“Matching” students reminisce about caring doctors who shaped their career paths

"Matching" students reminisce about caring doctors who shaped their career paths

Deshauntra Green-Johnson and Alex Michelletti both took the scenic roads out of rural Mississippi to earn their white coats in recent years. Both, however, plan to hop on those same routes to the same small towns to start their careers helping build healthy communities.

Both were among the 154 graduates of the medical school class of 2026 who announced where they will continue their training during the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Match Day event held Friday at Thalia Mara Hall. Akin to the NFL Draft and national signing day for aspiring college athletes, the annual ceremony held at medical schools nationwide involves students taking the stage to declare a specialty and where they'll begin practicing as resident physicians.

Green-Johnson, a Fayette native, matched in obstetrics-gynecology at the Medical Center and will be the first physician in a family that added her twin son and daughter four years ago.

"My mom had breast cancer and I found out while a senior at Ole Miss in Oxford, before I was in med school," she said. "Her journey was what first put me on a health care track. Through her interactions with the people at MD Anderson in Houston, I truly saw what it was like to have caring attention from someone in women's care. She's had her procedures and doing great now.

"Then, when I had my own children, I dealt with having preeclampsia - but had an OB I really enjoyed who was patient with me and showed the love he had for his patients. It's those experiences that really sparked it for me."

Michelletti comes from a family of cattle and chicken farmers and accountants in and around Philadelphia and Neshoba County. A health crisis for an older brother steered his pursuit of a medical career, now aimed at internal medicine, where he matched at the Medical Center.

"In the eighth grade, he suffered a spontaneous lung collapse, or pneumothorax," he said. "He was in and out of the hospital his senior year of high school having a chest tube put in, having his lung collapse again, then having to get the tube put back in again. Seeing how the nurses, physicians and everyone else in the hospital helped him was fascinating to me."

Similar journeys likely were shared across auditoriums nationwide as fourth-year medical students participated in Friday's 2026 Main Residency Match. A total of 53,373 applicants registered for the 2026 Match, marking a new all-time record in the program's history.

The matching process began in the fall when students applied to their preferred specialty programs, interviewed with them and ranked them, while program directors rated their preferences for applicants, a sorting procedure governed by a "matching algorithm." 

At UMMC, there was a 100% match rate, said Dr. Michael McMullan, associate dean for student affairs.

Among the students who will graduate in May, 66, or about 43 percent, are staying in Mississippi for at least their first year of residency.

The matching process "is a journey," said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Woodward recognized all who supported this year's matching students, including family, spouses, faculty, residents and friends, the last of which she cited as those "related through the heart."

"It's an opportunity where you have to really bond with the people you're going through it with," she said. "You're going to go all over the country to do residencies and you're going to do a great job. We're so confident and proud of you. You'll be deciding where to establish a career, plant your flag and raise your family. But we need you here in Mississippi. We need you back and you'll always be a part of this school."

Dr. Loretta Jackson-Williams, vice dean for medical education, gives some particulars of the Class of 2026: The graduates represent 53 specialties and subspecialties, with 51% of the class choosing primary care.

The graduates represent 53 specialties and subspecialties, with 79, or about 51% of the class, choosing primary care, said Dr. Loretta Jackson-Williams, vice dean for medical education. Those who matched outside Mississippi did so in states ranging from New York to Hawaii, from Oregon to Massachusetts. 

Matt Sink, of Oxford, will begin his residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina - a fitting specialty given his family history.

"It's especially personal for me after seeing close family members undergo reconstruction following skin cancer resection," Sink said. "I watched how much their healing restored not just their appearance, but their confidence and sense of self."

Green-Johnson and Michellitti were among 63 who matched at UMMC. Both job-shadowed experienced specialists in their chosen areas who were experts in the human touch as well as medical books.

"Staying local to start a career means tackling all the challenges that come with women's health care in Mississippi, which is my mission and purpose," she said. "I shadowed in New Albany and fell in love with the total picture of health care. I want to give women the compassion they need in their hardest times. It can be the greatest day in their life when they can give birth to their baby, but then others can be dealing with loss or with all the other complications of being a female patient."

Michelletti worked in the ICU as a nursing assistant at Baptist Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian after going the community college route there to earn a nursing degree and RN certification.

"I worked with the nighttime physicians there who were very encouraging with me to go back to medical school," he said. "Coincidentally, one of them was a CPA for 14 years before he was a doctor and worked together with my mom, who is also a CPA."

Finishing medical school always demands a strong support system of family, friends, fellow students and others. For Green-Johnson, it also means a little practice on the weekends leading a shift at Jackson Free Clinic. "Sometimes, I lead a team of M3's and pharmacy students. We go in and just talk to the women patients there and listen to their stories."

It also meant adjusting to life on the fly when she and her husband, Krystian, had their own family.

"I have the most amazing support system a mom could possibly have. My husband is back in school now, majoring in criminal justice at Jackson State University, and he graduates in May. But, when I started med school a few years ago, we decided he would be a stay-at-home dad. We were there with three children under two. Part of that decision was affordability, but the other part was knowing they'd be comforted with their dad and be safe. He is the sole reason I've been able to do all this while in med school."

Michelletti will bring a unique perspective to his future practice - having carried out a doctor's orders as well as making them.

"I honestly love working on the medical side and working with patients," he said. "It's humbling to experience this blind trust the patient has with you. If a patient doesn't have that trust in you, then we've done something wrong. It feels good to have that relationship with the patient and have them say, 'This guy is going to take care of me and really knows what he's doing.'"