When he was a middle schooler, Bradley Christensen got the chance to shadow a family friend for an up-close look at a day in their life as a physician and urologist.
He watched kidney and prostate surgeries that day and found himself enamored as the physician used the Da Vinci robot for the procedures. In that moment, he knew he wanted to be a doctor.
“It was cool, it was high-tech, and the care and precision of the doctor left an impression on me,” he said. “I knew this was something I could see myself doing that would never get old.”
Now, Christensen, a fourth-year student at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed), is one step closer to realizing that dream.
On February 2, Christensen, a native of Canton, Michigan, learned he was successful in the 2026 Urology Match and will complete his residency training at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania.
“It’s what I’ve hoped for since I was a little kid, a culmination of all the things I’ve been working toward for two decades,” Christensen said. “I am so excited to work hard and make a tangible difference in the lives of my patients. This is a dream come true for me.”
Meanwhile, on January 29, just a few days before Christensen got the news about his residency match, his fellow classmate in the MD Class of 2026, Tim Mayotte, found success in the 2026 Ophthalmology Match and will be completing his residency training at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
“It’s not an easy specialty to get into so my immediate reaction was one of huge relief and gratitude because it was certainly a team effort,” said Mayotte, a native of Jackson, Michigan. “I’m really proud of my accomplishments but I had so much help along the way from mentors and family. I reached out and celebrated with them after I got the news.”
Mayotte, who earned his bachelor’s degree in biology in 2019 from Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, taught high school biology at Chicago Hope Academy after graduation. He loved teaching but also knew that medicine was his true passion and by 2021 he was at WMed pursuing his MD degree.
“I felt like medicine offered the same ability to influence the next generation while also giving me the opportunity to directly impact patients’ lives in a meaningful way,” Mayotte said.
Christensen’s and Mayotte’s reasons for choosing their respective specialties bear some similarities.
Christensen, who graduated from Brigham Young University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in physiology and developmental biology, was drawn to medicine as a profession because he liked the idea of leaving a lasting positive impact on the life of someone in need.
After he came to WMed in 2022, Christensen said he enjoyed working in general surgery during his clinical rotations because physicians in the specialty get the chance to provide patients with definitive treatments through surgical interventions. At the same time, he also enjoyed his outpatient rotations like Family Medicine and Pediatrics, and how these specialties afforded opportunities for long-term relationships with patients.
All of that taught Christensen that he wanted the specialty he chose to provide a mix of patient care that included surgical interventions and work in the outpatient clinic setting.
“Urology is one of those fields that allows both,” he said. “Outcomes can be life changing, improve quality of life, and I have seen patients be extremely grateful for the care their urologist provided them with. Offering that level of care is what I have always envisioned for myself in medicine.”
Meanwhile, Mayotte came to WMed knowing and hoping he would get the opportunity someday to pursue a specialty that allowed him “to do something with my hands.” He discovered ophthalmology near the end of his second year of medical school and knew quickly he had found his niche.
“It was everything I loved about medicine perfectly fit into one field,” Mayotte said. “It’s a specialty that’s on the forefront of a lot of interesting research and cutting-edge technologies and therapies. It’s also procedural and surgical but it’s a surgical field where patients come to you with an undifferentiated problem and you get to care for them from initial workup through post-operation. You can make a huge difference in their quality of life while also forming lifelong relationships with your patients.”
After his third year at WMed, Mayotte took a gap year doing research in diabetic retinopathy at the Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan. The experience solidified for Mayotte his choice to pursue ophthalmology in residency training and his ultimate goal of a career teaching and doing research as an academic ophthalmologist.
Looking ahead, Mayotte said he and his wife are excited about their move to Indianapolis this spring as he prepares to start residency training. They’re also thankful that the location is within close proximity to his family in Michigan and his wife’s family in the Chicago suburbs.
Christensen said he, his wife, and the couple’s young daughter, are also looking forward to their move to Pennsylvania. He did an away rotation at Geisinger Medical Center in July 2025 and loved how the interns, senior residents, and attending physicians had created a supportive atmosphere for training. The residency program and the community were also very family friendly, Christensen said.
Now that they each know where they will be headed for residency training, Christensen and Mayotte said they are looking forward to supporting their classmates at Match Day on March 20 as they each find out where their journeys as future physicians will take them.
“I’m really excited for my classmates and to see where they all end up,” Mayotte said. “I’m also looking forward to my last few months here in Kalamazoo and the chance to rest and recuperate before we hit the ground running in residency.”