Emory medical students learn where they will start their careers as doctors

As the clock approached noon on Friday, March 20, Emory School of Medicine Dean Sandra Wong addressed the crowd in the Emory Student Center, which included medical students in the Class of 2026 and their families and friends. 

“It’s the first day of spring, a time of rejuvenation, which is really a nice way to start the next day of your journey,” she said, welcoming students to Match Day, when they find out where they matched for residency training.

“When you are in training, there will be some fabulous days and there will be some tough days. There’s no getting around that,” Wong noted. “Through it all, just think about all the great training you’ve had here, all the friends you’ve made, everything you’ve learned. I know you’re going to go out there and make us all proud.”

Match Day falls on the third Friday of March every year, the day the National Resident Matching Program releases match results to medical students across the country at the stroke of noon, telling them where they will start their journey as doctors. 

Class President Jessy Kline addressed her class before the traditional Coke toast, saying, “It’s not about what mentor, what type of doctor, or where you’re going to go, it’s about putting on a white coat and wearing a stethoscope and helping people. And today, we’re achieving that dream.”

This is Emory’s largest Match Day group so far, said Dr. Bill Eley, executive associate dean of the School of Medicine.

“Many of you have chosen to do your residency at places to serve the underserved, because that’s what you’ve done in medical school,” Eley said. “And when I talk to you all, you always talk about ‘a hospital like Grady’ or ‘a hospital where I could really make a difference.’ So I just want to acknowledge that and say thank you for caring about our communities.”

“Please know the bonds you forged here — student to student, student to faculty, student to staff, student to patients — are long-lasting bonds,” concluded Eley. “We are exceptionally happy for you.”

And with that, the countdown to noon began, and the students rushed up to the table at the front of the room and ripped open the envelope with the name of their matching institution inside. 

Where they matched

From the Class of 2026, 159 students matched into residency programs, with 57 set to spend all or part of their residency training in Georgia and 47 in residency at Emory.

After Georgia, the next largest group, 19, are headed to California, 14 to Massachusetts, 12 to New York, and 10 to Pennsylvania. The top institutions represented are Emory, Harvard, University of California San Francisco, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins and New York University.

Various residency programs also work through early matching cycles. Two students matched into ophthalmology earlier this year.

Residency areas with the most Emory 2026 graduates include:

• Internal medicine (29)
• General surgery (16)
• Pediatrics (13)
• Obstetrics/gynecology (13)
• Psychiatry (13)
• Anesthesiology (11)
• Adult neurology (8)
• Dermatology (5)
• Orthopedic surgery (5)

Students also matched in a range of other areas, including child neurology, emergency medicine, interventional radiology, diagnostic radiology, family medicine, neurological surgery, physical medicine and rehab, and a transition year.

 

Robert Blakes and MopeninuJesu Oluyinka

A couple transforming deep values into lasting impact

Matched: Yale New Haven Hospital — both in Anesthesiology

MopeninuJesu Oluyinka was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, as the youngest of three children. She graduated from Morgan State University in 2018 as the class valedictorian with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in chemistry.  

Oluyinka spent the next two years at Medicine for the Greater Good, a Johns Hopkins Medicine initiative, providing personal protective equipment and public education advocacy for residents of Baltimore and beyond. 

The COVID-19 pandemic inspired her to learn more about how health outcomes intersect with community outreach, making Emory’s MD/MPH dual degree program undeniably appealing. She instantly felt at home among her peers, and fate intervened during her second week of classes, introducing her to her future fiancé.  

Robert Blakes hails from Sunnyvale, California, and graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2020. Like Oluyinka, he returned home to serve his community after completing his undergraduate degree. He gained hands-on field experience as a transport emergency medical technician and volunteered with a COVID-19 contact tracer program through his local public health department.

Blakes began to wonder how he could make a bigger impact, leading him to apply to Emory, where he was instantly excited about “the opportunity to train alongside and advocate for vulnerable populations.”

Once at Emory, his ambition led him to the Emory Medical Student Senate. “Serving my classmates in the Medical Student Senate allowed me to engage with people who constantly inspire and support one another,” he says. 

One of the couple's shared values is a commitment to helping others, including patients and peers. 

Oluyinka reflects on her growth as a leader, advocate and educator. Her roles have included student representative on the Student Curriculum Committee, lead tutor with the Center for Holistic Student Success, chair of Emory Medical Benchmark for Refining and Advancement through Continuous Quality Improvement Evaluation and more. Oluyinka’s generous spirit earned her multiple awards for teaching, mentorship and service.  

