Chicago med students celebrate finding their futures on Match Day: ‘I couldn’t be happier’

As Hannah Green opened the envelope she had been holding for 20 minutes Friday morning, waiting anxiously with about 150 of her classmates at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, she quickly found out she was going to be moving to California.

The 25-year-old said she “couldn’t be happier.”

“Any option is a good option,” said Green, a Northwestern student who was born and raised in Oak Park. She’d spent much of her adult life studying in the city, but said California “is where I wanted to be.”

It was all part of the annual fanfare for Match Day, when medical students found out where their residencies will be, determining the immediate future of their careers. It took place simultaneously across the country, as thousands of medical students opened their envelopes and learned their next destination.

Green will be joining the University of San Francisco’s primary medicine team. She said she’s going into internal medicine after gravitating toward patients who needed a little extra care and attention during her rotations.

One patient in particular, a veteran she treated at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, solidified the decision for her, she said. The gratitude he expressed after being discharged will stay with her through her career.

“I owe a lot to my patients and I’m just excited to help take care of people and learn more from them every day,” Green said.

At Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Kate McNamara and her partner found out they would both end up at Yale together, he in orthopedic surgery and she in neurology. It was a full-circle moment for the couple who had met during their first year of medical school.

“It’s so surreal,” McNamara said. “We’re so, so excited.”

Alongside them in the crowd was Sullibet Ramirez, who found out she would also be moving away from her lifelong home in Chicago Heights. She’s headed to Denver Health in Colorado for emergency medicine.

While she was excited to land her first choice, she was even more excited by what being a doctor meant. Coming from a family of immigrants, she said they had struggled in the past with healthcare. She now looks forward to bridging that gap in her new role.

“We didn’t have connections or ties to the medical community, so to be that resource for others is what I’m most excited about,” Ramirez, 28, said.

“I’m a doctor,” she added in wonderment.

Ramirez is trading places with Northwestern student and Denver native Alec Jotte, who is set to start as a resident in internal medicine at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center next year.

He said he looks forward to working with Spanish speakers, something he had in mind when he first started medical school, as well as to keep learning medicine during his time there.

“I’m super excited to be a part of the community,” Jotte, 27, said. “[Rush] does a lot within the community and it’s a great academic center, so I’m excited to get that whole picture.”

Not far away, just beyond a table of champagne glasses, stood Northwestern students Helina Mengesha and Ataeh Fonteh, who had met on their first day of classes four years ago.

The two were part of the first white coat ceremonies after the COVID-19 pandemic had suspended the events, and had both decided to follow the general surgery track.

Mengesha, a Seattle native, is heading to George Washington University Hospital. She had been open to what was possible before she found out, and looked back on her admission to Northwestern with pride. Coming to Northwestern, she said, was “the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Fonteh agreed — no matter what, they had achieved their dreams.

“It doesn’t really matter what’s in the envelope, I’m gonna be a surgeon,” Fonteh, who is from Southern California, said. “That is the most surreal part. It’s happening.”