Medical students get their golden moment at Match Day 2026
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine students learn their residency placements in locations near and far.
Fifty-four Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine students matched into residency programs across 23 states and Washington, D.C., marking a major milestone in their medical training.
Most members of the Class of 2026 learned their placements during a Golden Hour–themed ceremony with warm lighting and champagne and honey-gold tones on Friday, March 20, at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke. The podium was festooned with a glowing sign that assured students “you’re so golden.”
At noon, the students opened their envelopes simultaneously and learned where they will train next.
“My palms were sweaty and I was really kind of panicking and shaking opening the envelope. It took a little while for my brain to figure out what it was saying, but then I was just incredibly happy,” said Jacqueline “Q” Urdang, who matched with Washington University in St. Louis for anesthesiology. “It was my No. 1 choice. I met the program director and she was the coolest, sweetest, most powerful human I’ve ever met, and I really wanted to work there. Then every resident I met was just incredibly kind and seemed to be happy there, and the curriculum is outstanding in terms of how they prepare you.”
The medical school participates in the National Resident Matching Program, which manages the process for most of the residency positions the school’s students seek. This year, there were a record number of match applicants with more than 53,000 vying for 44,000 positions. Nationally, U.S. medical school seniors achieved a postgraduate, year one match rate of 93.5 percent.
All 52 of the graduating students from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine's Class of 2026 matched, with one student electing to pursue a research fellowship. Additionally, two students from the Class of 2025 matched.
For students, Match Day marks both the culmination of years of study and the start of their careers as physicians. This year's class matched into specialties ranging from emergency medicine and internal medicine to ophthalmology and orthopedic surgery.
“I was just in complete shock and started crying happy tears when I opened the envelope,” said Adriana Irizarry, who matched with Brown University in emergency medicine. “I truly never expected such a prestigious program like that, but I am extremely grateful that they chose me. I’m thrilled to be going there.”
The Golden Hour theme underscored the transition into a new chapter for the students. As the thematic sun begins to set on their time at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, a new day will begin for each of them at their residency program.
Dean Lee Learman spoke to the class, reflecting on the four years they have been at the medical school and what they should expect ahead.
“Match Day represents both a milestone and a commitment to our profession. Our students are stepping into residency programs prepared to care for patients, serve communities, and contribute meaningfully to the future of health care,” Learman said. “We are proud of where they have come in their path to becoming outstanding physicians, and we can’t wait to see where this journey will take them next.”
The class matched into a wide range of specialties, with the most common including emergency medicine, OB-GYN, and internal medicine.
Sofia Montes, headed to the University of Florida-Jacksonville, and Thisha Thiagarajan, headed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, were two of the OB-GYN matches.
“I really wanted to go into OB-GYN so that I could be in a field to help women through their entire journey of care,” Montes said. “Going to Jacksonville is perfect because it’s in my home state of Florida, and I’m really looking forward to shorter trips home and visits to the beach.”
“It was the combination of being able to do surgery and be in the clinic working with patients that made me want be in OB-GYN. I really fell in love with the specialty, and I’ll also be going home to California,” Thiagarajan said.
Eight students matched into primary care fields — family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics — while others secured positions in highly competitive specialties, including two in orthopedic surgery and one in otolaryngology.
Three students matched into ophthalmology, a selective specialty that matches early, including Dana Wang, who will train at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It was the people at the University of Wisconsin. During my away rotation, it felt like family — a place where I wasn’t afraid to ask questions and felt supported. I could see myself calling it home for the next five years,” Wang said. “I was drawn to ophthalmology because of its blend of surgery, medicine, and innovation, and the opportunity to help patients with something as important as their eyesight and quality of life.”
Students matched at major medical centers across the country, including Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brown University, and the University of Michigan, with two matches each at the University of Vermont and Brown.
“I’m so excited to be going to Johns Hopkins,” said Maedot Haymete, who will complete a transitional year in Wellstone Health System in Georgia before going to Johns Hopkins for diagnostic radiology. “I’ve been working for so long building connections there while on a rotation, and I even had the opportunity to work on a paper with one of the program directors. I’m so happy they chose me, it was really my dream match.”
Six students will complete all or a portion of their training in Virginia, including one who matched with the Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine program.
“Roanoke is just the right size for this program, so you get outstanding support from faculty but there aren’t so many people that they’re going to come in and take all the good cases,” said Liz Gienger, who matched in emergency medicine. “I feel like we are poised for growth here, and this is the perfect place for me to learn at this stage of my career. It’s also just a really great place to raise a family.”
Two students with military matches will both be starting their residencies at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Yavuz Durmaz, who serves in the Army, will be in diagnostic radiology, while Lincoln Kartchner is a Navy surgical resident.
“I’m incredibly excited and grateful to have matched into radiology at my first-choice program, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. After spending a month rotating there, I knew it was the right fit based on the quality of training, the complexity and volume of cases, and the strong career opportunities it offers as well as its proximity to my family in Roanoke,” Durmaz said. “I was drawn to radiology because it requires integrating complex information, recognizing subtle findings, and forming diagnoses that directly impact patient care. I also value the field’s versatility and its collaboration across nearly every specialty in medicine.”
As the Match Day celebration continued, students embraced family, posed for photos, and enjoyed the results of four years of hard work and dedication. They will have one more chance to rejoice at graduation in May before they begin residency training this summer, carrying the skills and training they learned into communities across the country.
