Celebrating Match Day 2025

Today, I had the honor of joining fourth-year medical students from Florida Atlantic’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, their families, faculty members, and hundreds of other guests to celebrate Match Day. This annual event, which students across the country observe simultaneously, marks the culmination of their medical training as they discover their matches for residency programs. Having championed the legislative efforts to secure funding to establish the Schmidt College of Medicine during my time in the Florida House of Representatives, it was an especially proud experience for me to congratulate our medical students at their moment of high accomplishment for the first time as University president.

With each match, our MedOwls not only revealed their remarkable dedication to excellence, but also their unwavering commitment to addressing the health care needs of our communities. As part of the Schmidt College of Medicine’s mission, 36 percent of the class of 2025 will conduct their residencies in Florida, and 25 percent will specialize in primary care including internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. The class of 2025 also matched in some of the most competitive specialties in medicine, such as orthopedic surgery, dermatology, vascular surgery, interventional radiology, and neurosurgery, among others. 

Among the exemplary students in the class of 2025 are Elisha Myers, a Fulbright Scholar and founder of the Florida Atlantic Student-Initiated Free Clinic, which provides care to underserved communities; Ivan Grela, a Woods Scholarship recipient, former high school biology teacher, and first-generation college graduate; Miguel Antonio Castro, who has mentored more than 500 middle and high school students with limited resources in health care careers through hands-on education and leadership; and Rohit Merugu, who attended Florida Atlantic as an undergraduate and is now matched at Florida Atlantic for residency to make him a “triple owl.”

Among the various Florida institutions where the class of 2025 placed are the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine; Memorial Healthcare System; Broward Health Medical Center; Cleveland Clinic Florida; University of Miami/Jackson Health System; University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine; University of Florida College of Medicine – Shands Hospital; Florida International University; HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital; and Orlando Health.

The class of 2025 also placed in several other top institutions nationally, including Northwestern University – McGaw Medical Center; Yale-New Haven Hospital; Tufts Medical Center; Baylor College of Medicine; Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein Campus; University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and Duke University Medical Center.

Florida Atlantic’s post-graduate residency programs also matched 48 outstanding graduating medical students from across the nation. They will enter residency programs in internal medicine (24), surgery (12), emergency medicine (six), psychiatry (three) and neurology (three). Additionally, Florida Atlantic’s fellowships will welcome new trainees in cardiology, hospice and palliative care, geriatrics, vascular surgery, and pulmonary disease and critical care medicine.

We are thrilled to celebrate the extraordinary success of Florida Atlantic’s medical students this Match Day, and I extend my warmest congratulations to them. We are very proud of their many accomplishments here at Florida Atlantic. We also take great pride in welcoming the exceptional students and trainees who were matched with the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. I have every confidence that with their skills and compassion, they will uplift countless lives and transform the future of health care in our state and nation.

Congratulations, MedOwls!