The perfect match: UTSW students open envelopes to residency futures

DALLAS – March 21, 2025 – Members of UT Southwestern Medical School’s Class of 2025 gathered with anticipation inside the Bryan Williams, M.D., Student Center gymnasium Friday morning to learn where they will begin the next phase of their training as residents. The Dallas Mavericks’ drumline led the crowd in a countdown, and at precisely 11 a.m. the students opened their Match Day envelopes, joining thousands of other aspiring physicians nationwide in this annual rite of passage.

Cheers abounded as 222 UT Southwestern students, surrounded by friends and family, proudly showed off their matches with more than 80 residency programs across the U.S. After graduating in May, they will be heading to prestigious hospitals across the country, including Massachusetts General, Johns Hopkins, UCSF, and Northwestern. Seventy-five students will continue their training at UTSW-affiliated programs, which rank among the best in the nation.

U.S. News & World Report named UT Southwestern among its Best Medical Schools for 2024-25. UTSW has the largest graduate medical education training program in Texas, with more than 1,400 clinical residents completing their medical education with postgraduate specialty and subspecialty training.

“Match Day is a momentous occasion that celebrates our students and all they have accomplished over the past four years,” said Angela Mihalic, M.D., Dean of Medical Students and Associate Dean for Student Affairs at UT Southwestern Medical School, Professor of Pediatrics, and a Distinguished Teaching Professor.

“This milestone marks the beginning of a new chapter. As the members of the Class of 2025 prepare to embark on the next phase of their medical training, we feel confident that their exceptional achievements at UT Southwestern will only lead to greater success and improve the lives of countless patients with competence and compassion,” she said. “We are exceedingly proud to have helped train the next generation of primary care and specialty physicians who will answer a critical call of this nation.”

This year, the National Resident Matching Program matched more than 40,000 medical students to institutions across the country. Top specialty selections for UT Southwestern students include Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, and Anesthesiology.

“It sounds cliché, but I can’t remember ever wanting to pursue a career besides medicine,” said Ruchita Iyer, who will train in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. “Reflecting on my education, I am beyond grateful to have completed my medical training at UTSW, where I have developed the foundation to become a well-rounded, empathic physician.”

“After my family moved to Texas in 2020, I wanted to stay close to home while pursuing a world-class medical education,” Pooja Venkatesh, soon to train in Neurosurgery at Emory University, said of her decision to complete medical school at UT Southwestern. “I knew UTSW would be a place where I could thrive, both professionally and personally.”

UTSW training opportunities, rankings, distinctions

UT Southwestern’s training facilities include William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth for eight consecutive years; Parkland Memorial Hospital, one of the nation’s busiest public hospitals; and Children’s Medical Center Dallas, one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country and the only hospital in North Texas to be ranked in all pediatric specialties in U.S. News’ annual Best Children’s Hospitals report. UT Southwestern also houses a 49,000-square-foot Simulation Center – one of the largest of its kind.

UT Southwestern is nationally ranked among the best hospitals by U.S. News in 11 specialties, the most of any in Texas: cancer; cardiology, heart, and vascular surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose, and throat; gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; geriatrics; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopaedics; pulmonology and lung surgery; rehabilitation; and urology. It is also rated “High Performing” in 19 out of 20 adult procedures and conditions, from aortic valve surgery and hip replacement to back surgery (spinal fusion) and stroke care.

Other key distinctions

• UT Southwestern Medical School is ranked Tier 1 in research according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 Best Medical Schools rankings.
• UTSW’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in North Texas – one of only 57 across the U.S.
• UTSW is designated as an Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center by The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and has a Level 4 Epilepsy Center, the highest possible rating awarded by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers.
• UTSW scientists currently lead more than 5,990 research projects annually, supported by more than $767 million in funding.
• The Perot Family Scholars Medical Scientist Training Program, one of just 54 M.D./Ph.D. training programs in the country supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), offers a dual degree to strengthen the advancement of laboratory discoveries into the clinical arena.
• UTSW ranked No. 3 in the 2024 Nature Index among global health care institutions for its published research.
• UTSW is ranked second overall in Comprehensive Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) for Patient Experience reported by Vizient, which includes 97% of all AMCs.
• UTSW was awarded Press Ganey’s 2024 Guardian of Excellence Award, which recognizes the top 5% of health care providers in delivering patient experience. It also received the Pinnacle of Excellence Award, which commends patient experience scores over a three-year time frame.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center   

UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.