The wait is almost over for the medical students who will soon graduate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. At noon on Friday, March 15, they will come together and open the envelopes that hold information on where they will train for careers in the medical field of their choosing. The mood in the Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building is decidedly festive, with faculty, students, family and friends anxiously awaiting the countdown. Three, two, one — and the envelopes are ripped open! 

The annual Match Day event is a rite of passage for graduating medical students- who will advance to a three- to seven-year residency program, getting hands-on experience in a specific discipline.

Meet some of our outstanding medical students as they eagerly await news of where they will match:

Moustafa Abou Areda

Where is your hometown?
Brooklyn, New York

What made you want to enter the medical field?
I have wanted to become a doctor since my dad told me how my grandfather died of hepatitis C in Egypt. My grandfather spent much of his late life in the hospital, but his doctors in Egypt could not diagnose him. He was subjected to many tests, and even a surgery, that ultimately proved fruitless. Finally, after several months, my dad received a phone call from the hospital at 5 a.m. asking him to pick up his deceased father’s body. My dad walked in and placed his head on my grandfather’s chest in sorrow, when he felt a hand stroke him on the back of his head. He looked up in shock as his father asked, “Have you come to take me home?” The doctor had mistakenly declared my grandfather dead. My dad told him that he was going to take him home. My grandfather’s experience taught me how disparate health care is across nations. Since then, I have wanted to help improve the health care system in both Egypt and America.

Why did you choose the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
The one key thing that set Hopkins apart, for me, from the rest was Baltimore. Serving the underserved is why I wanted to become a physician, and getting to learn and train in a city like Baltimore would allow me to work with such a patient population. In the morning, I can be helping to treat a patient from thousands of miles away who came for cutting edge therapy for his rare stomach cancer, and in the afternoon, I can be working with a young teenage girl who has no social or monetary support and is pregnant with her first child. I have had the privilege to work with patients from all walks of life at Hopkins, and for that I could not be more grateful.

What is your focus area of study?
I am currently applying into interventional radiology for residency.

What has been your best/most memorable experience at Johns Hopkins?
I had the privilege of meeting a patient that, to me, exemplifies the best parts of being a physician. She had come all the way from Morocco to seek treatment for her illness. She spoke limited English, but understood that we could not cure her cancer as it was far too advanced. I recall wheeling her to the interventional radiology suite for her treatment, and watching the interventional radiologists alleviate some of her suffering. Talking to her over the following days left me speechless. She couldn’t thank us enough for making her skin “bearable” again. Although her cancer had no cure, radiological intervention allowed us to provide her comfort. It is patients like her and procedures like this that make me excited to do this work every day for the rest of my life!

What are your plans for the future?
This coming year I will complete a preliminary intern year followed by an integrated IR/DR residency. As an IR resident, I wish to acquire a radiologist’s deep understanding of anatomy and disease and an interventionalist’s procedural skills. I aspire to use the ever-expanding array of imaging modalities to provide palliative and definitive treatment for a wide variety of pathology. My ultimate dream is to provide my services as a physician in Egypt for the poor and underserved there.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that makes you unique.
I founded the Cornell charity group Slam Dunk for Egypt! in 2012 to tackle the issue of illiteracy in Egypt. I came up with the idea of erecting a giant dunk tank at Cornell and dunking professors and students to raise money to support a school. Using the money I raised, I traveled to Egypt that summer and oversaw the rebuilding of the school’s playground. The sense of fulfillment I felt when I saw the kids playing in the safe and clean playground is indescribable.

Moustafa matched to Johns Hopkins Hospital for interventional radiology.

Tania Haag

Where is your hometown?
Orangevale, California

What made you want to enter the medical field?
After college, I worked as a high school math teacher in rural North Carolina. Every day I saw how a lack of access to health care and other structural inequities were limiting my students’ academic success before they even entered my classroom. I came to medical school galvanized by this experience and on a mission to use my clinical training as a force for good for patients like my students and their families.

Why did you choose the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
I chose Hopkins for the world-class faculty and training opportunities. On my clinical rotations, I’ve had the chance to learn from faculty whose accomplishments range from developing a new treatment for a rare neuromuscular disorder called spinal muscular atrophy, to challenging structural inequities in health care that work to limit children’s futures. Baltimore is also a truly special city! I’ve drawn so much inspiration from the richly diverse community here, especially from the patients who entrust us with their care. Likewise, in my classmates I’ve found a set of dynamic, intelligent and driven friends who have shown up for me many times over, from dropping everything to debrief after a tough ED shift, to hosting family dinners to celebrate a new milestone.

What is your focus area of study?
Pediatrics

What are your plans for the future?
I’m a firm believer in the relationship between children’s health and their education, and I know that I’ll dedicate my career to supporting school-based health initiatives to advance both health and educational equity.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that makes you unique.
My family is from Switzerland and I speak fluent Swiss German. I also love spending time in the mountains and have completed several multiday hiking treks through South America and Europe. I’d love to tackle the Pacific Crest or Appalachian Trail one day!

Tania matched to University of Washington Affiliate Hospital for pediatrics. 

Joshua Prudent

Where is your hometown?
Fremont, California

What made you want to enter the medical field?
Desire for a career that mixed scientific exploration, education and human interaction — I thought that medicine was a pretty good fit.

