As a high school student enrolled in the UCSF Fresno Sunnyside High School Doctors Academy, Pavneet Randhawa dreamed of one day becoming a doctor in her hometown of Fresno. This summer, soon-to-be Dr. Randhawa will be one of more than 100 physicians who will begin training at the UCSF School of Medicine Regional Campus in Fresno (UCSF Fresno).
“I’m so excited about matching with UCSF Fresno,” said Randhawa, who is graduating from UC Davis School of Medicine. “It’s always been my dream to come back home to Fresno for residency and I couldn’t be happier to see that become reality.”
UCSF Fresno, once again, filled all available residency and fellowship positions, matching with applicants from near and far, including from California Health Sciences University in Clovis, UC Davis, UC Riverside and UCSF medical schools, and Weill Cornell University in New York, and University of Iowa to name a few. The 2025 Main Residency Match was held nationwide on Friday, March 21. Across the U.S., graduating medical students who participated in the Match simultaneously opened envelopes (noon ET/9 a.m. PT) that revealed where they will spend the next several years conducting residency training. The National Resident Matching Program (NMRP) Fellowship Match was announced in fall 2024.
“We are bringing 100 new doctors and physicians to this region to start training with us and it’s very exciting,” said Stacy Sawtelle Vohra, MD, assistant dean for Graduate Medical Education and designated institutional official at UCSF Fresno. “It demonstrates the work that we are doing toward meeting our mission of improving access to health care in the Valley.”
Randhawa’s return home for residency in Internal Medicine represents another UCSF Fresno success story of preparing, attracting and training homegrown talent. Earlier this year, Randhawa did a four-week sub-internship in Internal Medicine at the Fresno Veterans Administration hospital and two weeks of endocrinology at Community Regional Medical Center. The experiences solidified her interest in UCSF Fresno.
“It definitely helped reaffirm my decision to apply to UCSF Fresno,” said Randhawa. “I loved the camaraderie between the residents and how welcoming everyone was.”
UCSF Fresno, which marks 50 years of training doctors in the San Joaquin Valley this year, celebrated Match Day with two events — a campus community lunch where the names of all new interns and fellows were read by UCSF Fresno’s program directors and a breakfast event. Randhawa participated in the noontime event via a video call with current Internal Medicine residents.
During the breakfast UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME) students opened their Match Day envelopes at UCSF Fresno surrounded by family, friends, faculty and staff.
“UCSF and SJV PRIME in particular have always shown me that it’s so incredibly important to remember our community,” said Steven “John” Cruz from Bakersfield who matched in Emergency Medicine at Harvard. “All of the mentorship from the deans, all the way to the faculty to the residents, my fellow medical students, made such a big impact on me on this journey.”
Seven of the 11 SJV PRIME students matched with residency programs in California, including three programs in the Central Valley. Six of the students staying in-state matched with University of California-affiliated programs. Four students matched out of state, including in residency programs not available at UCSF Fresno.
“As always, we are incredibly proud of the caliber of students in SJV PRIME,” said Loren I. Alving, MD, program director, UCSF SJV PRIME. “The goal of the program is to increase the physician workforce, make it representative of the communities we serve, and train students from the region to one day be physician leaders for the region. We look forward to what the future holds for this class and anticipate their return to the San Joaquin Valley when they are done with their training.”
The UCSF Fresno medical residency programs that participated in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) received 6,756 applications and conducted 1,072 interviews for 75 positions. The Postdoctoral Dental Matching Program’s Match Day took place in January. UCSF Fresno’s Oral Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program received 102 applications and conducted 18 interviews for four positions. The UCSF Fresno fellowship programs that took part in the October/December NRMP match received 1,986 applications and conducted 423 interviews for 23 positions. Non-NRMP programs filled available positions through another matching service or through interviews and offers.
Established in 1975, UCSF Fresno is celebrating 50 years of training doctors and improving health in the San Joaquin Valley this year. A regional campus of the UCSF School of Medicine, UCSF Fresno offers training in eight medical residency programs, one dental surgery residency program and 20 Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and non-ACGME sub-specialty fellowships. UCSF Fresno plays a vital role in expanding access to health care in the Valley, training physicians and medical students for the region and state, conducting research that addresses regional health issues, and academically preparing students from the San Joaquin Valley to pursue careers in health and medicine.
