When Hunter Campbell opened his Match Day envelope Friday, he wasn’t just thinking about residency programs.
He was thinking about his newborn daughter and where she would grow up for the next few years.
Campbell and his wife welcomed their first child, Leila, on Feb. 19, just weeks before Match Day at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, making the stakes of the national residency placement process feel especially real.
“It’s pretty darn nerve wracking, especially because I’m going to possibly uproot my entirely new family,” he said. “It’s a good nervous though, because it’s so exciting.”
Match Day is often emotional for graduating medical students, but for several members of the Class of 2026, family has played a particularly powerful role in shaping their journeys to medicine and their hopes for where they will train next.
Cheers erupted across the auditorium as students opened their envelopes, embracing family members and classmates as they learned where they would spend the next chapter of their training.
Hunter Campbell: Starting a Family While Starting a Career
For Campbell, family is something he is building right now, alongside his medical career.
He and his wife were high school sweethearts who went to the University of Missouri-St. Louis together for undergraduate school and then came to Kansas City when Campbell started medical school at º£½ÇÂÛ̳.
Now, with a new baby, Campbell considers Kansas City his home more than ever.
“We are pretty established here,” he said. “We've already got day cares picked out here, and so I really want to match at º£½ÇÂÛ̳.”
Opening the envelope with shaking hands alongside his wife and daughter, Campbell was excited to find out he did indeed match at º£½ÇÂÛ̳.
“I’m doing unbelievably well,” Campbell said. “We were manifesting. This is the exact specialty and the No. 1 place I wanted.”
Campbell will train in a combined internal medicine and pediatrics program — another goal come true, as the specialty is not widely offered.
“It's a pretty niche specialty,” Campell said. “Most people will either pick pediatrics, internal medicine or family medicine, where you also see adults and children. Internal medicine pediatrics offers you a bunch of inpatient and intensive care time.”
Mohamed Refaat and Tahsin Schwartz: Matching as a Couple
For couples in the Match, priorities often look different. B.A./M.D. students Mohamed Refaat and Tahsin Schwartz weren’t just hoping for a good match — they were hoping for the same one.
Refaat and Schwartz met during the first few weeks of medical school at º£½ÇÂÛ̳, and have been together ever since. They married in June 2024 and are looking forward to celebrating with family and friends at a reception this May.
Refaat and Schwartz entered the Couples Match, a process designed to place partners at the same institution. Because they are applying to different specialties — anesthesiology and internal medicine — that can mean compromising on top program choices.
“We interviewed all throughout the country,” Schwartz said. “I think it was across 10 states. Pretty much everywhere in the Midwest and two places on the East Coast. But we honestly just want to be together, so any place that will take us both we'll be happy with.”
Although Couples Match prioritizes placing the couple together, it is not guaranteed, which means Refaat and Schwartz faced the possibility of spending their first few years as newlyweds apart from one another.
“Some of the states we apply to are, like, 20 hours apart,” Refaat said. “It's kind of little bit of faith and trust God.”
So, when Refaat and Schwartz opened their envelopes on Match Day to learn that they were both placed with the University of Kansas, Refaat picked Schwartz up and spun her, overcome with happiness.
“We’re together, so we could not ask for anything more,” Refaat said. “We’re very happy.”
Their story isn’t the first like it in their family. Schwartz’s parents also met in medical school while attending the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Kan. — a connection the couple came to appreciate during their own time in medical school.
During medical school, Refaat conducted research at KU and invited Schwartz to study with him in the KU library, the very same place Schwartz’s parents had studied as medical students. The parallels didn’t stop there.
“A lot of the same restaurants that they went to when they were dating, we went to,” Schwartz said. “Our stories align a lot, which has been really cute.”
Gaby Thornton: Following in Her Parents’ Footsteps
Schwartz isn’t the only one with parents who met in medical school. B.A./M.D. student Gaby Thornton’s parents met at º£½ÇÂÛ̳ while studying medicine.
“They were in the same year and docent team, years three through six, with Dr. Salzman, who is still a docent actually,” Thornton said. “They both graduated in ‘94 and they didn't start dating until about a year after, but they were good friends all throughout the program.”
