By JOHN WAYNE FERGUSON The Daily News

Axel Moreira had tears in his eyes. Minutes earlier, he had opened a white envelope and learned he would be heading to Phoenix Children’s Hospital to begin his residency in pediatrics.

Sitting next to his parents and girlfriend, Moreira said it didn’t feel like he had just reached the end of medical school.
“It feels like the start of something,” he said. “It’s the start of my career.”

Friday was Match Day at the University of Texas Medical Branch and other medical schools around the country. During the graduation-like event, medical students are called up individually and given an envelope. Inside is a paper that tells them where they will head for their residencies.

Residencies, which can last between three and seven years, are among the last steps a doctor must take before earning an unrestricted license to practice.

While the program they match to means a lot for their future as doctors, the medical branch treats Match Day as a party.
“I was more nervous last night,” said Agnes Usoro, who will be heading to the Emergency Medicine department at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, her top choice program. “Now, I’m excited.”

Usoro will be the first doctor in her family. Her mother, Annie Usoro, said Agnes had surprised her when, at the end of an undergraduate nursing program, she decided to continue on to medical school
“She made it look so easy,” Anie Usoro said. “I’m grateful to God for the strength that He gave her.”

More than 29,000 students were matched with residency programs nationally, including 218 from the medical branch. Of those local students, 111 will stay in Texas for their residencies. The other students will go to hospitals across the country, from Los Angeles to Miami to Springfield, Mass.

Match Day is a celebratory event. All of the students learned they had been matched with a residency on Monday.
That doesn’t alleviate all of the stress of event, however, especially for the students whose names end up being among the last called to receive envelopes.

As a consolation for those students, the new doctors each put a dollar in a basket as they pick up their envelopes. The final student to get called gets to claim the money.

This year, that student was Yamal Taha, who was matched to the emergency medicine department at the Denver Health Medical Center.

“I was just concerned that they lost my envelope,” Taha said of his wait, while clutching the plastic container of cash under his arm.

He was relieved now, he said.

“I’ll be buying drinks for everyone,” he said.

Contact reporter John Wayne Ferguson at 409-683-5226 or john.ferguson@galvnews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @johnwferguson.