“We had Anatomy and all the other labs together, and those became our ‘dates,’” Fabio said. “We started snorkeling and scuba diving, and the rest is history.”

They graduated together and earned their MD degrees in 2013. Today the Florida natives are working as hospitalists in the Tampa Bay area of the state. He is at Bayfront Hospital and she is at Tampa General.

The couple has always shared a passion for medicine and was well-matched in many ways. Perhaps most importantly for their professional and personal lives, they entered the Couples Match together for residency in Internal Medicine and both matched successfully at the University of Miami Palm Beach Campus. One bit of rivalry that they enjoy is rooting for their undergraduate alma mater’s sports teams, he for the University of South Florida in Tampa and she for the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

It was a match made in med school for these doctors who got married on January 21, 2017. Where did they choose to go for their honeymoon? “We went to Dominica where we visited the campus and drove the entire island a couple of times,” Fabio related. “We went back to the places that reminded us of our early beginnings.”

They also were pleased to see that a student club they helped create still exists, OLAS (Organization of Latin American Students.) The group organized health fairs on the island, where they evaluated more than 400 people with screening blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol levels, vision and general physical exams. They also taught medical Spanish to students, and also gave Salsa dance lessons. “It was a great time,” Fabio said.

He added that both he and his spouse are very appreciative of RUSM for giving them a chance to realize their dreams of becoming physicians.

In 2020, 91% of RUSM students passed the initial step of the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®) on the first attempt. And in 2022-2023, results show yet another strong year for RUSM with a 97% first-time residency attainment rate* thus far. Located on the island of Barbados and with a network of more than 15,000 alumni, RUSM is one of the largest providers of doctors for the U.S. healthcare system. RUSM graduates practice in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico.

*First time residency attainment rate is the percent of students attaining a 2023-24 residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2022-23 who were active applicants in the 2023 NRMP match or who attained a residency position outside the NRMP match.