NEWS
Cheers and happy tears filled campuses in Oklahoma City and Tulsa as 161 members of the OU College of Medicine Class of 2026 learned where they will be training for their residencies. The occasion was Match Day, a pivotal milestone that helps shape the future of the state’s health care workforce.
On the Oklahoma City campus, 132 students matched into residencies across Oklahoma and the nation. Of the total, 39 are staying with the OU College of Medicine in Oklahoma City and Tulsa for all or part of their residencies.
In Tulsa, on the OU School of Community Medicine campus, 29 students matched, including 10 at the School of Community Medicine and five at the college’s Oklahoma City campus.
“Congratulations to you and the family and friends who are with you today,” said OU College of Medicine Executive Dean Ian Dunn, M.D. “The entire arc of your academic life has brought you to this exact moment. Some of you will match exactly where you hoped. Others of you may find yourselves somewhere unexpected. But it’s not where you train that defines your career – it’s how you show up where you are.”
Matching as a couple in the highly competitive field of orthopedics, Matthew Harter and Taryn Kedzior will both stay at the College of Medicine. They consider orthopedics one of the most rewarding specialties they could enter.
“In orthopedics, you have the ability to make an immediate impact for your patients every single day,” Harter said. “We will be seeing everyone from young children to older adults, and we look forward to making a tangible difference in their lives.”
Both said they felt incredible support from the college and their classmates during their four years of medical school.
“We wouldn’t be where we are without that support,” Kedzior said.
Match Day is the culmination of many weeks of preparation and residency interviews for medical students across the country. According to the National Resident Matching Program, more than 53,000 applicants competed for over 44,000 residency positions this year, underscoring the competitiveness of the process and the significance of Match Day for OU students.
“Residency is the extraordinary transformation that will prepare you for the privilege of changing lives,” Dunn said. “Because make no mistake: That is what you are called to do. Medicine remains one of the most meaningful and rewarding ways to spend your time on this planet.”
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
A decade-long partnership between the University of Oklahoma and Southcentral Foundation, an Alaska Native-owned, nonprofit health care organization based in Anchorage, Alaska, has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to grow and strengthen a research workforce serving American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities.
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