Feb. 12, 2026 — Love sometimes finds you where you least expect it, at work or a club meeting, just like two couples within the University of Florida College of Medicine. These Gators found more than just educational and professional growth opportunities in the Swamp; they found love.

Second-year medical student Brianna Karim met her husband, Rushi Vekariya, as an undergraduate at UF after sitting next to him at an American Medical Student Association meeting. The two began dating in November 2020, graduated together in 2021, and are now pursuing their dream of becoming physicians.

Vekariya, a third-year medical student at the University of Central Florida, popped the question in March 2025. After nine months of planning, the couple married in December in Orlando.

Despite keeping busy with her second year of medical studies, Karim took on the challenge of planning her own traditional Hindu wedding, a multiday event.

“You don’t have to put your life on hold for medical school,” she said. “Big milestones can still happen, and you can still succeed academically.”

Karim used any free moment between lectures and studying to coordinate with vendors and leaned on her support system to help get wedding tasks done. She said the experience of planning her wedding made her a better student, helping her understand the importance of nurturing other aspects of your life while in school. 

In the week leading up to her wedding, Karim passed her three exams, learned the choreography for her first dance and held final meetings with all of her vendors to ensure every detail was squared away. 

Her favorite parts of the wedding were the father-daughter dance to “Give Me Away” by Riley Roth, during which there was not a dry eye in the venue, as well as her first dance with her husband to “Kesariya” by Arijit Singh, which Vekariya choreographed himself. For Valentine’s Day this year, the newlyweds will be celebrating together — while Vekariya is in Gainesville for clinical rotations — with a nice dinner and some studying.

When she started as an after-school receptionist at a Gainesville O2B Kids in 2012, UF alumna Jenna Glendinning didn’t expect to meet her future husband. 

Jenna Glendinning, M.S., now the assistant director of human resources strategy for the College of Medicine, and Michael Glendinning, M.S., also a UF graduate and the manager of health care administration for the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine, began dating in 2013. They went on to open a new O2B Kids location together in Oviedo, Florida, before returning to Gainesville and joining the College of Medicine staff.

Jenna Glendinning said the preschool and afterschool facility was a fun environment to get to know each other, and she realized he was the one when she wanted to be around him continuously. 

“We have grown up so much together, both as a couple and as individuals,” she said. “We keep finding new things to admire, respect and love about one another. That openness and willingness to grow as an individual and side by side makes life exciting.”

The two became engaged in 2015 and married in 2017. They share a passion for travel, and some of their fondest memories together come from late-night explorations of new cities. One of their favorite destinations to visit was Los Angeles, where they instantly fell in love with California. They have continued to return to the Golden State every year since.

When they’re not traveling or working, the Glendinnings share their home with their dog, Ryder, and two cats, Van and Sam.