Why did you choose the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
The prestige, the long history of biomedical research, the warm student community that I met at Second Look Weekend and the proximity to my then-girlfriend-now-wife, who was doing a master’s at Penn State.

What is your focus area of study?
Pediatrics, with a career, hopefully, in pediatric oncology. I also have a significant interest in medical education and hope it will be a prominent part of my career.

What has been your best/most memorable experience at Johns Hopkins?
Speaking to my classmates and their families at our White Coat Ceremony during the first year — so nervous I nearly passed out.

What are your plans for the future?

A short list of goals:

• Stay married. Maybe have a trio of kids.
• Buy a house with a yard. Get the biggest dog that my wife will allow, and that won't eat the children.
• Finish pediatric residency, then pediatric oncology fellowship.
• Become faculty in pediatric oncology at an academic center.
• Achieve “triple-threat” status: excellence in clinical care of my patients, biomedical research on childhood cancers and medical education for my graduate students, medical students, residents and fellows.
• (Long-term): Become a full professor in pediatric oncology, and then a dean of education at a school of medicine.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that makes you unique.
I donated my hair during a pediatric oncology elective, the day after a patient of mine got her hair shaved off before chemotherapy started. Funny thing — her mom then shaved off her own hair the day after me, making us quite the trio on the floor. I intend to keep donating my hair for the next few decades.

Joshua matched to National Children's Hospital for pediatrics. 

Colleen Shannon

Where is your hometown?
Glenmoore, Pennsylvania

What made you want to enter the medical field?
As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to complete a summer internship at a maternal and child health organization. Seeing the impact this organization had on its community, I decided to pursue a health-related career.

Why did you choose the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
I selected the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine because I felt confident that it would not only provide exceptional clinical training, but would also prepare me to work at the intersection of clinical medicine, public health and translational research. In between my third and fourth years of medical school, I had the opportunity to complete a predoctoral clinical-research training program that provided exceptional training for my chosen career path.

What has been your best experience at Johns Hopkins?
Over my years as a case manager, health screener and board member at Baltimore’s Charm City Care Connection, I had the privilege to connect East Baltimore residents to high-quality health care services. Such experiences kindled my long-standing desire to both serve the individual needs of patients and transform the structures that perpetuate poor health.

What are your plans for the future?
I intend to pursue residency training in pediatrics. After residency, I hope to pursue fellowship training in general academic pediatrics. Ultimately, I hope to work not only as a clinician but also a researcher and advocate, leveraging my position as clinician-researcher to improve health care delivery.

Tell me something about yourself that makes you unique.
My sister and I are the first members of our family to receive graduate degrees. I am the first member of my family to pursue a career in medicine. Also, my husband, a member of the class of 2014, is also a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. We met almost 13 years ago as undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame. I can hardly believe it has been five years since we opened his Match Day envelope and were delighted to learn that he would be continuing his training here. At the end of my third year of medical school, my husband and I welcomed our firstborn, William, into our family. He is the light of our lives. Being both a parent and a medical student is not without its challenges, especially when your husband is an orthopaedic surgery resident. But it all feels so very, incredibly worth it.

Colleen matched to Children's Hospital-Philadelphia for pediatrics. 

Marija Vasiljevic

Where is your hometown?
I was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and moved to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, when I was 7 years old

What made you want to enter the medical field?
I was inspired by the way the medical field combines science and humanism in what is commonly referred to as the “art” of medicine.

Why did you choose the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine?
I chose Johns Hopkins because as an undergraduate at JHU (The Johns Hopkins University), I got to know some of the SOM (school of medicine) faculty, the renowned research, and resources available to Hopkins medical students. I was also quickly charmed by Baltimore City and wanted to continue to be a part of the diverse and friendly community here.

What is your focus area of study?
Internal medicine

What has been your best/most memorable experience at Johns Hopkins?
My most memorable experience while at Hopkins was my subinternship on the Osler ward at JHH. My residents welcomed me to the team and treated me as their colleague. I was able to take ownership of my patients, place orders and call consults. I felt that I was truly a part of the medical care my patients were receiving. It was also when I began to fall in love with internal medicine as a field!

What are your plans for the future?
I plan to get involved in medical education as a resident and pursue a fellowship afterwards. I hope to stay in academia and be involved in some capacity in teaching future medical professionals.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that makes you unique.
My sister and I both attended The Johns Hopkins University for undergraduate degrees in neuroscience. We worked in the same spatial cognition research lab and were lab partners in biochemistry. We ran three Baltimore half marathons, crossing the finish line together. She is a year older than me but took a research year after college, so we began medical school at the same time. She attends the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is applying into internal medicine residency this year. As undergrads at JHU, we loved visiting the Mount Vernon neighborhood, and therefore, we live there together now as medical students. It is conveniently equidistant from the two Baltimore medical schools. This Match Day, my sister will be joining me at the Johns Hopkins Match Day celebration at AMEB. This way, we can be together with our family as we open the envelopes that hold our future. With the way that we ranked our programs, we anticipate this will be the first time in a while that we’ll be apart.

Marija matched to Johns Hopkins Hospital for internal medicine.