‘The End of the Beginning’: GW Medical Students Celebrate Match Day

March 25, 2026

Authored by:

Thomas Kohout

The buzz of excitement electrified Lisner Auditorium as the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences M.D. Class of 2026 crossed the stage to collect envelopes containing news of their medical education futures.

GW's fourth-year medical students joined more than 53,000 residency applicants nationwide for National Residency Match Day, March 20, when years of study, clinical rotations and interviews culminated in a single reveal: where they will spend the next chapter of their medical training.

The annual ceremony marked a turning point for students who have spent four years balancing academic rigor with hands-on clinical training. After months of interviews, both applicants and programs submit ranked lists. The National Residency Matching Program's (NRMP) algorithm then pairs students with programs, aiming to place them as close to their top choices as possible.

Applicants competed for just over 44,000 residency positions spanning 6,800 certified program tracks. According to NRMP, 2026 marked the largest applicant pool in its 74-year history, with 93% of positions filled after the algorithm processed student and program rankings.

At GW, the moment carried both celebration and reflection.

"I couldn't think of a better time to arrive, than an occasion like this," said Interim Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences Andrew W. Artenstein who began his tenureearlier this month.

"You're at the end of the beginning right now. You're now going to start at the beginning of the next beginning," he told the class. When they leave in May, he added, they will join a global network of GW physicians. "You're going to join them with the GW legacy as physician citizens, the social compact you made when you first started here at GW and decided you wanted to become a physician."

For many in the auditorium, the result felt deeply personal.

Bruny Kenou, class president, matched in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Addressing her classmates before the envelopes were opened, she emphasized perspective over placement.

"I want to remind you that it is not where we go, it is how we go, Kenou said. "It is how we show up. It is our attitudes."

Medical school, she added, can sometimes shift focus toward endpoints rather than growth. Kenou urged her peers to recognize the resilience that brought them here.

"We have been trained by one of the best places in the world," she said. "We are going in [to residency] with a GW mindset, and people will know where we're from just by how we're interacting with our patients and our peers."

For Barbara L. Bass, RESD '86, former vice president for health affairs and SMHS dean who recently retiredafter leading the school for the past six years, the day carried a sense of continuity across generations of physicians.

"I'm really excited for you as you get your envelopes today," she said. "I know where some of you are going, and I'm really excited."

"I've got to tell you, it's been a remarkable 50 years, and that makes me so excited for you as you begin this journey," she said. "I know that the science of medicine has changed so much…and that will make the diseases that you treat and cure very different from those when I was a student waiting for my match day to come along."

For some students, Match Day also marked a return home.

Anthony Dure matched in anesthesiology in Tampa, Florida, a choice that brought him closer to his Miami roots while aligning with his evolving professional interests.

"I came into medical school wanting to do surgery, then as third year went on I realized I wanted to stay with my roots in medicine; anesthesiology was going to be how I could have surgery and still have that medicine that we learned the last four years," he said.

Chicago native Jeffrey Wang will return to his Midwestern roots after matching in radiation oncology at Northwestern. For him, the decision ultimately came down to connection, both professional and personal.

His interest in the specialty began early, shaped by mentorship and research opportunities. "There's something profound about being able to have that communication with a patient and actually do something to cure someone's cancer," he said.

A key factor in his decision was the opportunity to gain experience in proton therapy, an advanced treatment that uses high-energy proton particles rather than X-rays to target cancer. Northwestern's dedicated Proton Center made the program especially appealing.

Just as important, though, was his instinctive reaction during the interview process.

"I think you naturally connect with people who treat you well, listen to you, and care about your story," he said. "I felt truly heard. The faculty were receptive and approachable…it really left an impression."

After years of demanding work, Match Day brought a sense of validation.

"These past four years have been some of the most challenging, both physically and mentally, that I've ever gone through," Wang said. "Finding out you've matched-knowing you're going somewhere that wants you-it makes all that hard work feel worth it."

Ashley Stevenson, will remain in Washington, D.C., to continue the work that first drew her to the field after matching emergency medicine at GW.

She is one of 21 members of the class to continue their training at GW."I really love the city of D.C. and it's been an honor to serve here as a medical student," she said. "I wanted to continue that throughout my career."

Before medical school, Stevenson worked as an emergency room scribe, an experience that shaped her path. "This is where patients who don't really have access to care or have some other barriers that affect their health come. That's the patient population that I want to work with."

Mentorship also played a defining role, she said, offering special thanks to Damali Nakitende, assistant professor of emergency medicine, who was particularly important to her development as a student doctor. "From the very beginning…she made herself available to me, helping with any problems," Stevenson said of her mentor. "Now she's my residency director, so now I get to train under her."

Beyond individual matches, the ceremony also highlighted broader milestones for the institution.

Scott D. Krugman, senior associate dean for the LifeBridge Health/GW SMHS Regional Medical Campus, recognized eight students from the program's inaugural cohort to match this year.

"There are eight of you in this audience who matched this year from our regional campus," he said. "We couldn't be more proud of what you've done for us and how far you've come as students."

Their success, he added, helps define the future of the program. "You guys have set the standards for the time to come."

Taken together, the faculty speakers returned to a shared theme: that Match Day is not simply a milestone, but a transition that carries both the weight of what students have accomplished and the responsibility of what lies ahead.

Lorenzo Norris, senior associate dean for education at SMHS, brought that message into focus.

"As Dean Artenstein said, this is kind of the end, but it's also the start of the beginning," Norris said. "Things are going to change for you; you all are moving to different areas, you're going into different fields. I think, instead of measuring things in terms of Step scores, you're going to imagine it in terms of steps taken by newborns, by children, by patients who are recovering from stroke."

He left the class with a final charge: "Hope is action. Humanism is connection. You are that connected action that is going to transform the future."