Rutgers Medical Students—Committed to Improving Care—Learn Their Futures on Match Day
Students at Rutgers and across the country opened envelopes today to discover where they will complete their residencies
Competing in Division 1 gymnastics fulfilled a lifelong dream for Leah Gneco, but serious injuries got in the way.
She was a college sophomore when a surgeon determined she had withstood too much physical damage to ever return to the mat and would likely even have trouble keeping up with her friends and family on hikes and vacations. Yet, he waited until six months after surgery to tell her — otherwise, he worried, she might not have been motivated during physical rehabilitation.
Gneco was devastated. She understood the doctor’s reason for withholding the information, but she would have preferred to know sooner so she could have planned more realistically for her future. She decided to enter the medical field to treat patients the way she wished she had been treated.
“We need more doctors who not only care about whether surgery is done right, but also a patient’s mental health afterwards and how the procedure will impact their function and future,” Gneco said. “It motivated me to be that doctor.”
On March 20, during the nation’s annual Match Day event, the fourth-year student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) learned where she’ll complete the next step in her training as an anesthesiologist.
That day, Gneco was among thousands of medical school students across the country — including her RWJMS classmate Sofia Chapman and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) students Sidney K. Chu and Rachel Lee-Carey — who found out which hospitals had accepted them as residents. The scene was similar at both Rutgers campuses and throughout the United States, as medical students opened envelopes at the same moment nationwide to learn what the next phase of their careers would look like.
After meeting for interviews earlier this year, the students and hospitals ranked each other in order of preference, and the National Resident Matching Program used an algorithm to pair them.
“Match Day is a proud and defining moment not only for our students, but for the entire community of mentors, faculty, family and friends who helped make this achievement possible,” said Robert L. Johnson, dean of NJMS and interim chancellor for Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. “Watching this dedicated class take their next steps reaffirms the strength of our mission and the bright future of healthcare. Today, we celebrate not only where they matched, but also the purpose and promise they carry forward.”
At NJMS, 187 graduating students participated in Match Day, with 93% matching to a program of their choice, mirroring this year’s national match rate of 93%. Among those students, 78 (41%) matched to a New Jersey program — 56 (31%) of those to a residency program at Rutgers and 37 (20%) specifically to a program at NJMS. Other NJMS students matched at top institutions including Johns Hopkins, UCLA Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Duke, Emory and the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
At RWJMS, 153 graduating seniors participated in match processes this year, with a match rate of 96%. Among those students, 50 (33%) matched to a New Jersey program — 30 (20%) of those to a Rutgers residency program and 25 (16%) specifically to a program at RWJMS. Other RWJMS students will complete their residencies at top institutions including the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford Health Care, Cedars Sinai, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine.
“Match Day marks an extraordinary milestone in the journey of our medical students,” said Amy P. Murtha, founding dean of RWJMS. “The Class of 2026 has demonstrated remarkable dedication and talent, earning placements at many of the nation’s most prestigious residency programs across a wide range of specialties. We are incredibly proud to see them carry forward the values of excellence, compassion and service that define our school.”
Leah Gneco
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Match: Duke University
After leaving gymnastics, Gneco, who grew up in Saddle River and then studied neuroscience and math at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, funneled all her energy and frustration into becoming a doctor.
As an anesthesiologist, she plans to treat chronic pain, partly because she experiences it daily. After a broken neck and several ligament tears that required a string of surgeries, Gneco requires knee injections so she can stay on her feet long enough to make rounds. She’s also excited about the specialty because it will allow her to consider the whole patient.
“We give medications to help with pain, but we also focus on diet, exercise and mental health,” she said.
At RWJMS, which offered her an annual partial-tuition scholarship, Gneco worked as a tutor, conducted and presented research, went on global health trips to Spain and Liberia and held leadership roles in the Student National and Christian medical associations and RWJMS’s Homeless and Indigent Population Health Outreach Project (HIPHOP) Promise community health initiative.
In her down time, Gneco has turned crocheting for stress relief into a handmade purse business, CrochetsByLJG, and helped to start another company, Scrubside, the first job platform exclusively for medical students.
She was on the Piscataway campus with her parents, two sisters and fiancé when she received the news that she had matched at Duke.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be the first anesthesiologist in my family, and the cherry on top is getting my No. 1 pick,” she said. “I’m really excited about the global health program and the opportunity to do a service trip during my time in residency. I also like the chronic pain fellowship they have and look forward to working in that department.”
Sofia Chapman
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Match: Brown University
As an undergraduate at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, Sofia Chapman’s love for biology and knack for working with people convinced her to pursue medicine. But she wasn’t sure she could handle the job until she served as a certified nursing assistant at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When many of her colleagues quit during the initial fear and chaos, Chapman stayed.
