Matching into a residency program is a major milestone for a doctor. As such, we want to be sure we celebrate the accomplishments of our URiM students.
To all of our 2021 matches, congratulations! We are so proud of you and can’t wait to see where your careers take you.
One of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion goals is to enhance the recruitment and retention of students, trainees, faculty, and staff who are underrepresented in medicine. To benchmark this, our team tracks the matriculation of URiM medical school students and the number of those students who match at UAB for residency programs. This year, there were nine URiM students who have gone from our School of Medicine to PGY-1s at UAB.
To spotlight a couple of those individuals, we’ve reached out to Justin Bailey, M.D. (right, top) and Zasmine Hymes-Green, M.D. (right, bottom) to ask a few questions regarding their experience at UAB.
Q1: What are your names and graduate programs?
Justin Bailey (JB): My name is Justin Bailey, and I am in Pediatrics
Zasmine Hymes-Green (ZHG): I’m Zasmine Hymes-Green, and I was matched into the Anesthesiology Residency Program at UAB.
Q2: Where are you from?
JB: I’m from the Birmingham/Clay-Chalkville area.
ZHG: I’m from Columbus, Georgia.
Q3: Why did you choose UAB for medical school?
JB: Growing up here, I always viewed UAB as the standard for medicine in the South. If you needed something requiring an upper echelon of medical care in Alabama, you went to UAB—which made the decision easy when I decided to pursue medicine. I knew I would be getting a nationally ranked education paired with Southern kindness and compassion.
ZHG: I chose UAB for medical school for multiple reasons. For starters, I loved how UAB had numerous resources that could help me achieve any goal. Also, I enjoyed the people. During my interview, everyone had great energy, and it made me want to be a part of that environment.
Q4: What attracted you to UAB for residency?
JB: When I picked pediatrics staying home at UAB was especially alluring. Children's of Alabama is the only pediatric level-one trauma center in the state. I knew if I trained here, I would see patients from all over the Southeast. There will be very few diseases that I won't personally see with that amount of patient volume.
ZHG: It was important to me to be in a program that would provide me with excellent training for a career in academic medicine and was also filled with amazing people. The anesthesiology residency program at UAB couples those two things perfectly.
Q5: What advice do you have for people considering UAB SOM or UAB for residency/fellowship programs?
JB: If you’re considering UAB for medical school, residency, or fellowship, please take a deep dive into what we have to offer. The amount of subspecialty and primary care exposure in one program is almost unfathomable. Even better, it’s all under one roof. You can take care of a medicine patient in Tinsley Harrison, deliver a baby in the WIC, and take care of a child in the COA PICU—all without stepping foot outdoors. Whether you have a super-specialized niche or you have a more general practice in mind, UAB has the faculty and support to help you succeed.
ZHG: Choosing a medical school and residency program are tough decisions. If you choose UAB for your training, know that you are in excellent hands. It will be some of the best years of your professional life. You can also rest assured that you will be a well-prepared, competent, companionate physician when you leave medical school or residency.