Some of Oluyinka and Blakes’ most memorable moments came from taking long walks together in Lullwater Preserve, hiking mountains, enjoying game nights and exploring Atlanta.

Blakes reflects, “Emory provided us with lifelong friendships and inspiring mentors. I have deep gratitude for the experiences that formed me into the person and future physician I am today.”  

While in medical school, Blakes also received his master of business administration degree from Goizueta Business School, which gave him a behind-the-scenes perspective into business operations.

“It allowed me to work on real-world consulting projects with Atlanta companies, explore health care systems and understand leadership in a hands-on way,” he says. During the program, he had the life-changing opportunity to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, which, he observes, “gave me a new perspective on both medicine and life outside of it.” 

Pursuing a master of public health degree was fundamental to developing Oluyinka’s perspective as a physician. “I gained a deeper understanding of how the social determinants of health affect patient outcomes and how to engage communities in ways that foster collaboration and people-centered solutions,” she says.

For her capstone project, Oluyinka examined Black maternal mortality in the United States through a health equity lens, for which she earned an outstanding capstone award for her commitment to health equity through innovative, action-oriented steps.   

Throughout their journeys, Oluyinka and Blakes leaned on each other for support. Both are pursuing careers in anesthesiology, participating in the couples match program, which allows young doctors to obtain positions in the same geographic location by linking their rank order lists. 

Oluyinka and Blakes will tie the knot in May 2026.

“I’m incredibly grateful to have spent these past several years at the Emory School of Medicine. They’ve truly been some of the most meaningful and growth-filled years of my life,” says Blakes. 

Oluyinka adds, “I am excited for what lies ahead and confident that wherever I go, I will continue to do what I love and uplift others along the way.”

Jessica McHenry

An early, military match story

Matched: Vanderbilt University in Ophthalmology

Born and raised in northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., Jessica McHenry cites her family as some of her best friends, whose early voices of encouragement have accompanied her throughout her journey.

In 2020, McHenry graduated magna cum laude from the College of William & Mary with a degree in kinesiology and health sciences, with a concentration in public health and a minor in business, where she volunteered as an emergency medical technician. After graduation, McHenry worked as a medical assistant for a pediatrician’s office and volunteered at pop-up COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics in her spare time.

McHenry has always felt driven to help others. As she was weighing her options for medical school, the United States Navy notified her that she had been selected for the Health Professions Scholarship Program. While this award addressed her questions about tuition, she still wanted to know where her presence would have the greatest impact. She wasn’t sure which school to pick until a chance encounter changed everything.

As she was scoping out Emory, she happened to run into Ira Schwartz, associate dean of medical education and student affairs. Schwartz immediately recognized her and introduced himself, saying, “Oh, hi! You’re Jessica, right? From northern Virginia?”

McHenry instantly felt that the connection between learners and faculty at Emory was different. “It showed me that Emory faculty go above and beyond to care for and support their students, truly knowing who they are rather than just knowing them as an application number,” she says.

Recently, she served as president of the Ophthalmology Interest Group, where she collaborated with peers and participated in outreach. One of her cherished memories is volunteering at the Clarkston Community Health Center. This student-led volunteer, free clinic provides primary and specialty medical services — including vision exams — to uninsured residents of the nearby Clarkston community.

During her time at Emory, McHenry worked with physicians on several research projects, leading to a variety of publications and conference presentations. One presentation won the Best Abstract Award from the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. “Emory has given me so many opportunities to learn, challenge myself, lead and serve. I have absolutely loved my time here,” she says.

Ophthalmology participates in early Match, and McHenry has been accepted to a residency at Vanderbilt University. After residency, she will serve as an ophthalmologist in the Navy for at least four years.

Graduation will be a reminder of how her time at Emory has fueled her journey. “I think that is what I will miss the most: the people. The outstanding doctors who have taught me everything I know, the incredible friends and classmates who have supported me,” she says.

And at the heart of her purpose: “The patients who reminded me, every single day, why I chose this path in the first place.”

Max Cornely

Emory alum leading with heart and ambition

Matched: Yale New Haven Hospital in Plastic Surgery

Max Cornely was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and relocated with his family to South Florida when he was seven years old. “As a first-generation immigrant, I have come to define home as where my family is rather than some set geographic location,” he reflects.

From an early age, Cornely dedicated himself to his studies. Upon high school graduation, he was awarded funding from the Gates Millennium Scholars Program and a QuestBridge scholarship, providing full financial support to complete his undergraduate and graduate pursuits prior to matriculating to medical school.

