Virtual Match Day captures joy, purpose for 2020 grads
“This is not the Match Day that any of us expected — even a week ago,” said David Clossey to his Harvard Medical School (HMS) classmates who joined more than 300 faculty, staff, family and friends on a March 20 videoconference. “These are unprecedented times, and there is no greater or more important time than now for us to step up and to serve our communities,” said Clossey, HMS Class of 2020 co-moderator. For the first time, the annual HMS Match Day celebration went virtual in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has shifted Quad classes online and caused clinical clerkships to be suspended until March 31, a move taken under the advisement of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Even though the traditional, in-person Match Day gathering in the Tosteson Medical Education Center was canceled, the moment was no less momentous or jubilant for graduating students, many of whom had left campus...