MD/PhD Class of 2026 students find out their residency matches

Several Penn State College of Medicine MD/PhD students graduating this year received their residency destinations as part of Match Day 2026.

Many students participated in an in-person ceremony March 20 to find out where they will continue their medical training.

Match Day, which takes place at medical schools across the country on the same day, is the culmination of a process that began months ago as students visited and evaluated residency programs, while programs simultaneously evaluated them.

MD/PhD students and their matches

Esther Choi

Esther Choi

Thoracic Surgery, UC San Diego Medical Center, La Jolla, Calif.

Esther Choi conducted research in the lab of Nikolay Dokholyan, PhD. Choi is from Colorado Springs, CO. She earned her BA in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2018, and her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Penn State in 2024. She has been an active student leader in cardiothoracic surgery and vascular surgery research and interest groups. She has also served in the Physician Scientist Student Association as Vice President and Clinical Skills Representative.

Nadia DiNunno

Nadia DiNunno

Diagnostic Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

Nadia DiNunno conducted research in the lab of Joesph Wang, PhD. DiNunno is from Roselle, IL. She earned her BS in Health Education and Behavior from the University of Florida in 2014 and her MS in Neurobiology from Northwestern University in 2016. Dinunno earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Penn State in 2023.

Sarah Kazzaz

Sarah Kazzaz

Internal Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, Md.

Sarah Kazzaz conducted research in the lab of Edward Harhaj, PhD. Kazzaz is from Northport, NY. She earned her BA in Biochemistry from Kenyon College in 2018 and her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Penn State in 2024. Kazzaz was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor society in 2025, an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. During her training, Kazzaz was elected to several leadership roles as part of the Physician Scientist Student Association including recruitment chair, retreat co-chair, and secretary. After being awarded the Immunology and Microbiology Student Travel Award in 2024, she attended the national conference on Gene Expression and Signaling in the Immune System at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, where she was asked to give an oral presentation on her research.

Maryknoll Linscott

Maryknoll Linscott

Surgery, Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio

At nineteen, Maryknoll Linscott immigrated from the Philippines to Las Vegas, Nevada, and began college at the College of Southern Nevada. She went on to earn dual B.S. degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from The Ohio State University (2015) and an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University (2016). Before entering MD-PhD training, she conducted hematopathology research at the National Institutes of Health under the mentorship of Drs. Stefania Pittaluga and Elaine Jaffe. She later pursued MD-PhD training at Penn State, investigating mammary tumorigenesis in Dr. Edward Gunther’s laboratory and earning a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences (2024). Her doctoral work was supported by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship and the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute TL1 Training Program. She co-founded SCOPE, Penn State’s student-run free mobile clinic serving Central Pennsylvania, and has held leadership roles within the Physician Scientist Student Association, the Journal of Student-Run Free Clinics, the Penn State Journal of Medicine, and the American Society for Investigative Pathology.

Rahul Nachnani

Rahul Nachnani

Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience, Los Angeles, Calif.

Rahul Nachnani conducted his research in the lab of Kent Vrana, PhD. Nachnani is from Lakewood, CA. He earned his BS in Human Biology from University of California-San Diego in 2017 and his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Penn State in 2023. Nachnani was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in 2025, an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. Nachnani was elected to the Gold Humanism Honor Society, an award bestowed for his exceptional qualities of humanism and exemplary humanistic patient care. Nachnani was nominated as one of Harrisburg Young Professional’s “20 in their 20’s” in 2024 for his contributions to local mental health and LGBTQ+ health nonprofit organizations. At the 2025 Annual American Psychiatry Association conference, he was the youngest trainee awarded the Trainee Paper Award and travel awards for oral and poster presentations at the conference. Nachnani was also actively involved in the Physician Scientists Student Association, serving as President, Vice President, and Retreat co-chair between 2021-2024.

Fae Nova

Fae Nova

Psychiatry, University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois

Fae Nova conducted their research in the lab of Yongsoo Kim, PhD. Nova is from Manorville, NY. They earned their B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2013 and a M.S. in Medical Science in 2016. Nova earned their Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Penn State in 2023. At Penn State they served on leadership boards including BraveCubs, The Sexual & Gender Minority Alliance, and the President’s Commission on LGBTQ Equity. Beyond Penn State, they are an accomplished national leader in LGBTQIA+ health education advocacy, serving as Executive Director of the Medical Student Pride Alliance National Leadership Team, and the facilitator of the Medical Student Advocacy Network. Nova was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in 2025, an honor signifying a lasting commitment to professionalism, leadership, scholarship, research and community service. Nova’s research, advocacy, and leadership have been recognized by several local and national awards, including the BNGAP LGBT Health Workforce Conference Junior Leadership Award (2021), LGBT Center of Central PA Rising Star Award (2021), Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development Award (2022), BRAIN Initiative Trainee Highlight Award (2023), National MD-PhD Student Conference Diversity Travel Award (2023), Penn State Diverse Graduate Student Group Changemaker Award (2023), and the Penn State Neuroscience Institute Outstanding Trainee Award (2024).

Congzhou (Mike) Sha

Congzhou (Mike) Sha

Dermatology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.

Congzhou (Mike) Sha conducted his research in the lab of Nikolay Dokholyan, PhD. Sha is from Paoli, PA. He earned his BS in Physics, Biophysics, and Biochemistry; BAS in Mathematics, Computer Science; and MS in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. He earned his PhD in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Penn State in 2024. Sha has been recognized for his research through the Rite Aid Biomedical Science Endowment Scholarship (2023) and the Harry G Miller Travel Award (2022). Additionally, he has received the College of Medicine’s Graduate Alumni Society Award a total of three times (2022, 2024, 2025). In 2023, Sha organized a 2-day machine learning bootcamp for the College of Medicine, highlighting his commitment to teaching the next generation of physician-scientists. In 2025, Sha was inducted as a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, in recognition of humanism in patient care and volunteerism in the community.

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