ABWP congratulates those who successfully navigated the 2022 Match, especially our Black medical students. This year, 47,675 applicants applied for 38,205 positions. Of those, 36,277 were for PGY-1 positions. The NRMP celebrated the record number of available positions, but opportunities to improve the GME process exist. 

As an organization, we also express our concerns that the ongoing discrepancy between graduating students and PGY-1 positions exacerbates student debt burdens. Black and other students underrepresented in medicine disproportionately bear financial stress from student loan debt. We applaud the vulnerability, bravery and transparency of those sharing their stories of not matching this year. We know this experience exacts a mental and emotional toll on your wellbeing.

We call on the ACGME to set a standard across all programs for use of holistic review when ranking and selecting trainees across all programs. This can help address the persistent lack of racial and ethnic representation in our training programs. We must create changes to our system given the evidence that racial/ethnic concordance between physician-patient can improve health outcomes. This is one way to move beyond performative acts of allyship and start to dismantle structural and systemic racism within our profession.

To the students of the African diaspora who remain among the unmatched, stay the course! Remember you have already proven that you belong here. While we and so many others advocate for change, do not dare abandon your dreams of becoming physicians. We believe in you. Your patients need you. You are more than enough.

- Cozzette Lyons-Jones, MD, MPH, FACP

President, Association of Black Women Physicians