USC’s MD Class of 2026 gets a first look at their postgrad futures on Match Day

It was a milestone moment for the future physicians trained at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Gathered at the USC Health Sciences Campus on the balmy morning of March 20, the university’s largest-ever class of medical students learned where the next phase of their training will take them.

Earlier, 201 USC medical students had applied to postgraduate programs and ranked them in order of preference via the National Resident Matching Program. Now, on Match Day, the results of this admission process manifested at USC and medical schools across North America. At exactly 9 a.m. PDT, the Keck School of Medicine’s MD Class of 2026 ripped into envelopes containing big news amid the celebratory buzz of support from family, friends, faculty and staff. This year, the graduating students achieved an overall match rate of 96%.

“I’m heading to Portland!” said Angela Tang-Tan, who will be a neurosurgery resident at Oregon Health and Science University. “I’m so relieved, honestly. I resonated with the residents when I interviewed there. I had the greatest interactions, and I think it’ll be a really good fit.”

“The level of investment and guidance they’ve given me is above and beyond. My mentors have always had my back. That’s been critical to my success.”

-Angela Tang-Tan

Tang-Tan traces her calling to be a physician back to her first job in health care. During her undergraduate studies at University of California, Berkeley, she tackled long weekend shifts as an ambulance EMT. An already taxing job turned even more so with the COVID-19 epidemic.

“That was really tough,” said Tang-Tan, who grew up in the Bay Area. “You couldn’t have a life if you were in health care at the time. You had to be isolated from everybody. I still found myself doing it, even when it was difficult, and that was a beginning.”

Finding her passion for neurosurgery at the Keck School of Medicine, she spent a year as a Dean’s Research Scholar conducting basic studies in the laboratory of William Mack, MD, MBA, chair and professor of neurological surgery and clinical scholar. Tang-Tan feels well-prepared for her residency thanks to his mentorship, as well as that of Gabriel Zada, MD, professor of neurological surgery and of physiology and neuroscience, clinical scholar and vice chair for education in neurological surgery.

“The level of investment and guidance they’ve given me is above and beyond,” Tang-Tan said. “My mentors have always had my back. That’s been critical to my success.”

In a welcome surprise, Tang-Tan also reawakened her passion for creative writing at the medical school, starting with an elective seminar in narrative medicine. Alongside her peer-reviewed scientific publications, she’s also had her poems and nonfiction published. A piece by Tang-Tan will appear in Where It Hurts: Dispatches from the Emotional Frontlines of Medicine, a forthcoming anthology from Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.

“I enjoy the unique stories that neurosurgery and medicine can bring up,” she said. “So many stories are so heartbreaking, but there’s a lot of beauty, resilience and grace. I’ve had the desire to put words to that experience of humanity.”

Looking ahead to specializing in neurosurgery, Tang-Tan is excited for the future of the field.

“There are going to be leaps and bounds and revolutions in our understanding of the way we interact with the brain and the nervous system within our lifetime, within my generation, within my career,” she said. “That’s something I’m excited to be a part of.”

These sentiments echo the words of Carolyn Meltzer, MD, dean of the Keck School of Medicine, addressing students during a brief program that preceded the opening of envelopes.

“Embrace change and explore how you can push us forward to a new horizon of medicine,” said Meltzer, May S. and John H. Hooval, M.D., Dean’s Chair and professor of radiology. “You have the tools to excel in whatever specialty that you have chosen.”

“Training at USC has been absolutely incredible. We learn by doing, and they push you to take responsibility for your own patients, with appropriate supervision. That is a powerful experience that motivates you to learn so that you can better care for them — and not just them, but for your future patients as well.”

- Patrick Jennings

Medical student Patrick Jennings, an undergraduate alumnus of Notre Dame University, is looking forward to being a surgical resident at Rush University.

“I’m excited to be going back to the Midwest,” said Jennings, who grew up in Orange County. “I did a rotation there this summer, and had so much fun. My little sister is in medical school in Indiana, and I have lots of friends in Chicago, so it’ll feel like a homecoming.”

Like Tang-Tan, Jennings tested his interest in health care in other capacities before medical school. He got some training as a medical assistant, and added skills in search and rescue and emergency medical response as a ski patroller in the Eastern Sierra.

 In medical school, Jennings relished the chance for a hands-on education.

“Training at USC has been absolutely incredible,” he said. “We learn by doing, and they push you to take responsibility for your own patients, with appropriate supervision. That is a powerful experience that motivates you to learn so that you can better care for them — and not just them, but for your future patients as well.”

Jennings has learned in diverse settings. In addition to his rotations in the public health system at Los Angeles General Medical Center and in private quaternary care at the Keck Hospital of USC, training in pediatric surgery at partner institution Children’s Hospital Los Angeles influenced his desire to become a surgeon. He also got a lot out of providing care for unhoused people with the USC Street Medicine team and for men and women in Los Angeles County jails.

“I think that you can only get this kind of experience at USC,” Jennings said. “It broadens your training so that you know how to deal with all sorts of problems. Ultimately, I want to not only care for my patients’ immediate surgical issues, but also just be their doctor and help them out in other ways.”

Classmate Jason Tsoi, meanwhile, was overjoyed to be remaining at USC for an internal medicine residency based at LA General Medical Center. He is among the 28% of the Class of 2026 pursuing postgraduate education there.

“It’s my first choice,” said Tsoi, whose family calls Diamond Bar, California, home. “I’m so happy about it. I worked hard to get here, and it feels really good to finally have these results in my hands.”

Tsoi’s love of science originally pulled him in two different career directions: the culinary arts or medicine. He went to culinary school while he was a USC undergraduate, but his heart ultimately led him to train as a physician.

“I found more value in doing health care, and its promise of helping those in need,” Tsoi said. “Learning how to use science to improve lives was really what I wanted to do.”

“I worked hard to get here, and it feels really good to finally have these results in my hands. All the patients admitted to the hospital are going to have some contact with their primary internal medicine doctor, who is going to help them navigate the process. Being an internal medicine physician is kind of like being the quarterback of this team.”

- Jason Tsoi

Tsoi absorbed lessons in treating the patient rather than the disease during a rotation that had him working with infectious disease expert Devin Clark, MD, a lecturer in population and public health sciences. Clark encouraged him to consider all the complexities that can influence a person’s health.

“He inspired me to be a better clinician,” Tsoi said. “He has encyclopedic knowledge, and not just in his own field, and a grand love for all things medicine. I saw that if I’m consistent about my learning, maybe one day I can also have this vast amount of knowledge and use it to take care of my patients.”

Internal medicine appeals to Tsoi for its breadth and the chance to play an instrumental role in patient care.

“All the patients admitted to the hospital are going to have some contact with their primary internal medicine doctor, who is going to help them navigate the process,” he said. “Being an internal medicine physician is kind of like being the quarterback of this team. We’re there when things are great but, most importantly, we’re there when patients start declining — being there for the patients and covering a lot of different bases.”

Indeed, the Keck School of Medicine’s dean closed her remarks during the morning’s program with a meditation on the central importance of truly caring for patients.

“Your patients won’t remember which precision medicine approach you used to help fight their illness,” Meltzer said, “but they will remember the wise and empathetic physician who stood by them when times were toughest.”

Click here for more about Match Day.