Several UCI medical students participating in Match Day will be available to share their exceptional stories. They are:

• Vincent Whelan, who has an incurable genetic disease that slowly turns his muscles to bone, sees becoming a pediatrician as a way to assist children with genetic disorders.
• Mike O’Leary, a globe-trotting medical student who has worked in African and South American clinics, wants to be a surgeon and help the world’s impoverished get much-needed healthcare.
• Matthew Fradkin, whose love of music spurred him to start the nonprofit Music to Heal, intends to specialize in pediatrics and continue sharing the healing power of music with young patients.
• Erika Vargas, who took six years to finish medical school while raising two young children, plans to return to her San Diego home and help disadvantaged Latino families receive basic medical care.
• Yasser Giron and Tatianne Velo, PRIME-LC students who have a child together, hope they’ll be matched to the same residency program.

Medical students find out on Match Day where they will spend the next three to seven years pursuing postgraduate medical training and beginning their careers as doctors. Match Day occurs simultaneously at medical schools nationwide to fill about 24,000 residency positions available each year at hospitals and clinics. At UCI’s festive Match Day event, anxious students march up to a podium one at a time in front of family and friends and open an envelope containing a notification of acceptance to a particular residency program. Always emotional, Match Day provides superb photo opportunities.