Medical Students Match into Residencies Reflecting Their Communities and Purpose

student holding match letter while being hugged by family
student holding match letter while being hugged by family

Twenty-four medical students from the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science/UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine program celebrated Match Day on Friday, March 20.

Following tradition, the fourth-year students simultaneously unsealed envelopes at 9:00 a.m., revealing their residency assignments – a moment replicated at medical schools across the country.

This year, 100% of CDU/UCLA students matched with a residency program. Half of the students matched into primary care specialties, including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics. These fields are critical to improving health outcomes in medically underserved communities like those surrounding CDU’s campus in South Los Angeles.

The remaining half matched into a wide range of non-primary care specialties, including Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Plastic Surgery, and Radiation Oncology, highlighting the breadth of talent and high caliber of CDU/UCLA students trained within the medical education program.

For many students, Match Day was not only about securing a residency, but about returning to places that shaped their journeys or gave back to their families in full-circle moments that reflect their deep personal connections to medicine.

student holding up Match Day results surrounded by family

Bryce Bentley matched into CDU’s Psychiatry residency program, allowing him to serve the community that raised him.

“I was born and raised in Leimert Park and have been in Los Angeles my entire life,” said Bentley. “I’m really happy to give back to the community I come from.”

For Brandon Brizuela, matching into Pediatrics at UC San Diego Medical Center carried profound personal meaning.

“My sister received a transplant at UC San Diego when she was a little kid,” said Brizuela. “I feel incredibly fortunate to give back to a place that gave my family so much.”

Geographically, an overwhelming majority of the graduating class will remain in California. 83% matched into residency programs across Northern and Southern California, with 58% remaining in Southern California.

This is particularly impactful for the state, as Black and Latino physicians remain significantly underrepresented in California’s workforce. According to the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), achieving parity would require an additional 37,000 Latino physicians. While recent physician graduates from the Black community are well represented, they still make up only 4% of the physician workforce, compared to 5.6% of the state’s population.

The significance of the day was perhaps best captured by CDU student Jahmil Lacey who matched in Psychiatry at Stanford Health Care, marking a pivotal milestone after taking a non-traditional path to medicine that began at age 36. He closed the ceremony with an inspirational toast reflecting on the collective journey of the class.

“I want to give a toast to the communities that have allowed us into their lives,” said Lacey. “The patients we’ve impacted and learned from, the communities that need us to pursue careers in medicine and public health, and to all of those who support this institution and make moments like this possible.”

As a Historically Black Graduate Institution (HBGI), one of only four Historically Black medical schools in the country, and a member of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, CDU continues to lead the charge in developing physicians who are not only highly trained, but deeply committed to advancing health equity in the communities that need them most.