‘Match Madness’ ensues as Brown medical school students receive their residency matches

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Medical students from Brown University's Class of 2026 who will earn their M.D.s in May gathered with their families and friends at the annual Match Day celebration on Friday, March 20, to discover where they will complete the next stage of their careers.

With about 800 people scheduled to attend, the Warren Alpert Medical School celebration was held for the first time at Brown's Olney-Margolies Athletic Center. The crowd clinked champagne glasses in a toast shortly before noon, when 146 fourth-year medical students opened their red envelopes and learned where their residency training will begin.

Before the big moment, Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Dr. Mukesh K. Jain recognized the students' hard work and saluted the families, friends and faculty who supported them through their studies. He also acknowledged the adversity students faced following the tragic Dec. 13, 2025, shooting on campus, and how it shook many community members.

"In the midst of grief, uncertainty and loss, you showed up," Jain said. "You showed up for your patients, you showed up for each other, and you carried yourself with compassion, steadiness and courage. Resilience matters - it says something important about who you are, and it has shaped you into the kind of doctors the world needs."

Twenty-two students in this year's class matched to residency programs in Rhode Island, and 56 will train in the primary care specialties of family medicine, pediatrics or internal medicine.

Many paths to a medical degree

Those who pursued unorthodox paths into medicine had much to celebrate. Brown medical student Urvi Tiwari was born in India and moved to New Jersey with her family in the late 1990s. At Rutgers University she studied accounting and finance and earned a master's degree in business of fashion. Tiwari worked for Gucci for several years, until she was furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then she volunteered at a local hospital, speaking with patients' families who were waiting in cars and parking lots for updates on loved ones inside.

"I found myself enjoying that so much more than my job [at Gucci], even though it was emotionally draining," Tiwari said. "That made me realize that I enjoyed doing something more people-centered, so I focused on a job in clinical medicine."