Senior Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) students excitedly opened black and gold envelopes at Langford Auditorium on Friday, March 20, to reveal where they will be heading next for residency training.
The National Resident Matching Program reports that during this year’s Match — the process of matching fourth-year medical school students with their preferred residency training programs — a record 53,373 applicants across the United States registered for the Match, an increase of 1.8% over last year.
Those participating in Match Day at VUSM represented five countries, 18 states and 53 undergraduate colleges. Nearly one-quarter of the medical students matched to residencies at Vanderbilt Health and will be remaining in Nashville.
Five couples entered the Match together, and 18 VUSM students will graduate from the Medical Scientist Training Program with both MD and PhD degrees. Of the 20 specialties matched, the top specialties were internal medicine, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, pediatrics and diagnostic radiology.
Families, friends and faculty mentors filled Langford Auditorium to cheer for the students as they walked onto the stage to reveal their matches. As they received their envelopes, each placed a dollar into a large fishbowl; the contents were awarded to the last individual called to the stage.
One of the most poignant moments occurred early in the ceremony when Xavier Bledsoe reminded his proud parents standing beside him of the day they helped him move into his apartment eight years ago as he began his MD/PhD studies at Vanderbilt University.
“You offered so many times to leave me a little bit of cash, and I told you again and again I’d be fine,” he said. “When I went to bed that night there was a collection of 10s and 20s and ones underneath my pillow. It brought me to tears because I knew this was not some set amount of money, but it was everything you had on you at the time. And that has been my story ever since I was a little boy. You have given everything to me.
“I kept those bills, and I came back to them during hard times just to remember what you had done for me. Those are the bills that are staying in the fishbowl now.”
Akhil Rekulapelli said his medical school experience at Vanderbilt was exceptional, and that it “hasn’t hurt that Vandy sports have had a renaissance during my time here — some of my favorite med school memories include getting to be at the 2024 Alabama football game and the most recent SEC basketball semifinal against Florida.”
Rekulapelli will continue supporting Vanderbilt sports as he remains at Vanderbilt Health for a residency in orthopaedic surgery, a specialty he connected with as he witnessed patients regain their lives and activities.
“Throughout my rotations, I enjoyed seeing patients like the yogi whose knee replacement let them get back on the mat and the high school soccer player who returned to competition after an ACL reconstruction — and learning how their passions guided their surgeon’s approach to care.”
Caroline Castleman participated in the Couples Match with her partner, Suchita Kumar. In this process, a couple’s rank-order lists of residency programs are linked, and the couple is matched with the highest ranked pair for which they’ve both been offered positions.
“Caroline, you are the type of person everyone wants by their side for the good times and the tough ones,” Kumar told her before they read their matches. “This truly was a marathon, not a sprint, and you absolutely carried me across the finish line.”
The couple matched with their “dream programs” but at different institutions. Castleman will be completing her residency in psychiatry at Yale, and Kumar matched into the OB-GYN program at the University of Pennsylvania.
“So, if anyone has connections at Amtrak and if they want to sponsor us, please contact me after this,” Castleman laughed.
Castleman said the faculty in child and adolescent psychiatry helped her realize how much she values working with children and families.
“I’m lucky to have worked with amazing mentors who taught me to think developmentally and to find creative ways to understand how kids view their world,” she said.
Brian Song and Kyoko Kohno also participated in the Couples Match. Song praised VUSM’s curriculum that allowed him to “fully explore the breadth of medicine” during the first two years. The two-year immersion phase allowed him to “dive super deep into my specialty of emergency medicine and pursue projects I never would have imagined, like conducting snakebite envenoming research in Guyana.”
Emergency medicine caught his interest during his first few shadowing shifts.
“An incredibly sick patient would come into the department, and in a matter of minutes the emergency medicine team would have completed multiple lifesaving interventions to resuscitate them,” he said. “Being able to jump in at a moment’s notice and fundamentally change the trajectory of a patient’s health for the better was something that made emergency medicine stand out to me.”
Song matched into emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General, and Kohno will begin her neurology residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Elizabeth Sun, who came to Nashville from Los Angeles, has two exciting matches to celebrate. She and her fiancé, Mark, whom she met during her undergraduate studies at Emory University, became engaged last week. On Friday, she opened her envelope to reveal her match in internal medicine at UCLA Medical Center, a moment met with joy and celebration.
“In internal medicine, we get to care for patients throughout the entirety of their journey, whether in the hospital or throughout their lives,” she shared. “Through working alongside many inspirational internal medicine physicians at Vanderbilt, I feel that it is one of the greatest privileges to be the go-to person patients can turn to in times of need.” Sun said she was “ecstatic to have matched at UCLA after spending nine years away from home. I’m proud of the person I’ve grown to be thanks to the guidance of my mentors at Vanderbilt, which makes leaving bittersweet. At the same time, I am beyond excited and honored to be starting a new chapter at UCLA. I’m thrilled to return home and care for the communities I grew up in.”
