Match Day marks next step for Eric Reed, fourth-year med students












Match Day live



View a live stream of UNMC’s Match Day ceremony.




In 1998, Eric Reed lost his young daughter to Tay-Sachs disease — a fatal genetic disorder.

His experience with her health care professionals influenced his career choice.

He went on to earn a master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine and also an acupuncturist’s license. He had two more children and did volunteer work to help others whose children had Tay-Sachs disease.

Still, something was missing.

“I didn’t feel I had reached my potential, so I chose to pursue a medical degree,” Reed said.

Today, Reed and 119 UNMC fourth-year medical students will learn where they will do their residency training during the medical center’s Match Day ceremony at 11 a.m. in the Truhlsen Campus Events Center.









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Eric Reed
Match Day is a national event at all U.S. medical schools that combines elements of awards shows and professional sports drafts.

Students open sealed envelopes to learn where they will do residencies. In the past, some have donned hats and jerseys bearing the logos of their residency sites ala athletes getting selected by professional teams.

Reed hopes to match into a pediatrics residency.

“As a father of two healthy children, I can appreciate how the role of a pediatrician is important in providing preventive measures and anticipatory guidance,” he said.

He says his experience with his late daughter also will benefit him as a physician.

“As a future physician, I will have a unique perspective that few other doctors are able to offer to their patients and families,” he said.