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Eighteen students from the graduating class of medical students at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine matched in residency programs at USA Health.

Published Mar 25th, 2025

Last Friday, the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine Class of 2025 gathered at the USA Mitchell Center for Match Day. During this milestone event, senior medical students who participated in the National Resident Matching Program learned where they will complete their residency training

Supported by their families, faculty and staff, the future physicians opened the envelopes containing their fates. Then they took to the stage to announce their placements and pin their residency locations on a map.

Nicholas Friend and Mary Claire Carlton

Married classmates Nicholas Friend and Mary Claire Carlton are one of several couples in the Class of 2025 who met at the Whiddon College of Medicine.

“We have loved being here – particularly because our class is full of the most wonderful friends in the world – and would absolutely choose it again,” Carlton said.

By their third year of medical school, they were engaged and married, and now they are expecting a baby in April. The pair reflected on the challenges of matching into residency programs as a couple.

“Between the couples match, an incoming tiny human, and our two very energetic dogs, we have given up on being nervous and are just choosing to take each day as it comes,” Carlton said.

After opening their envelopes together on stage, they announced they will both stay at USA Health, where he matched in internal medicine, and she matched in general surgery.

This year, 46% of the graduating class matched at programs in Alabama, including 18 students who matched at USA Health hospitals.

  • Sidney Bailey – Diagnostic Radiology
  • Brandon Barnes – Surgery
  • Hanna Bobinger – Internal Medicine
  • William Broadfoot – Internal Medicine
  • Mary Claire Carlton – Surgery
  • Austin Chapman – Surgery
  • Erica Conway – Internal Medicine
  • Emily Dunn – Internal Medicine
  • Nicholas Friend – Internal Medicine
  • Sarah Jackson – Pediatrics
  • Warren Law III – Internal Medicine
  • Eric Ngyuen – Diagnostic Radiology
  • Meghan Rice – Family Medicine
  • Katelyn Rogers – Internal Medicine
  • Regan Shaw – Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Yulong Stokes – Neurology
  • Matthew Watterson – Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Ada Chaeli van der Zijp-Tan – Family Medicine

See more photos from Match Day on Flickr.

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