An accidental meeting with an orthopedic surgeon changed J.D. Schwartzman’s life when he was in middle school. Friday, and 20 years later, the dream that encounter inspired became a reality during National Residency Match Day. Schwartzman, a UCF College of Medicine senior, matched into orthopedic surgery, one of the nation’s most competitive specialties, at Baylor University.
“Orthopedic surgery gives you the amazing ability to return mobility to people and return them to an active lifestyle that is so important to health,” says Schwartzman, who did his undergraduate work at Duke University, where he competed in fencing.
Schwartzman was one of 119 UCF students to match into residencies in specialties including internal medicine, psychiatry, emergency medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN and anesthesiology. UCF’s Class of 2025 earned a 100% placement rate. This year’s national average was 93.5%.
M.D. graduates cannot practice medicine without first completing a residency in their selected specialty. They spend their fourth year of medical school interviewing with residency programs across the nation. They list their top choices and residency programs do the same. A computer then matches each list. Matches are kept secret until noon EST on the third Friday in March.
Nationwide, UCF students are going to residency programs at programs including Baylor University, Brown University, Cleveland Clinic, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Southern California and Vanderbilt University. Forty-four are doing all or part of their residency training in Florida, including eight at Orlando Health, 11 at UCF-HCA residencies, the University of Miami, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, the University of Florida and University of South Florida.
Schwartzman was in seventh grade in Bethesda, Maryland and his school held monthly cultural awareness fairs that included foods of a particular culture. He loved learning about other countries and especially enjoyed the food. One month, as he walked in, he discovered the fair had been replaced with a career lecture.
“The food certainly wasn’t as good but I thought it would be rude to walk out, so I stayed,” he says. The speaker was an orthopedic surgeon. Schwartzman was the only teenager who wasn’t “grossed out” by the surgical photos. He went home that night and told his parents he was going to become an orthopedic surgeon. That dream never faltered. He came to UCF because of the medical school’s pioneering spirit and the chance to help create a program in an emerging Medical City at Lake Nona. Friday, after opening his match envelope, he called the orthopedic surgeon who inspired him to say thank you.
“That doctor has no idea the impact he had on my life,” he says.
Dreams, life and inspiration were on the mind of Deborah German, vice president for health affairs and dean of UCF’s medical school, when she welcomed students and their families to UCF Match Day.
“At noon,“ she says, “as you open your match envelope, you are opening the door to your future.”
Valeriya Prytkova thought she wanted to be an OB-GYN, but then on vacation during her first year of medical school, her father was shot during a robbery. He survived but the experience taught Prytkova the importance of emergency care and how traumatic incidents impact families. Friday, she matched into Emergency Medicine at Orlando Health, her first choice.
“I know firsthand what it means to be on the other side of emergency medicine,” she says.
Claudia Orozco Vega is a double Knight — she earned her undergraduate degree from UCF before entering medical school. She trained at a pediatric pulmonary clinic during her third year of medical school and cared for children suffering from cystic fibrosis. The challenge, she said, is when such children reach 18. Who cares for them?
“There’s a huge gap for these kids once they reach adulthood,” she says. “I want to help fill that gap.”
She discovered the internal medicine pediatrics specialty, which trains doctors who care for patients from child to adulthood for conditions like cystic fibrosis, diabetes, sickle cell anemia and cancer. She will do her training at Rush University, her first choice.
11 Students Match Into UCF-HCA Healthcare Residencies
Elizabeth Culberson and Sean Kennedy are now double UCF Physician Knights.
After graduating from medical school in May, they will do their residency training at UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare’s emergency medicine residency in greater Orlando, filling a critical need for emergency room specialists across the state.
“I love the opportunity to help people in need receive high quality care, no matter their station in life,” Culberson says.
“Becoming a doctor is difficult, but it is worth it because we are doing meaningful work that is truly impacting the lives of our patients,” Kennedy says.
The two are among 11 UCF medical school seniors who will be doing their residency training at UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare programs across Florida.
David Lebowitz leads the emergency medicine residency at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital. “Matching two UCF medical students into our emergency medicine residency is really special. I had the chance to see them grow as medical students, and now they get to build on that foundation as resident physicians. It’s an incredible full-circle moment. With the region’s rapid growth, the need for skilled emergency physicians is more important than ever, and we’re proud to be part of that effort.”
The UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare GME program is one of the fastest growing in Florida, with programs in Fort Walton Beach, Gainesville, Kissimmee, Ocala, Pensacola, Sanford and Tallahassee. The consortium gained 276 new residents on Friday. By July, it will be training more than 720 physicians at 41 accredited programs across the state. Residency programs are a key to addressing Florida’s physician shortage, as most doctors begin their careers where they did their GME training.
“The UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare GME Consortium is meeting a critical need in training physicians in anticipation of the continued and growing physician shortage in the state,” says Stephen Cico, UCF’s associate dean of graduate medical education and designated institutional official of the program. “We are excited to welcome so many UCF medical students into our GME programs, especially into fields where they will be filling critical needs within Central and North Florida/the Panhandle, in fields such as emergency medicine, psychiatry, internal medicine and obstetrics-gynecology.”
Cheryll Albold, vice president for GME for the consortium and HCA’s North Florida Division, noted the critical need for emergency medicine physicians given the region and state’s growing population and the increasing number of patients seeking care in emergency departments. She says HCA is meeting that need by expanding its number of free-standing emergency departments to improve access to care and reduce wait times.
“Our UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare emergency medicine residency programs are a key resource to caring for our patients, and we are excited to welcome the two UCF medical students who matched into our EM residency at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital, as well as the other UCF medical students who have chosen to stay within the UCF-HCA family,” she says.
Hiba Nadeem matched into the consortium’s inaugural residency — internal medicine at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital, her first choice.
“My dad, an internal medicine physician and hospitalist, was my first hero,” she says. “His patients loved him! He was my inspiration to pursue a career in medicine.”
Nadeem did her third-year internal medicine training at Osceola, where she met Abdo Asmar, who directs that residency program.
“I had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Asmar how all the systems of the body work together and I found it to be very fulfilling,” she says. “I am so grateful to have the opportunity to continue working with Dr. Asmar and the UCF faculty.”
Rhea Choudhury matched into OB-GYN at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital in Gainesville. She also did her clerkship training there and said she appreciated the culture, the hospital’s focus on education and the community’s “small town vibe.” She says she is passionate about improving women’s care and their access to high-quality treatment.
Improving access to care, especially in medically underserved areas, is a priority for the UCF-HCA Healthcare Florida consortium.
“HCA Florida Ocala Hospital is grateful for our partnership with the UCF College of Medicine that enables these outstanding doctors to continue their healthcare career journey with us,” says Alan Keesee, CEO, whose hospital received an anesthesiology resident from this year’s class at UCF. “As part of HCA Healthcare, the nation’s leader in graduate medical education, our hospital is honored to further the expertise of these doctors in vitally needed disciplines while teaching the highest standards of exceptional, compassionate care. We anticipate many of them will stay in Florida after completing their residencies and continue to serve our communities.”
