Match Day 2016

The Statler City Golden Ballroom in downtown Buffalo was filled with nervous, but excited, fourth-year medical students and their families waiting to learn where the students will pursue their medical residency training.

Each class member received a sealed letter from the National Resident Matching Program, and when David A. Milling, MD, senior associate dean for student and academic affairs, led a countdown from 10, the ballroom’s atmosphere resembled that of a New Year’s Eve Gala.

Students excitedly opened their envelopes at the same time, revealing their fates. What followed next was a steady stream of tears of joy, family hugs and excited cellphone calls and texts.

Forty-five students, or 31 percent of the class of 143, matched into UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences residencies.

That compares to 30 in 2015 and 28 in 2014 — growing evidence that more and more students are seeking to continue their training at UB.

William Stendardi — who matched in internal medicine at the University of California, San Diego — felt like many of his classmates in the moments just after the envelopes were opened: stunned, but in a good way.

“It is great to see all my classmates here together as we start the next chapter in our lives,” he said. “It is really hard to put into words how I feel right now. I am very emotional.”

Sarah Riley was ecstatic to have matched into a psychiatry residency at Yale-New Haven Medical Center in Connecticut.

Her happiness grew after she made her way over to the next table to learn that her best friend, Lauren Jepson, had also matched into Yale in a pediatrics residency. Upon sharing the news, the two friends shrieked and fell into a tearful embrace.

Jepson had matched as a couple with Nicholas Palladino, who matched into Yale in an emergency medicine residency. Overall, six students matched into Yale-New Haven Medical Center.

“I’m very excited. It is a big move to make,” Riley said. “We actually have quite a group going to Yale, so that will be nice.”

Aneela Cox and Joshua Cox also matched as a couple and could not have been any happier about the results.

Aneela matched into a family medicine residency at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and Joshua matched into an internal medicine residency at the same university.

The couple said it was nerve-wracking to try and match as a couple, but they said it could not have had a more positive outcome.

“It is my dream program, so it worked out really well,” Aneela said.

All 143 fourth-year medical students are listed below with their future medical specialties and the locations of their residency matches.