Friday, March 20, 2026

In tandem with all medical schools nationally, Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) celebrated its fourth-year student-doctor class inside the Montview Ballroom on the campus of Liberty University on Friday, March 20, during the annual Match Day Celebration that saw LUCOM achieve a 99.3 percent placement rate in 2026.

It was the sixth time in the last seven years that LUCOM achieved a 98 percent or higher placement rate at the conclusion of Match Week.

Match Day is a culmination of medical schools guiding their senior students through the four-year curriculum. The event is a significant milestone for medical students as they receive their future assignment for residency placement, often referred to as the phase of Graduate Medical Education (GME), the specialty training that follows medical school graduation.

“The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®), had over 53,000 applicants registered, and more than 44,000 residency positions offered in over 6,800 program tracks across the United States. The 2026 Main Residency Match demonstrated continued strength in residency placement, with more than 93 percent of positions filled nationwide.

Of the 53,373 applicants registered, 48,050 certified a rank order list (“active applicants”), representing an increase of 842 applicants (1.8 percent) over last year. Among active applicants, 38,354 matched to a post graduate year-1 (“PGY-1”) position, an increase of 687 (1.8 percent) from 2025. Across both PGY-1 and PGY-2, the Match filled a total of 41,482 positions. Doctors of Osteopathy (DO) seniors in the United States achieved their highest PGY-1 match rate on record. There were 8,503 active applicants, an increase of 111 over last year, with a PGY-1 match rate of 93.2 percent, an increase of 0.6 percent from 2025.

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1953 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the annual Main Residency Match® that facilitates placement for more than 50,000 registrants, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®).”

The Match process begins every summer as students enter their fourth year of medical school and apply and interview to numerous residency programs throughout the country offering specialty training in medical and surgical specialties. Medical students and program directors rank programs and applicants, respectively, in order of preference and submit the preference lists to the NRMP.

LUCOM had 141 student-doctors that matched into 17 different specialties across 35 different states. The top five states include Virginia with 20 students, Texas with 11, Pennsylvania with 10, and Ohio and South Carolina with nine each. 61 percent of students matched into a primary care specialty which includes Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. LUCOM had other students match in other specialties that includes; Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, Neurology, Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine, Pathology, Radiation Oncology, Radiology-Diagnostic, General Surgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Surgery Preliminary and Transitional.

LUCOM Dean Joseph R. Johnson, DO, FACOOG (Dist) began the ceremony by addressing those that matched through the Military Match in late 2025. “These student-doctors had an earlier timeline than those participating in the NRMP and learned their results in mid-December,” Johnson said. “We would like to take this moment to congratulate the nine LUCOM student-doctors that matched in the Military Match.”

This ceremony featured Liberty University President Dondi E. Costin, Ph.D., who was in attendance and gave a few remarks to the student-doctors. He opened by sharing how proud he was of the Class of 2026 and how grateful he was that they have answered God’s call to become a physician.

“I love to say that LUCOM is different, because you have been trained under the auspices of the Great Physician,” he said. “It will make you different. You will see each patient as someone made in the image of God and someone that you have a stewardship for.”

Once the clock struck noon, Johnson spoke to the students on behalf of Liberty University and its leadership. Following the short address, LUCOM Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Randy Litman, DO, MBA, FACOFP, HPF, FAAO, FACOI congratulated the Class of 2026 and shared how much of a blessing it is for students to secure a residency program through the match placement process.

After the opening of the envelopes, various students took to the stage and announced where they matched. The student-doctors celebrating virtually also shared where they matched through a Microsoft Teams meeting shown during the celebration ceremony.

One student was blessed to have the opportunity to match after LUCOM was the only medical school that accepted his application. Today, Keb Feyissa, has matched at Mass General Brigham-MA in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.

“I don’t think I’ve told many people, but this is the only school that accepted me in my medical school application cycles,” Keb explained. “I’m just super grateful for the opportunity because without LUCOM, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be a doctor. I will be forever grateful.”

It was a family affair for Keb as he celebrated with his whole family in attendance, but he enjoyed receiving exciting news around his classmates as well. “This is obviously an amazing moment for me and my family,” he said. “It’s fun to celebrate with classmates too. These are the people you’ve gone through the last four years with together,” he continued.

“Just knowing what the sacrifices that each person has to make to get to this point is a huge celebration in itself because we’ve kind of all made it to the pinnacle of what we wanted to in medical school,” he concluded. “You cherish these relationships, but you also remember all the hard things that you got through as a class to get to where you are, which makes it all the more special.”

One of his classmates, Amy Yelton, will head south to the Peach State to complete her residency in General Surgery in Gainesville, Ga. “Coming into today I was extremely excited and honored to celebrate these accomplishments with my friends and family,” she said. “I’m very honored to have matched into general surgery at a program that I was very excited about when I rotated there.”

Amy was very thankful to study at LUCOM and for her time being surrounded by so many like-minded people. “Being at LUCOM and being a student here over the last four years has been a blessing to my life and my husband’s,” Amy continued. “I think that being at a Christian university in medical school has taught me how to integrate my faith into medical care.”

She felt the calling on her life at the age of 15 to be a surgeon, and today that dream became a reality.

“I think the Lord has provided me the opportunities that I needed to get to this point, and I’m extremely thankful that he allowed me to do so in a Christian environment,” she concluded. “I think that Christian philosophy and teachings and a medical education really does make a difference, and I’m honored to be a student at LUCOM.”

For more information about LUCOM follow @LibertyMedicine on Instagram and X or Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine on Facebook.