Match Day

Rutgers medical school students open envelopes to learn where they will complete their residencies

Esther Jang had often thought about becoming a doctor, but her passion for healing grew after she survived a deadly plane crash.

Then 14 or 15, Jang was with her parents and two younger siblings on an Asiana Airlines flight from South Korea when it crash-landed on a San Francisco runway. Three passengers were killed in the 2013 crash of the Boeing 777, and Jang’s parents were seriously injured.

At a nearby hospital, Jang found solace in the medical team, whose members answered her questions and offered support. Later, at a facility in her home state of Colorado, she was invited to shadow her mother’s surgeons, who were providing treatment for spinal compression fractures and knee injuries.

“When the emotions of the situation really hit me, the people who were able to give me the most comfort were the physicians,” recalled Jang, who will graduate from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) in Newark in May. “That’s the kind of impact I want to have in my life, and becoming a doctor will help me do that.”