During his undergraduate education at Emory University, Cornely majored in neuroscience and behavioral biology with a minor in music. Upon graduating in 2018, he enrolled in the Rollins School of Public Health, concentrating on behavioral, social and health education sciences. Despite graduating during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he quickly found a role as a data coordinator at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a hospital system affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

While the work was rewarding, Cornely felt a strong desire to return to Atlanta and continue his education.

“I matriculated in 2021 with a clear guiding compass rooted in health care access, equity and evidence-based practice,” he says.

Back at Emory, Cornely dedicated himself to leadership and advocacy, serving as president of the Student National Medical Association, advocating as a student-faculty administrative liaison with the dean and contributing as a committee member for the Actionable Education Initiative.

“These opportunities allowed me to work closely with peers, faculty and leadership to address equity in medical education, student well-being and inclusive curriculum development,” Cornely says.

One of his proudest moments came during his third year, when he accepted the Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarship from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The award is presented to outstanding students promoting equal opportunity and access to health care. Only five students in the nation receive the award each year. “This award,” he declares, “is an honor that reflects Emory’s longstanding commitment to training physician-leaders.”

The wealth of experiences with patients showed Cornely that excellent care requires technical training and human connection, attributes that drew him to plastic and reconstructive surgery. “As a plastic surgeon, you have a confluence of opportunities to improve quality of life, restore function and access care while you deliver traditional health outcomes,” he says.

His passion led him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for a dedicated research fellowship. He credits Emory for allowing him to pursue his robust appetite for rigorous science and equity-driven research, emphasizing, “My year away from Emory did not represent a departure from my Emory training, but rather an extension of it.”

While he looks ahead to the forthcoming adventure, he feels the significance of the moment: “Emory taught me that medicine is more than what happens in the exam room or operating room,” Cornely says. “Medicine lives in mentorship, community engagement, scholarship and institutional change.

“I leave the School of Medicine deeply grateful, grounded in purpose and excited to carry forward the lessons and values that have defined my journey here.”

Riya Goel

Teaching, sustainability and helping others

Matched: University of California Los Angeles in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Riya Goel was born in Austin, Texas, but considers Palo Alto, California, home. She spent much of her childhood zigzagging across the map, living in Colorado, the San Francisco Bay area and India. In high school, she mentored elementary and middle school students.

Mentoring was her first taste of what would become a lifelong appetite for teaching. She enrolled at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, majoring in human biology. While biology and chemistry sparked her curiosity, she acknowledges, “I wasn’t sure if the pathways of regulatory science or bench research were right for me.” However, she remembered the joy she felt teaching and started organizing health education outreach events, eventually becoming president of the peer-to-peer mental health organization TrojanSupport. She graduated in 2020.

Early travels instilled Goel with a unique perspective on health care: “At Emory, I found countless opportunities to explore the effect one’s environment has on their health, and how environmental inequity plays a huge role in outcomes.”

Goel served as president of Medical Students for Climate Action, producing heat illness guidance for patients and providers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to presenting nationally on improvements to climate and health curricula, she helped bring “Ride for Their Lives,” an international cycling event to raise awareness about the harms of air pollution on health, to Emory. In 2024, the Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives recognized her with a Sustainability Innovator Award. 

“I envision my role as a physician to be teaching and working in collaboration with my future patients,” Goel reflects. Her mission was solidified while teaching sexual and public health to high school students as a mentor and curriculum coordinator for the Emory Pipeline Collaborative. During one of those sessions, a student slipped her an anonymous question, asking, “My boyfriend wants to have sex and insists, even when I don't want to. Am I allowed to say no?” After explaining that the option to say no is always a person’s right, Goel understood that a physician’s duty involves more than offering medical knowledge. It’s about “restoring agency to those who may feel powerless in their own bodies.” 

Goel was attracted to gynecology and obstetrics because it allowed her to embrace her talents as an educator, advocate and public speaker. Her clinical contributions include expanding electronic medical records to improve anal cancer screening at the Ponce de Leon Center Clinical Research Site. To accomplish this, she collaborated with physicians and staff at an HIV primary care center in Atlanta. She also conducted several research projects, including exploring the impacts of seasonal flooding on pregnant women and children in Makassar, Indonesia.

As she prepares for her residency, Emory has left a lasting impression. “I am grateful to have trained in an environment where caring for underserved populations is a shared priority,” Goel reflects. While here, she met her partner, Samuel Stresemann M3, and “formed friendships and professional relationships that I will carry with me for life.”

She adds, “I am beyond excited to see where the next step in my journey takes me.”

Jessy Kline

Class president driven by meaningful patient connection

Matched: University of Pittsburgh in Internal Medicine — Medical Education 

As a child growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, Jessy Kline brimmed with passion for directing movies, screenwriting and professional swimming. Her career plans were uncertain until she joined a pediatric oncology lab at the National Institutes of Health at 15.