Residency assignments
- Omar Abdalla – Emory University School of Medicine, Interventional Radiology
- Hailey Adegboye – University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Internal Medicine
- Jazmyn Ayers – Vanderbilt Health, Anesthesiology
- Curtis (C.J.) Bakle – Medical University of South Carolina, Orthopaedic Surgery
- Nikita Bastin – University of California-San Francisco, Obstetrics-Gynecology
- Riley Bergman – Vanderbilt Health, Internal Medicine
- Joshua Betts – Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Internal Medicine
- Snehal Bindra – Stanford Health Care, Psychiatry
- Anthony Bishay – Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
- Xavier Bledsoe – Children’s Hospital-Philadelphia, Pediatrics
- Avery Bogart – McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University/Northwestern Memorial Hospital/VA Chicago Healthcare System, Obstetrics-Gynecology
- Lincoln Brown – Vanderbilt Health, Internal Medicine
- Camella Carlson – University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
- Caroline Castleman – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Psychiatry
- Anne Chen – University of California San Francisco and HCA Healthcare/TriStar Nashville, Anesthesiology
- Eric Donahue – SSM Health/St. Louis University School of Medicine, Ophthalmology
- Andres Dones – Vanderbilt Health, Internal Medicine
- Derek Doss – Vanderbilt Health, Neurological Surgery
- Jennifer Du – Massachusetts General/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Anesthesiology
- Sarah Dulaney – University of Chicago Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
- Adam Fahey – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Emilie Fisher-Gupta – University of California San Diego Medical Center, Pediatrics
- Lily Gao – Massachusetts General/Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Kaiser Permanente, Diagnostic Radiology/Internal Medicine
- Alexander Gimeno – Massachusetts General/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Anesthesiology
- Melissa Goldin – UI Health Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary, Ophthalmology
- Monica Grabowska – Vanderbilt Health, Internal Medicine
- Candace Grisham – Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Neurological Surgery
- Ashwin Gupta – Barnes Jewish-Hospital, Internal Medicine
- Daniel Habib – University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center, Otolaryngology
- David Hanna – Vanderbilt Health, Emergency Medicine
- Erica Hassoun – Vanderbilt Health, Internal Medicine
- Lilly He – McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University/Northwestern Memorial Hospital/VA Chicago Healthcare System, Neurology/Internal Medicine
- Austin Hilvert – McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University/Northwestern Memorial Hospital/VA Chicago Healthcare System, Neurological Surgery
- Puja Jagasia – McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University/Northwestern Memorial Hospital/VA Chicago Healthcare System, Plastic Surgery
- Brigitte Jia – University of California-Los Angeles Medical Center/Sutter Health, Radiation Oncology/Internal Medicine
- Joy Justice – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dermatology/Internal Medicine
- Roma Kankaria – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Internal Medicine
- Marie Killerby – University of Colorado School of Medicine-Denver/Creighton University-East Valley, Diagnostic Radiology/Internal Medicine
- Jessica Klein – Yale-New Haven Hospital, Anesthesiology
- Kyoko Kohno – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Neurology
- Spencer Kriss – Stanford Health Care and HCA Healthcare/TriStar, Diagnostic Radiology
- Suchita Kumar – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Obstetrics-Gynecology
- Ansley Kunnath – Massachusetts General/Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Otolaryngology
- Allison Lake – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Psychiatry
- Caley Lane – Duke University Medical Center, Pediatrics
- Ina Lee – University of California Davis Medical Center, Otolaryngology
- Lok Hin Lee – Oregon Health & Science University, Ophthalmology
- Hae Weon Lee – University of Chicago Medical Center/Ohio Health-Riverside Methodist, Diagnostic Radiology
- Sarah Li – Loma Linda University, Emergency Medicine
- Ruoying Li – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Thomas Li – Duke University Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Alvina Liang – California Pacific Medical Center, Ophthalmology
- Alicia Liu – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Internal Medicine
- Matthew Loberg – University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Pathology
- Logan Locascio – Carolinas Medical Center, Orthopaedic Surgery
- Allen Luna – University of Virginia Medical Center and HCA Healthcare/TriStar, Diagnostic Radiology
- Alexander Lyons – Vanderbilt Health, Neurological Surgery
- Annie Manella – Stanford Health Care, Emergency Medicine
- Rachel Mersfelder – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
- Allison Morris – Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, Family Medicine
- Dominque Mucio – Vanderbilt Health, OMFS
- Sylvie Muhimpundu – Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Neurology
- Nanda Nayak – University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Christian Oakley – University of Utah Health, Internal Medicine
- Marcell Paguaga – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Sarah Pennebaker – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
- Yasminye Pettway – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Elizabeth Pollard – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Emergency Medicine
- Hrithik Praveen – Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Otolaryngology
- Daniel Puczko – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Seth Reasoner – Case Western/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Samuel Reddick – Vanderbilt Health, Emergency Medicine
- Sarah Reed – University of California San Francisco, Internal Medicine
- Akhil Rekulapelli – Vanderbilt Health, Orthopaedic Surgery
- James (Jim) Rogers – Madigan Army Medical Center, General Surgery
- Mark Rusznak – University of California San Francisco, Internal Medicine
- Andrew Saleeb – PIH Health Downey Hospital, Family Medicine
- Anish Sarma – Boston Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics
- John Shelley – Vanderbilt Health and UT Ascension St. Thomas, Diagnostic Radiology/Internal Medicine
- Woo Jae Shin – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Matthew Shou – Vanderbilt Health, Urology
- Elizabeth Simonds – Vanderbilt Health, General Surgery
- Jessica Sims – University of Chicago Medical Center, General Surgery
- Brian Song – Massachusetts General Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Emergency Medicine
- Russell Stewart Jr. – University of Michigan Hospitals, Internal Medicine
- Elizabeth Sun – University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Kevin Sun – Barnes Jewish Hospital, Internal Medicine
- Sameer Sundrani – Stanford Health Care, Neurological Surgery
- Jordan Vancel – University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Ophthalmology
- Jeremiah Williams – George Washington University, Ophthalmology/Internal Medicine
- Benjamin Wong – Vanderbilt Health, Orthopaedic Surgery
- Asja Woodard – University of Chicago Medical Center, Internal Medicine
- Jenny Wu – University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals, Internal Medicine
- Howard Zhang – University of Southern California/Los Angeles General Medical Center, Ophthalmology
