted to honor their friend and classmate.  

“I like the fact that her legacy is living on through aiding students to come to VCU and fulfill their dreams,” said Amy McConnell, M.D., a member of the Class of 1999. 

Thanks to generous gifts from donors like McConnell, the VCU School of Medicine awarded $2 million in privately funded scholarships in the 2022-23 academic year. 

Those students include the Class of 2024’s Christopher Liu, who holds an Aesculapian Scholarship made possible by the School of Medicine Annual Fund. He also holds the Jason Lee Arthur Scholarship and Dr. Susan J. Mellette Scholarship. 

“Scholarships help me attack each day with a focus on learning and being a better person within the medical field,” he said. “Knowing that someone was there for you and someone has your back, there’s really no words to express how grateful I am for that. These four years have culminated in this one day and it’s all in that envelope.”  

Please consider making a gift today to help celebrate the Class of 2024: go.vcu.edu/matchday2024