Forty-two ‘match’ into U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson

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Forty-two soon-to-be medical school graduates and incoming interns to the University of Arizona Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson got the news Friday morning, March 20 — better known as Match Day 2026 — where they’ll start their careers as new physicians.

A total of 38 categorical interns, who plan to complete their IM training at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, and four preliminary interns, who’ll move on to other residency training programs after their first year, matched into the Tucson internal medicine program hosted by the Department of Medicine. With 121 current IM Residency members, this is the largest and oldest residency training program at the U of A and across the state.

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Out of 112 graduating U of A med students who let their matches be released publicly, 31 — or nearly 28% — chose internal medicine programs, with four of those matching into dual IM/pediatrics residency training programs. Nine of these students will remain at the College of Medicine – Tucson: Jason Chen, Joey Ghotmi, D’Andre Gomez, Amanda Gong, Rami Khoshaba, Angela Monetathchi, Arpan Sharma, Nandini Sodhi and Isaac Zarif.

See who else matched into the program and where they’re coming from below — as well as a mini-photo gallery from the day’s festivities at the bottom of this story. New residents typically start as new physicians-in-training on July 1, but begin orientation by mid-June.

“Each year, it’s so exciting to learn who’ll be joining us as interns on Match Day. We’re excited to have many of our own outstanding U of A College of Medicine students choose to stay with us for their training, and to join others from all corners of the world. We welcome them to our IM Residency family!” said Laura Meinke, MD, IM Residency Program – Tucson director, DOM associate vice chair of education, and a critical care specialist and associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine.

“It was an amazing day!” said Amy Sussman, MD, a Division of Nephrology professor and  fellowship program director, and director of the IM Student Clerkship and vice chair of education for the department.

“We are thrilled with this year’s incoming internal medicine residency class. We are excited to begin working with this talented cohort and look forward to supporting their growth as future leaders in medicine.”

DOM Chair James K. Liao, MD, a professor in the Division of Cardiology and Sarver Heart Center member, added, “I am delighted to welcome our new medical residents from this year’s match and look forward to working with them. I would also like to thank Dr. Laura Meinke and the medical residency staff for their contributions to this outstanding match result.”

For a PDF of everyone among COM-T 2026-27 Incoming IM Residents, see this link.

CATEGORICAL INTERNS – PGY1s* for the Class of 2029

*Program Year 1

• Isabella Campos Aguiar | Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
• Basem Al-Tarshan | Indiana University, Indianapolis
• Mariah Black | Texas Tech University, Lubbock
• Myles Bosompem | University of Illinois, Chicago
• Alexander Candel | Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona
• Sara Castaneda | Universidad de Los Andes Facultad de Medicina (Bogota, Colombia)
• Jason Chen | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Soojung Choi | Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
• Jasmine Coatley-Thomas | University of Kentucky, Lexington
• Levi Cohen | University of Kansas
• Jesse Coy | Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, Yakima, Washington
• Dimitrios Filioglou | University of Patras (Greece)
• Shaik Firdhos | University of Las Vegas
• Alousius Fombang | University of Texas, Austin 

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  Joey Ghotmi | University of Arizona – Tucson

• D’Andre Gomez | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Tyler Hill | University of Washington, Seattle
• Nassim Idouraine | Ohio State University, Columbus
• Rami Khoshaba | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Henry Lang | Oklahoma State University, Tulsa
• Kent Lawrence | Tulane University, New Orleans
• Ho Hyun Lee | University of Hawaii, Honolulu
• Bryce Little | University of Mississippi, Jackson
• Suzette Lopez Valenzuela | University of Arkansas, Little Rock
• Kassandra Mastras | University of Vermont, Burlington
• Angela Monetathchi | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Joshua Nay | Washington State University, Pullman
• Duy Nguyen | Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California
• Frederick Pan | University of Washington, Seattle
• Srijit Paul | USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida
• Emily Ploom | Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut
• Cole Sander | Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, Yakima, Washington
• Arpan Sharma | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Nandini Sodhi | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Brielle Tobin | Midwestern University – Glendale
• Alex Wang | USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida
• Shana Zadron | Rocky Vista University, Parker, Colorado
• Isaac Zarif | University of Arizona – Tucson

PRELIMINARY INTERNS

• Amanda Gong | University of Arizona – Tucson
• Milan Hirpara | California University of Science & Medicine, Colton, California
• Francine Holguin | University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
• Jocelyn Liu | University of Hawaii, Honolulu

ALSO SEE:
“Forty-five soon-to-be medical school graduates MATCH into DOM residency programs” | Posted March 27, 2025
“Showers of joy for 2024 Match Day as future physicians learn where they’ll train” | Posted March 19, 2024

(Match Day photos courtesy of U of A Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson)

MINI-PHOTO GALLERY
Click images to enlarge and for captions: