Seven internal medicine residents in Willis Knighton’s Graduate Medical Education program matched with their first choice for a fellowship in their subspecialty. “These programs are very competitive as internal medicine residents from all over the country were applying and interviewing for a limited number of positions,” said Luke B. Nelson, director of the GME program. The matches exceeded expectations for such a young program.

Internal medicine residents who matched are Sana Badar, MD, infectious diseases, LSUHSC-Shreveport; Vivek Moorthy, MD, endocrinology/research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Arpita Pawa, MD, cardiovascular disease, Ochsner Clinic Foundation; Natasha Santosh, MD: pulmonary/critical care, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida; Saloni Savani, MD, hematology and oncology, Western Penn Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Vaishnavi Singh, MD, hematology and oncology, Bayhealth Medical Center, Dover, Delaware; and Shriya Vudari, MD, gastroenterology, LSUHSC-Shreveport.

Match Day for fellowships happens at the beginning of December each year and is a time for third-year internal medicine residents who want additional training to apply and interview with fellowship programs.

Not every doctor does a fellowship. A fellowship is a specialized training program following a residency that allows a doctor to further focus on a specific subspecialty within their chosen field. It is a period of advanced study and practice under close supervision of a senior physician often for several years, Nelson said.