Now, 32 years later, Thornton’s parents Shilpa Thornton (B.A. '92/M.D. ’94), an ophthalmologist, and Chris Thornton (B.A. '92/M.D. ’94), a radiologist, returned to their alma mater to support their daughter on her Match Day.
Alongside her parents, brothers and grandpa — who is also an ophthalmologist — Thornton opened her envelope to learn that she matched at º£½ÇÂÛ̳ for OB-GYN, a specialty she is passionate about.
“Before coming to º£½ÇÂÛ̳, I loved women's studies. That was definitely something I think I would have pursued had I not gone into medicine,” Thornton said. “But it was my OB-GYN clerkship, where I realized, ‘Wow, this is the place for me.’ They're not just physicians, but they're also advocates for their patients. They're consolers, they're cheerleaders, they're educators. It's just a really special kind of relationship they have with patients, and that drew me even more so to the field.”
Despite selecting a different specialty than her parents, Thornton does acknowledge the influence her parents had on her choosing medicine as her career and º£½ÇÂÛ̳ as her medical school.
“They influenced me in a very natural, not pressured way,” Thornton said. “Growing up, I was constantly surrounded and exposed to medicine because of them. And then as I got older, and I realized I love science and I loved helping people, it just became like a very natural career path for me that I wanted to go into. And I knew º£½ÇÂÛ̳ had always been their special place.”
Samir Mehta: A Friendship That Started Before Day One
Thornton’s family isn’t the only one with deep ties to the º£½ÇÂÛ̳ School of Medicine. Samir Mehta’s father, Sacheen Mehta (B.A. '93/M.D. ’94), was a classmate of Thornton’s parents — a connection that would unexpectedly shape Mehta’s own experience at º£½ÇÂÛ̳.
“When it came to the interview day for º£½ÇÂÛ̳ and we got to the Student Union, my dad kind of just took a quick scan around the room. And literally within two seconds, spotted Gaby's mom, who was there with her,” Mehta said. “So that's when I first met Gaby. We spent the whole day together, and our parents were catching up while we were doing the interview and everything like that.”
And the friendship grew from there. Coming from Dallas, Mehta didn’t know anyone else at º£½ÇÂÛ̳ besides Thornton.
“We kind of became good friends from day one,” Mehta said. “And from that point on, we've been in the same friend group and everything and have been friends for six years now. We actually ended up in the same docent unit as well, so she's been my peer in my docent for four years as well.”
Mehta and Thornton are even traveling to Europe together with their friend group after Match Day to celebrate graduation and spend time together before they head their separate ways for residencies.
Mehta will be heading to St. Louis, where he will be training in internal medicine at Washington University.
“I feel good,” Mehta said. “I think I will have a good experience there.”
One Class, One Community
As the envelopes were opened and celebrations unfolded across the room, the Class of 2026 marked a major milestone in their medical training.
“Your future is inside the envelope that you will hold,” said Dean Alexander Norbash (B.A. ‘85/M.D. ’86). “Cherish the moment and cherish all that you leave behind that has made you all that you are and all that you will be. You have a long and spectacular adventure ahead of you. One giant step forward takes place here we will be watching you always, from afar, with pride and with joy.”
According to Norbash, º£½ÇÂÛ̳’s Kansas City and St. Joseph campuses combined for a 97.4% match rate, higher than the national average. Over 57% of the class matched with a primary care specialties, while other students will be training in specialties ranging from anesthesiology to ophthalmology, dermatology to neurology and more.
While 31.3% matched within the state of Missouri, others are headed across the country. Notable residency program matches included UCLA, Northwestern, Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente and Duke.
While their residency programs will take them to different cities from coast to coast, the connections built during their time at º£½ÇÂÛ̳ will remain.
“Being together for the past six years, we kind of watch each other grow up, and it's very special,” Thornton said. “I've loved that about º£½ÇÂÛ̳. You get to see your peers go off and become doctors, and I would say that it's definitely close-knit community.”