Match Day photos: ‘A win for everyone’

There were tears and cheers as fourth-year medical students at the University of Illinois Chicago learned which residency programs they had been accepted to during the Match Day ceremony on March 20 at the Isadore and Sadie Dorin Forum.

Ripping open the white envelope containing the name of their residency program was more than a defining moment for these students; it was an opportunity to celebrate their journey with family, friends and mentors.

“This is a win for everyone. For me. For my family. For my mentors,” said Israel Makinde, who matched for an internal medicine residency at his first choice, the University of California, Los Angeles. “It was a long story and journey to get here, but I’m here, and I’m very happy with the results.”

This year, 281 medical students from the three College of Medicine campuses were matched with programs nationwide. Of those, 166 at UIC matched in 23 specialties in 29 states and the District of Columbia. Sixty-five students from the Peoria campus matched in 18 specialties in 19 states, and 50 from the Rockford campus matched in residency programs in 14 specialties in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

At universities across the country, a record 48,050 applicants participated in Match Day, according to the National Resident Matching Program. 

For College of Medicine students, the top-matched specialty of 2026 was internal medicine, followed by family medicine and pediatrics. The top hospital placement was the University of Illinois Hospital, followed by the University of Chicago. Top match locations include Illinois, California and Ohio.

Match Day is a coordinated event in which students nationwide are notified at the same time of their residency placements, where they will receive three to seven years of specialty training. 

“I can’t believe I did it,” said Jakara Hubbard, who was accepted for a family medicine residency at her first choice, the University of California, San Francisco. “I’m just feeling so excited.”

Hubbard’s medical school journey was unconventional. For the 40-year-old, Match Day fulfilled a lifelong dream of helping others. She initially got a degree — and later a job — in sports management, then moved on to family counseling. But after more than a decade as a counselor, she felt something was missing.

“During a conversation with my dad, (I said), ‘I won’t be happy until I’m a physician.’ So, with his emotional and financial support, I was able to quit my full-time job, open my own practice and go to medical school,” Hubbard said.

Attending UIC helped Michael Edgar affirm his desire to help underserved people. Edgar, originally from Toronto, Canada, worked as a chiropractor but realized his work with chronic-pain patients was not fulfilling his goals in health care. He decided to return to medical school.

He experienced challenges and life changes along the way: navigating a long-distance marriage, the arrival of his first child and a medical emergency that almost ended his life.

“It caused me to delay graduation and reconcile and revitalize what’s important in life,” he said of his experience. “Through all that, I kept persevering and had the people behind me that really mattered, and now here we are.”

He celebrated his match in plastic surgery at The Ohio State University with his wife, his young son, his mother and his mother-in-law.

“What lured me to medicine in the first place was helping the people who couldn’t get help,” he said. “In Toronto, I worked with a lot of underserved populations and helped develop resources for individuals who couldn’t access care. What I saw at UIC was a similar kind of mission, helping people who really needed help.”

Makinde, who is originally from Nigeria and earned a second bachelor’s degree after moving to the United States nine years ago to pursue medicine, wore a traditional agbada to acknowledge his heritage and journey. While his family wasn’t able to join him for the celebration, he was thankful for their support and for the persistence of his younger self.

“When I was young, I had a dream and didn’t know what was going to happen, but I kept believing, and I kept going for it,” he said. “So, I really want to thank the child who never stopped dreaming and the man who has now made it. I’m really excited.”