Joining the NIH meant Jessy split her summers between poolside lifeguarding and coaching, and in learning about tumor micro-environments and immunotherapies in the lab. She enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, where she delved into topics such as philosophy, neuroscience and legal studies. She worked as a research assistant in a glioblastoma lab, helped run university blood drives and donned the university’s mascot costume. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology, philosophy and neuroscience, she returned to the NIH before applying to Emory.

“I was nervous about moving to Atlanta without any connections,” remembers Kline, “but I quickly found my home in the Class of 2026.” She made fast friends during clinical rotations, where the school randomly pairs classmates. Because her peers were always shuffling during her more than 2,500 hours of clinical rotations, she learned to cultivate meaningful relationships quickly.

Kline was elected class president her first year at Emory and was re-elected every year. As the 2026 class president, she advocated for student needs and orchestrated several class events, including the annual Cadaver Ball and the inaugural Doc and Chomp, a chili cooking competition.

Pursuing internal medicine with a specialty in hematology and oncology appealed to Kline. As someone driven by people-oriented bonds, she felt at home with her extroverted peers in internal medicine. “I have always been interested in oncology as the patient population allows for deep, meaningful connections,” she says.

While at Emory, Kline contributed to a research paper alongside faculty members Jennifer Kawwass and Audrey Marsidi. She also worked with Theresa Gillespie on research projects exploring adolescent-young-adult oncology and cervical cancer.     

Patient interactions filled her with purpose: “When you have both the responsibility and opportunity to work with people going through one of the worst times of their lives, it touches you intimately.”

Kline fondly reflects on the everyday encounters that made her time at Emory extra memorable: “I lived with other medical students all four years and got to compare days in the kitchen,” she says, adding, “pre-clinically, I would pack my bag with meals and spend the days on campus, ambling from lectures, to the library, the gym and outdoor breaks.” The camaraderie boosted her confidence, too. “I took all my step exams with one of my best friends and shared a room the night before to ease our nerves.”

Kuhan Mahendraraj

Learning at the intersection of community and creativity

Matched: Children’s National Medical Center in Pediatrics

Kuhan Mahendraraj cites his grandfather as an early catalyst for his interest in medicine. Growing up in Allendale, New Jersey, Mahendraraj recalls the vivid spark in his grandfather’s eyes as he shared stories of practicing obstetrics and gynecology in Sri Lanka.

 It was only a matter of time before “my love of science and desire to serve my communities merged,” Mahendraraj says. He volunteered at local hospitals in high school and shadowed pediatric emergency room staff as an undergraduate at Hamilton College, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Hispanic studies with a minor in biology with a pre-medicine track.

The summer after college graduation, Mahendraraj co-led a language and hiking trip to the Spanish Pyrenees mountains. Group leadership was his first glimpse of the bright future awaiting him in pediatrics, as he enjoyed mentoring. He relocated to Boston, where he worked at the Boston Bone and Joint Institute for three years, opening his eyes to the interdisciplinary talents needed in medicine. He then attended Tufts University, where he received a master’s degree in biomedical sciences before enrolling in the Emory School of Medicine.

“I was quite nervous about moving to Atlanta because I did not have a strong community here,” admits Mahendraraj, “but those fears washed away within the first few weeks as I got to know my class.”

Membership in the Young Physicians Initiative allowed him to harness his zeal for mentorship. Further involvement with school-led organizations, such as the Center for Holistic Student Success, sparked his excitement for medical education, which he realized “offers the perfect blend of creativity, research, teaching and mentorship.”

Pediatric medicine appealed to Mahendraraj: “I have always enjoyed working with kids and think that there is a unique sense of purpose and fulfillment that comes with working in pediatrics.”

He felt right at home with its wide population and varied needs. “In pediatrics, you can have a one-year-old that can’t give you any clues as to what’s going on, and an unbelievably sassy teenager next door,” he says.

Pursuing his passion for pediatric medicine bridged his interests in community service.

His time at Emory taught him the value of academic medicine, and he hopes to eventually secure related leadership roles. Emory's intense and rewarding educational program was foundational to his development as a physician. He fondly remembers long hours in the anatomy lab, awe at witnessing lifesaving care in the Grady Trauma Center and indulging in the occasional intramural soccer match. 

While he looks forward to the next chapter, Mahendraraj reiterates how his time here changed him forever: “At Emory, I have been so lucky to find lifelong friends and mentors. They regularly inspire me to be a better friend, medical professional and community member.”