Lights, Camera, Match!

The red carpet was rolled out, the marquee lights glowed, and the cameras flashed as the Class of 2025 at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM) celebrated the most anticipated premiere of their careers — Match Day. With a theme worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, students took center stage on March 21 at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke to announce their next steps among throngs of cheering classmates, faculty, family and friends.

As the clock turned to noon, students tore open their envelopes — delivered as part of the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) — and read their tickets to residency programs across the country. The room erupted in cheers, applause, and even a few happy tears as the future doctors discovered where their next chapters would unfold.

One hundred percent of the Class of 2025 secured a residency. According to the NRMP, 52,498 applicants registered for the 2025 Main Residency Match, a 4.1 percent increase over the previous year and the most ever. The national match rate for seniors getting a medical doctor degree was 94.3 percent.

“We have known for four years that these students are stars, and to see the success they have achieved in the Match process is testament to all their hard work,” said Lee Learman, dean of the medical school. “I couldn't be prouder of our students and all they have accomplished. I’m excited to see them take the next step in their careers and to envision the positive impacts they will make to their patients and residency programs.”  

A red-carpet moment for medicine

Dressed in glamorous attire reminiscent of classic Hollywood icons, students embraced the cinematic theme. They walked to the stage and held an Oscar statuette alongside Learman before pinning their residency location on a map.

Farwah Iqbal, the class president, learned earlier in the week that she had matched in a preferred specialty but she didn’t know where. At the ceremony, she found out was going to practice vascular surgery at Stanford Health Care, which is ranked No. 1 in California and No. 11 nationally for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery. “My Match Day was Monday in a way. The programs I applied to only have one resident, and I met some amazing medical students also applying. It could very easily not gone my way,” she said. “This was my number one choice. I really feel like God was looking out for me.”

Seven of the upcoming graduates will complete their residencies in Virginia. Five will remain in Roanoke for all or part of their residency at Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM in the departments of family medicine, surgery, orthopaedic surgery, and pediatrics. 

“I’m so excited to be part of the second class of the orthopaedic surgery at Carilion Clinic-VTCSOM. I’ve gotten really close to the attending surgeons here and l’m looking forward to being taught how to take care of the Roanoke community,” Evan Sandefur said. “It’s such a huge relief to be staying in the city I love, where I’ve bought a house and built a life.”

Students from the medical school matched in 20 different states. The states with the next-most matches were California with five, followed by Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina with four each. 

“I’m so happy for my class. Everyone matched in amazing places, and I’m thrilled to be in the same city as several of them,” said Mia Edelson, who matched at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City for urology. “I was born and raised in New York, and I’ll be working about 10 blocks from where I grew up!”

From aspiring physicians to leading roles in medicine

Among the students, emotions ran high as they stepped into their starring roles as future residents.

• “This is really like coming full circle, returning home,” said Liliana Ladner, who will specialize in neurosurgery at the hospital where she was born — the Medical University of South Carolina. “The chief resident in my program is also from VTCSOM, so that will be an amazing connection. I can’t wait!”
• “It’s such a relief,” said Sankar Muthukumar, who will be a general surgery resident at Yale Medical Center. “It starts back in June with the applications and then you go through the interviews. The waiting once you’ve interviewed and ranked your list is probably the most stressful with all the anticipation. Today is just such a palpable sense of relief to learn where we will go.”
• Matthew Vinson was joined at the ceremony by his family: wife, Meredith; son, Rhett; and daughter, Austin. A negative undergraduate experience led him to stop pursuing medicine and become a financial consultant, until (with the encouragement of Meredith) he decided to apply to medical school and pursue his dream. He matched in emergency medicine with the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. “I’m thrilled! I can look back with pride at my 7-year-old self, saying I wanted to become a doctor,” he said. “I’m beyond humbled to get to train at such a great institution.”
• “My time at VTCSOM learning about anesthesiology reaffirmed my desire to pursue the specialty,” said Jake Grondin, who will be near his hometown in Massachusetts at Brown University in Rhode Island. “I had some of the best mentors I could ever want, and I don’t think I could’ve matched in anesthesiology without their support every step of the way.”

Closing credits

As the curtain closed on Match Day 2025, the Class of 2025 left the stage, thanking the family, friends, faculty, and staff who helped them along the way. With the spotlight shining bright on their futures, these newly matched residents are heading off to hospitals and institutions nationwide, prepared to make an impact worthy of a standing ovation.

Amanda Murchison, the school’s associate dean for student affairs, was overseeing the first Match ceremony in her new role. “Seeing these students, who I’ve gotten to know over the past several months, triumph after the many plot twists that happen during medical schools was truly inspirational. I look forward to working with those who are remaining in the areas and following the stories of those who are going elsewhere.”