Hooding 2026: From Students to Doctors

^{Pictured: Physician Shea Buckley is hooded by NYITCOM Associate Professor Leslie Goldstein.}

“I will be mindful always of my great responsibility to preserve the health and the life of my patients, to retain their confidence and respect both as a physician and a friend…”

Those were the words that graduates from the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (NYITCOM) Class of 2026 affirmed while pledging the osteopathic oath at this year’s Hooding Ceremonies in Old Westbury, N.Y., and Jonesboro, Ark.

NYITCOM’s Hooding Ceremonies, which serve as the medical school’s graduation, are a symbolic passing of the guard from one generation of doctors to the next. New physicians are called to the stage to receive their doctoral hoods, which are presented by medical school faculty and leaders or family members who are also physicians.

The Class of 2026 achieved an impressive 98 percent match rate, securing residencies at renowned institutions, including the Cleveland Clinic, among others. NYITCOM students also matched into competitive specialties, including psychiatry, neurology, anesthesiology, diagnostic radiology, and others. In addition, nine members matched into military residences with branches of the United States armed forces. The graduates join a well-established alumni network of nearly 10,000 osteopathic physicians (D.O.s).

NYITCOM-Long Island

NYITCOM-Long Island’s 45^th Hooding Ceremony took place on the Long Island campus following New York Tech’s 65th annual commencement on May 17.

“You are now part of a community that will support you, challenge you, and celebrate you—so step forward with confidence and joy, knowing you are ready to meet the challenges and complexities of modern healthcare with compassion, skill, and integrity,” said NYITCOM Dean Nicole Wadsworth, D.O. “Your journey as healers and advocates for the well-being of others begins now, and I have every confidence that you will continue to uphold the proud legacy of NYITCOM with distinction.”

An honorary Doctor of Science was presented to longtime NYITCOM supporter and member of the Dean’s Advisory Board Krishan Kumar, M.D., who was hooded by his son, alumnus Arjun Kumar (D.O. ’21).

Lucas Falting (D.O./Ph.D. ’26), Charles Kim (D.O./Ph.D. ’26),and Manrose Singh (D.O./Ph.D. ’26), whoeach completed the seven-year osteopathic medicine/medical and biological sciences (D.O./Ph.D.) program, were the first of roughly 300 Long Island graduates to be hooded.

“Looking back seven years later, my time in this program was transformational,” said Singh, who will begin an internal medicine residency at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital this summer. “I had the opportunity to experience what it’s like to conduct cutting-edge research in cancer biology and develop the skills I hope to one day use in possibly running my own lab. Through this experience, I realized that developing new treatments is just as important as working directly with patients to administer them, which is why the physician-scientist path has been the perfect fit for me.”

This year’s class also included two sets of twins, including Riddhi Modi, D.O., and Siddhi Modi, D.O., who both matched into residencies with the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell system. Riddhi will pursue a pediatrics residency at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, while Siddhi, pursuing neurology, will complete a transitional year at Plainview Hospital and an advanced program at North Shore University Hospital.

NYITCOM-Arkansas

Four days later, NYITCOM-Arkansas kicked off its celebratory events with a dinner in recognition of its 10th anniversary. In the early 2010s, a group of leaders from the education, healthcare, and civic communities in Northeast Arkansas set out to solve the region’s physician workforce shortage. In 2016, NYITCOM-Arkansas became the first medical school to open in the state in more than 130 years.

At the event, many of those leaders, including founding dean Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., gathered at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Jonesboro Red Wolf Convention Center. “We are doing what we committed to do, and a healthier Arkansas is the beneficiary,” Ross-Lee shared with guests.

More than 700 physicians have graduated from NYITCOM-Arkansas in its first decade. Of the graduates who have finished their residency training, more than half are practicing in Arkansas or a targeted Delta state, with more than 80 in Arkansas alone. In addition, approximately 60 percent of graduates have pursued one of the primary care specialties that the school vowed to emphasize.

“We’re so thrilled to have an opportunity to combine the graduation of our latest class with a community celebration that brought together so many of the individuals and organizations that made this happen,” said NYITCOM-Arkansas Site Dean Shane Speights, D.O. “We know our work is just getting started, but it was incredibly rewarding to celebrate the significance of what we have collectively accomplished over the last decade.”

The following day, NYITCOM-Arkansas held its seventh Hooding Ceremony at the First National Bank Arena on the campus of Arkansas State University, where Class President Courtney Bowden (D.O. ’26) took to the podium to congratulate her fellow graduates.

“One day, sooner than we think, we will look back on this moment—not just as the end of something difficult, but as the catalyst to something meaningful. A career built on service, compassion, and the privilege that it is to care for others in their most vulnerable moments,” she said.

This year, 57 percent of NYITCOM-Arkansas graduates matched into primary care positions, including 25 percent in family medicine, 20 percent in internal medicine, eight percent in general surgery, and four percent in pediatrics. Seventeen graduates matched into residency programs in Arkansas, and an additional nine will remain within 100 miles of the state border.

Casey Pearce contributed to this article.