Members of the MD Class of 2026 reach for the envelopes that will reveal which residency training program they matched into. Photo by Zoë Farr

Events

MD Class of 2026 Matches into Residency Training Programs

Joshua Lepson was 15 and in the middle of swim practice at Brookline High School when he experienced the worst headache of his life. He’d lost his sense of balance and orientation and had to be helped out of the pool.

When he got home, his mother Johanna Klein, MD’94, a primary care physician, recognized something was terribly wrong. Joshua was rushed to the hospital with a brain hemorrhage that affected his motor skills and required years of rehabilitation to recover.

“The sense of my body in space was completely disrupted,” Lepson said. “It was definitely a profound disruption to my life.”

He went from active teen to relearning how to walk. Despite his hardships and long absences from the classroom, Lepson kept up with his schoolwork. When his prospects looked dim, he relied on a will fueled by what he calls “delusional self-belief.”

“I thought, ‘Why can’t I get back to the way I was? Why not me?’” he recalled. “I think that shaped the way I view any challenge now.”

On Friday, March 20, Lepson was one of more than 15,000 fourth-year medical students from across the country—including 135 at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine—who opened envelopes to discover where they would be spending the next three to seven years. Gathered in the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Hall on the Charles River Campus, families and friends celebrated as the soon-to-be MDs matched to the residency training programs where they would learn their specialties, under the supervision of experienced physicians.  

“My top two choices were a coin flip, so I’m very happy,” said Lepson, who matched into the internal medicine residency program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. 

Match Day traditionally falls on the third Friday in March, which this year also was the first day of spring: a day of new beginnings. Organized by the Student Affairs Office and the Student Match Day Committee, the event was the public part of a process overseen by the National Resident Matching Program, which uses an algorithm to pair students with residency programs according to preference lists developed by the students and the programs.

Priya Garg, MD, associate dean of medical education, congratulated the class on being the first to fully experience a new team-based learning curriculum across their years of education and noted that class feedback reflected the great value they placed on working collaboratively.

“Medicine is about connections; it’s about the people and support systems that keep you well; it’s about the small moments with your patients and your soon-to-be fellow residents, your colleagues,” said Garg.

Angela Jackson, MD, associate dean of student affairs, counseled the class to be humble and kind.

“You know a lot. You will learn even more. Your skills will grow. But remember to stay humble and teachable,” she said. “Listen to the nurses, to your peers, and to the medical students you will be working with and teaching, and not just to those who outrank you. Be kind always…to everyone, but especially to yourself.”

The kindness, commitment, and care the doctors and other healthcare professionals demonstrated while tending to his sister, who has cerebral palsy, inspired Jeet Kothari to become a doctor. Kothari matched into a pediatric residency at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

Kothari’s parents—his father is a homebuilder and his mother a pulmonologist—immigrated to the US from India. His mother’s dedication to her profession and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic impressed on him the sense of purpose and sacrifice imbued in a medical career.

Following his second rigorous year in medical school, Kothari decided to take a year off and went home to Atlanta, where he did some research and worked as an Uber driver. He also reconnected with his sister’s experience and her caregivers.

 “In that process, I rediscovered why I wanted to do medicine and ultimately pediatrics,” he said. “Her physicians saw her as a person—a human and not the sum of her conditions—and that made me want to be that type of pediatrician.”

Youssef Younossi is headed into the neurology resident program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

“I’m over-the-moon happy,” said Younossi, whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan. Growing up with several physicians in the family, Younossi was acquainted with the realities of a medical career but wanted to be sure it was right for him before committing to medical school. He’d enjoyed finance as an undergraduate, but after three years at a private equity firm in Washington, D.C., the joy was gone.

“I didn’t feel like I was making the impact I wanted to make,” he said. “So, I turned back to medicine, because I knew that in medicine, you never question your purpose. There’s a lot of tough aspects to it, but I think most people don’t ask, ‘What am I doing here?’ and it’s very clear what your impact will be.”

Heather Miselis, MAMS’00, MPH’00, MD’04, associate dean of alumni affairs, told the assembled students that she and other alumni appreciate the importance and excitement of the day, citing “the mix of emotions, the thrill of discovering your match, the relief of knowing your hard work and commitment to the study of medicine have paid off.”

“We also remember the uncertainty that accompanies such a significant transition,” she said. “Remember that you are part of a network of engaged and supportive alumni who have walked this path and stand beside you, ready to encourage and guide you.”