This year, 37 Cardinals matched with UofL, and will continue their medical training at one of the School of Medicine’s 25 first-year residency programs. Others secured placements at prestigious institutions nationwide, including Harvard, Vanderbilt, Emory, Johns Hopkins and Wake Forest.

In addition to an impressive 97% match rate, the class also boasts a 100% pass rate on a licensure examination that assesses student clinical knowledge.

This year, UofL’s Match Day took place at Angel’s Envy Bourbon Club at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. After ripping their envelopes open, students celebrated alongside family, friends and faculty.

“There’s no word to describe the excitement I feel right now! The UofL School of Medicine prepared us for this moment and truly made sure we were supported. I’m looking forward to my residency and cannot wait to be among the most innovative physicians in my field and change the lives of those affected by skin conditions that are currently incurable,” said Joseph Holland, Class of 2025 president and future resident of the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training Program.

View more photos on from UofL’s Match Day 2025. 

“By establishing a family residency program in Owensboro, we hope to improve the health of our region for years to come,” said Greg Strahan, president and CEO of Owensboro Health. “This program gives Owensboro Health a pivotal role in educating the next generation of physicians and will help meet an important need for more primary care in our area.”

The three-year program is expected to open with a class of six resident physicians and admit an additional six physicians each year. Residents will undertake a robust curriculum of classroom studies and clinical rotations, working alongside expert instructors and practicing physicians from a variety of specialties. They also will provide primary care at Owensboro Health’s family medicine location on Parrish Avenue, which means expanded health care access for area patients.

“Part of our vision for this program is that some physicians will want to continue practicing in Western Kentucky after they have completed their residency,” said Steve Johnson, vice president of government and community affairs for Owensboro Health. “For our system to be working toward that vision, with a valuable partner like UofL, is an exciting development for this region.”

The agreement between the two health care systems establishes UofL School of Medicine as the program’s academic sponsor, a key step toward obtaining approval and accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical ����ֱ��. Under the affiliation agreement, UofL will provide a program director and faculty and also lend its expertise to help the program achieve and maintain accreditation.

“UofL has achieved success with its family medicine residency program in Glasgow, Ky., in terms of building relationships in the community and improving primary care,” said Brent Wright, MD, UofL School of Medicine associate dean for rural health innovation, and vice chair for rural health and professor in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at UofL. “We plan to achieve the same success in Owensboro.”

Rural-based graduate medical education programs are important to physician distribution since physicians tend to practice within a 100-mile radius of where they did their residency training, Wright said.