WesternU COMP-Northwest Class of 2026 celebrates successful Match Day
Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest), which is in the process of transitioning to its new name, the Heatherington College of Osteopathic Medicine, celebrated Match Day on Friday, March 20, 2026, with graduates securing residency placements across the country and achieving a 99% placement rate with 50% going into primary care.
In the world of medical education, Match Day marks an emotional milestone for graduating medical students, when years of study culminate in a single, life-shaping moment. The event is coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program, which pairs applicants with residency programs across the country through a complex algorithm based on mutual rankings. At exactly the same time nationwide, students opened sealed envelopes revealing where they will spend the next several years training in their chosen specialties.
“Today is a major milestone on the path to becoming a physician. It is a moment that reflects your discipline, sacrifice, and commitment to medicine. For our students: you have navigated challenges, breakthroughs, late nights, early mornings, exhaustion, tough exams, tough exams, tough exams, and more,” said COMP-Northwest Site Dean Heather Phipps, DO, MBA, FAAOS. “Whether you’re headed into surgery, family medicine, psychiatry, radiology, pathology, internal medicine, or another specialty, you’re stepping into a room that demands courage, humility, and compassion.”
During their third and fourth years, some medical students completed rotations or subinternships at the clinical sites where they later matched for residency, gaining firsthand experience with the programs. COMP-Northwest student Luke Arsenault followed this path, matching into internal medicine at Samaritan Health Services in Corvallis, Oregon.
“I feel like there is a lot of value in getting to do rotations and subinternships at these locations. I was able to do four weeks with Samaritan after my third year and then went to a couple other locations and did other subinternships,” Arsenault said. “The family feel that WesternU has is a lot like what I feel at Samaritan. It ultimately led me to pick them as my No. 1 choice.”
For COMP-Northwest student Kiana Fincher, surviving medical school was a community effort. With three young kids, she relied heavily on her husband and classmates to help get her through.
“We have two other families that we’ve been really close with who started school with boys the same age as ours. We grew our family simultaneously; we went from three kids in our little group to nine really quickly. It has been a massive part of our support system,” said Fincher. “We came to WesternU because it was close to family and we really wanted that support system nearby, but I was also really excited about a DO training. I wanted to do rural family medicine, so having that extra training with OMT and getting a holistic view of each of my patients was important to me.”
Fincher was excited to open her placement letter and discover that she would be staying in Oregon to complete her residency. Originally from Trail, Oregon, Fincher looks forward to practicing family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Klamath Falls.
During her time at WesternU, COMP-Northwest student Katelyn Williamson immersed herself in community service. After going through the Fire Academy in her first few months of medical school, Williamson spent the first two years of school working as a volunteer firefighter for the Lebanon Fire District.
“I still volunteer with them, but for the last two years I’ve moved into a support role. We support the firefighters when we’re on the scene, so we make sure they’re fed and hydrated, taking their vitals. I also did a psychological first aid certification, so now I can be a support volunteer on the scene for big emergencies where someone has lost their house or a family member. I can go provide emotional support and provide connections to get them with different organizations. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.” said Williamson. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor my whole life, and I’ve always wanted to be able to help people.”
Williamson matched in general surgery at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Williamson worked alongside COMP-Northwest classmate Natalija Stern to plan the College’s Match Day celebration. Encouraged by Williamson, Stern helped create an event that would be both beautiful and memorable for their class, one that reflected the shared experience of starting medical school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we started during COVID, we had this innate distance that we all felt, having to do everything in masks. We had the privilege of transitioning out of COVID while we were still in our second year and sort of coming to life and realizing how much we had missed social interactions. We wanted to round out our medical school experience by having a Match Day that brings us all back together to remind us of where we came from and where we’re headed,” said Stern.
Match Day marks both an ending and a beginning for COMP-Northwest’s Class of 2026, as students close one chapter of their training and step into the next phase of their medical journeys. With residency placements secured, these students now move forward as future physicians, carrying with them the experiences, challenges, and community that shaped their time at WesternU.
