Matched up

































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John Black and Katie Monson will graduate and get married in May then both go to the University of Virginia for their residencies.


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Nick Markin, left, with parents Annette and Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive of UNMC Physicians. Nick Markin will do a surgical residency at UNMC.


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Mindy Jo Lacey gets a kiss from husband, Geoff Talmon, M.D., a pathology resident at UNMC, after learning she will do her family medicine residency at UNMC.


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Carrie Riha, with fiance Isiah Dell, points toward Kansas City, where she will do a pediatric residency at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.


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Adrienne James, second from left, with her mother, Patricia, fiance Andy Pinney and friend and fellow medical student, Sabrina Seib. James will do an internal medicine residency at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., while Seib will stay at UNMC to do an internal medicine and primary care residency.

Tears followed a sigh of relief for Katie Monson as she stood on stage at Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Hall with her fiance, John Black.

The couple, who will graduate from the UNMC College of Medicine and get married in May, learned they would both be heading to the University of Virginia for their residencies.

Monson, a Laurel, Neb., native, is going east for an anesthesiology residency while Black, son of Joyce Black, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Nursing, will start a plastic surgery residency.

“It was an extraordinarily long shot that we’d both get to go to Virginia,” Monson said at a reception following the UNMC “Match Day” ceremony. “We were both prepared for the worst.”

Black, of Elkhorn, and Monson were among the 119 fourth-year medical students from UNMC who learned Thursday where they would do their residencies.

Former UNMC Student Senate President Dan Connealy of Chadron learned he would be staying at the medical center for an ob/gyn residency — good news for the husband and father of three.

“This is a great ob/gyn program,” Connealy said. “And it’s certainly a good thing that we won’t have to move.”

Nick Markin, son of UNMC Physicians president and chief executive, Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D., also will return to the medical center to do his residency in the surgery department.

“I’m very excited for many reasons,” Nick Markin said. “This is a great program at UNMC and it’s full of great people.”

Mindy Jo Lacey also is staying at UNMC to do her residency in family medicine. It’s a bittersweet development for Lacey, whose husband, UNMC resident Geoff Talmon, M.D., is heading to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., soon to serve a one-year fellowship.

It will be the second time in the past few years that the couple has been separated for professional pursuits. Lacey started medical school at Des Moines (Iowa) University before transferring to UNMC last year to join her husband, who currently is a fourth-year pathology resident.

“I’m very excited to be doing my residency here but I’m going to miss him,” Lacey said, noting that her husband will return on weekends.

Tiffany Peterson of Grand Island is heading to the nation’s capitol. She will do one year of transitional medicine before starting an anesthesiology residency at Georgetown University Hospital.

“It’s great because my fiance is already out there,” Peterson said. “Of course, we’ll probably only be able to afford to live in a box because of the cost of living. But I’m really excited about it.”

Carrie Riha of Beatrice is on her way to Kansas City, Mo., to do a pediatric residency at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. While she was excited to be doing a residency close to home, her father and brother — a couple of Kansas City Chiefs fans — seemed ready to head down Interstate 29 Thursday morning.

“I’ve got access to Chiefs’ tickets,” said Riha’s father, John. “Now we just need to get our hands on some NASCAR tickets for the Kansas speedway and we’ll be set.”

JoAnna Quigley will do a residency in pediatrics and child psychology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

“I’m really happy to be going to Kentucky,” said Quigley — whose father, Eammon Quigley, M.D., was the former chief of UNMC Internal Medicine-Gastroenterology and is currently head of the medical school at National University of Ireland. “There aren’t many programs like this and so it’s a thrill to be going there.”

Sabrina Seib, a self-described “military brat” from San Antonio, Texas, who has moved around for much of her life, will be staying put for at least the next few years as she does a internal medicine and pathology residency at UNMC.

Staying at UNMC works well for Seib because it allows her to stay close to her husband, Mitch, a first-year medical student at UNMC.







Match list



Click here to see a list of the College of Medicine students who “matched” on Thursday. Click here to go to a blog that allows readers to comment about this story.



Aside from her own “match,” Seib said she really enjoyed watching friends, such as Adrienne James, learn where they would do their residencies. James is heading to Washington, D.C., to do an internal medicine residency at Washington Hospital Center.

“My husband, Mitch, and I really got to know Adrienne and we’ll be friends for life,” Seib said.

Kandi Stallings of Bellevue, who once had an overwhelming phobia of hospitals and doctors, is returning to UNMC for an internal medicine residency.

“I guess I’ve come a long way from once having an almost morbid fear of doctors,” Stallings said. “Now I am going to be one.”