Gliding down the red carpet and striking poses for the cameras, medical students were the stars of their own Match Day on Friday, March 21. While sealed envelopes have given way to email notifications, a golden Bucky statue and autographed gold stars added glamor to the memorable occasion.
Each year, on the third Friday in March, medical students nationwide learn where they have been placed for clinical residency training programs for most specialties. At the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Match Day unfolds with a celebration attended by close friends and family, who cheer as students share their matches from the podium. Skits, special remarks and an annual theme — this year the students selected “awards show”— create a joyful atmosphere.
This important milestone offers ample reason to celebrate and addresses a critical issue facing health care in Wisconsin. Projections from the 2018 Healthcare Workforce Report from the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce indicate a shortfall of 745 doctors statewide by 2035, by which time 40% of primary care physicians are expected to retire. Approximately one-third of the 2025 matching students will continue to call Wisconsin home in programs in Madison and locations throughout the state like Milwaukee, Waukesha and La Crosse.
Sonam Dolma and Takwa Yasser Salem served as the lead student planners for Match Day 2025 through their roles as class co-presidents. They say the theme added extra pizzazz to the annual event.
“We wanted our class to feel like the celebrities of the day,” said Salem, who matched into internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. “Whether the outcome was exactly what you hoped for or something different, we all worked so hard to get to this point. This highlights the camaraderie our class has had since our very beginning of medical school.”
Dolma also matched into internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. She and Salem were both drawn to the specialty’s flexible career options. Dolma, too, was moved by her peers’ camaraderie throughout the week leading up to Match Day.
“We are on this journey together and we wish to continue that support into our careers,” said Dolma. “This week I saw what our medical students do best in what can be a stressful time, coming together and supporting their friends and peers so we can celebrate our success together.”
The celebration included faculty emcees serving as comedic hosts and remarks from Dean Robert N. Golden, MD, as well as student and faculty speakers. For Golden, the event held special significance, as it would be the last one he would preside over as dean of the school. Golden will return to the faculty on May 15 when Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA, FACS, becomes the school’s new dean and vice chancellor for medical affairs. As one of the longest-serving medical school deans in North America, 2025 marked Golden’s 19th Match Day at the school.
“I can’t think of a better time to start your residency and career as a physician,” Golden told the students. “Your rapidly growing knowledge base, coupled with your embrace of the humanistic aspects of medicine and public health, and accompanied by the promise of evolving technologies, will allow you to have an enormous impact and benefit for the patients, families and communities that you serve.
“The real award winners today are you, our about-to-graduate students. But best supporting actor and actress awards go to your families: a large cast of spouses, partners, parents and others who have acted in your best interest by providing encouragement, understanding and patience while you pursued the challenging and demanding role of medical student.”
One third of matching students this year will perform a residency in a primary care specialty: family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics. Many of these students will remain in primary care. Others will pursue fellowships or other forms of sub-specialization in areas like cardiovascular medicine, infectious disease, nephrology or geriatrics. Geriatrics is a specialty projected to have severe shortages throughout the country by the end of the decade.
Students matched across more than 30 states plus Washington, D.C.
Students matched
Match rate*
Matched in Wisconsin
*2025 graduating students
Kaitlin Machina matched into emergency medicine at Stanford Health Care in Stanford, CA. She chose emergency medicine for its fast-paced environment and the ability to impact patients’ lives through multiple areas of medicine. The MD curriculum’s integrated training in aspects of public health also made her consider how emergency medicine, including access to emergency care, relates to the broader health of populations and communities.
One value guided her journey: service to others. She started her career in health care as a nursing assistant in a long-term care facility, where she learned how much she enjoyed helping others through obstacles big and small.
“I brought this with me to medical school when rotating in the emergency room,” she said. “I would often spend extra time talking with patients, bringing them blankets, hearing their stories, making them more comfortable during a scary time. I wanted them to know they were cared for.”
For Machina, spending time in the emergency department also sparked an interest in firearm safety. She helped form the first firearm safety student education program at UW–Madison, working to develop initiatives that promoted responsible firearm ownership and injury prevention through education and advocacy. She said multiple medical specialties play important roles in talking with patients about firearm safety, but in the emergency department physicians are informed by the trauma they see and can speak to those who may not routinely see a primary care doctor.
“It’s about having a conversation with a patient,” Machina said. “Do you have firearms at home? Do you have locks for them? Are there children in your home? Even basic questions can help get a patient to think more deeply about how their firearms are stored. I look forward to exploring this area more in emergency medicine.”
Samantha Busch grew up in Blue Mounds, WI. Despite her rural upbringing, she felt drawn to practice medicine in urban areas, and ultimately enrolled in the school’s Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health (TRIUMPH) program, which is designed to prepare students to care for communities in an urban setting. She said her choice was influenced by an undergraduate experience in a service-learning class, when she became a mentor to a child experiencing homelessness in Madison. Later, she spent a year with AmeriCorps helping connect individuals with health insurance options and supporting service organizations. She saw how poverty, homelessness and education impact individual and community health. Learning more about these issues became a passion for her.
“It’s so unique to have an integrated urban clinical training program — not every place offers that,” Busch said. “I think UW listens to and understands the needs of the state, and that’s really important. It makes me feel good about our institution because they see this need and are doing something about it.”
Busch was drawn to family medicine from the beginning of medical school, when she learned how broad the specialty can be. She is excited to care for patients through all stages of life, from labor and delivery, wellness visits, minor procedures, sports medicine and end-of-life care.
During medical school, Busch tapped into an interest in teaching and mentoring. She joined the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and currently serves on its board of directors as the student representative. She earned a place in the 2024 Pisacano Scholars Leadership Program, a prestigious recognition from the Pisacano Leadership Foundation. Along with scholarship funding, the scholars receive mentorship and training in leadership topics like negotiation, teaching, health policy and advocacy.
As part of the school’s Family Medicine Interest Group, Busch helped run a basic life support in obstetrics course.
“I loved being part of the teaching team and brainstorming how we would convey information during the course,” she said. “I absolutely fed off the environment where everyone was learning and engaging in the material, especially when we moved on to working hands-on with models.”
Banner image: Leo Lakpa, PhD, was nominated by his classmates as the Match Day student speaker and fully embraced the moment, taking the stage in a tuxedo. During medical school, he and his wife welcomed two children. Now, he’s headed to Rochester, MN to begin his otolaryngology residency at Mayo Clinic.
Photos by Media Solutions