“It was a pivotal moment for me,” she said. “I thought: ‘If I want to be a doctor, who would I be if I walked away from my patients now?’”
Chapman, who grew up in Ridgewood, is not only the first in her family to attend medical school, but also the first to join the military — a decision she made near the end of her initial year of medical school because it would expand her life skills, challenge her physically and cover her tuition for the following three years. As a second lieutenant medical officer in the New Jersey Army National Guard, she visits Sea Girt once a month to conduct pregnancy tests on hundreds of soldiers.
Chapman helped launch a Military Support Interest Group, which created a network for students and alumni who have served, or may do so.
She has also volunteered as a reading tutor for city children and a team leader at the HIPHOP Promise Clinic.
“I've been lucky enough to have the same patient at HIPHOP all four years,” she said, “and I have so much pride for being able to honor him the way he deserves to be honored.”
With plans to become a psychiatrist because her favorite part of caring for patients is getting to know them and their stories, Chapman has mentored fellow students who are interested in pursuing the specialty, authored research papers and volunteered for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Postpartum Support International.
She was on the Piscataway campus with her parents and two best friends when she learned she had matched at Brown, her top choice.
“Their faculty is so welcoming,” she said, “and they have amazing opportunities in child and perinatal psychiatry.”
Sidney K. Chu
New Jersey Medical School
Match: Weill Cornell Medical Center – New York-Presbyterian
As a student, an Olympian and an entrepreneur, Sidney Chu isn’t afraid to take action, and that helped confirm his interest in medicine.
“I like the idea of being at the helm of decision-making that can positively impact lives,” he said. “When things go wrong, doctors set the direction.”
As a pediatrician, Chu hopes to do that by instilling lifelong habits that will set children up to become healthy adults.
He already has experience helping children succeed.
An Olympic speed skater who competed for Hong Kong in 2022 and served as an alternate in 2026, Chu founded Hong Kong Speed Skating Academy so children could pursue the sport, which is uncommon there due to the tropical climate.
He also founded Heydoc Pediatrics, which provides video games children can play in doctor’s waiting rooms that teach them how to take charge of their health. The company recently won an innovation competition hosted on campus by FutureMed and will be deployed this spring at University Hospital in Newark.
Chu, who grew up in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, earned a bachelor's degree in biology and public health from George Washington University before competing in the Olympics during a gap year that preceded medical school.
“Training for an elite sport while going to college was certainly a challenge,” he said, “but it allowed me to develop time-management skills and the ability to focus.”
At NJMS, Chu continued to skate while completing his coursework and rotations, overseeing his companies and co-authoring research.
On Match Day, his brother, girlfriend and friends were with him on NJMS’s Newark campus as he received the news that he had matched at Cornell, his first choice.
“I’m excited about Cornell because I think the program offers the perfect blend, emphasizing quality, primary care, preventive health, groundbreaking research and advocacy,” he said.
Rachel Lee-Carey
New Jersey Medical School
Match: Montefiore
Although her parents worked in medicine, Rachel Lee-Carey took a different path.
After attending Manhattan’s Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts as a drama major, Lee-Carey graduated from The King’s College with a B.A. in politics, philosophy and economics.
Over eight years, the New York native worked as a restaurant manager, offered image and branding support to musicians and artists, ran the Uniquely You concert series she co-founded to raise money for charities and worked for Reality Team, which finds misinformation online and posts messaging to combat it — and where she plans to remain involved.
But her direction changed when her future father-in-law was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer.
“I was able to walk the family through the prognosis and help them make treatment decisions,” she said. “I thought, ‘I can really do this, not just for my family and for myself, but for anybody who walks into a hospital.’”
That set Lee-Carey on a course to complete a post-baccalaureate certificate in pre-medical studies at Columbia University, and then to attend NJMS.
Lee-Carey, who likes to be on the move and loves to work with children and their parents, plans to pursue either emergency medicine or pediatrics — ideally, a combination of the two — in a setting that emphasizes assisting the underserved.
As a parent to a 4-year-old son and primary caregiver to her mother following a brain bleed, she was inspired to co-found the Parents Association of NJMS, which connects med-student moms and dads so they can share advice and support.
During medical school, Lee-Carey also served on the boards of the Student National and Latino medical associations in a liaison role she created so the organizations could create a united front and a larger presence.A member of the Gold Humanism Society, she received an annual partial-tuition scholarship, the NJMS Education Award.
When she learned she had matched at Montefiore’s pediatrics program, Lee-Carey celebrated on the Newark campus with her husband, son, parents, stepmother, mother-in-law, aunt, uncle and a friend.
“I’m so excited to match to my No. 1 program,” she said. “I’m so honored to be able to care for children and fight for their health and happiness!”
Medical School Match Day
