Harvard Medical School Class Day 2023

[Music] [Applause] [Music] all right [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] faults [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] your trailer if everyone could please take their seats we'll begin in just a minute good afternoon good afternoon and welcome to the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine to last day for the class of 2023 [Applause] I'm Ed Hunterdon for medical education and it is my joy to welcome our amazing graduates all of their loved ones their family and friends who are here Under the Tent to cheer them on and I include in that our faculty and staff who are here to cheer along with you and also welcome to all of those joining us on the live stream from around the country and around the world we're very glad you can be part of this wonderful day I would note that my mother in New Jersey who is 95 years old still living independently Zooms in to the live stream every year so hi Mom love you don't forget it never gets old share the love guys We Begin this celebration and ceremony by remembering that Harvard University is located on the traditional and ancestral land of the Massachusetts people and that as an institution that has benefited from the labor of enslaved men women and children we aspire to not only acknowledge that history of Injustice but also to work actively to undo the harmful effects that it has had on our society our class day exercises at HMS and hsdm are moderated and emceed not by our Deans and our faculty but by our students and so my main job my most important job this afternoon is to introduce two unbelievable inspiring wonderful HMS students are co-moderators for HMS this year Ahmed Ahmed and Nikki Joseph so Ahmed and Nikki take it away [Applause] hello everyone on behalf of the graduating class of 2023 welcome to the class day ceremony for Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine how's everyone doing we good [Applause] all right thank you so much we have a full house today all of the graduating students are here please give it up for the graduates [Applause] now I have to admit we usually don't get attendance like this at HMS we try emailing no one shows up we message the group chat no one shows up but the second we offer you free food it's like there's not a seat left in the house huh okay class of 2023. we see you we see you I mean listen with the amount of debt we've got I can't say no to a free meal either really though we are delighted to be here with you today for those who don't know us I'm Nikki Joseph [Applause] and I'm Ahmed Ahmed [Music] and for those wondering that's not a joke that's just what happens when you're the youngest of eight we are so excited to be your Asia best class day co-moderators [Applause] good afternoon to Dean Daly Dean Ginobili Dean Hunter Dean Park Dr karshmer and our esteemed keynote speaker Dr Sanjay Gupta good afternoon as well to our exceptional custodial workers and staff who made this event possible our fellow students and to you our family and friends who have traveled from far and wide to help us celebrate on this special day we'd also like to thank those on Livestream who could not be with us today but who we know are cheering us on from afar graduates we begin today with an apology not to you but to president Elliott you see he was the president of Harvard who famously moved Harvard Medical School to this very quad in 1906. this might come as a surprise to some of you but at the time more than half of HMS graduates were actually illiterate that's right they could not read they could not write so he had one simple request he asked that the graduates of this institution be able to at least read the very words written on their diplomas reasonable right well graduates today you all will receive your degrees and they will be fully scribed in Latin and let's just say you will keep alive a century-old tradition of the brightest Minds disappointing our former president Beyond apologies however we also want to give thanks we have so many to thank on this special day those who simply worked miracles to help us get here please give an Applause for each one our parents and family our professors and mentors our friends and classmates our patients and of course our pass fail curriculum [Applause] graduates learning and growing alongside you has been the joy of a lifetime look at how far we come feels like just yesterday that we were learning the physical exam for the very first time but since my last rotation was nearly six months ago I can't say that I'm necessarily in a better place now for the past several years we have seen Brilliance thoughtfulness and humility in action we have watched all of you shine in your strengths Embrace moments of growth become Fuller versions of yourselves and uplift one another along the way each and every one of you has led in ways that are unique and authentic to you and for that we are in total awe just to name a few building out a National Student Response Network for covet 19. fighting for abortion care access [Applause] helping to establish covid-19 vaccine access mobile clinics serving on Health Equity roundtables at the White House creating a robust climate change curriculum at HMS to even increasing accessibility to voting through the health system [Applause] the list goes on and I am constantly in awe of what our classmates have done and I can only imagine what they will do in the years to come graduates much like Orpheus from Hades town you all have a gift to give you could make us see how the world could be in spite of the way that it is it is such an honor to celebrate this day with hey Nikki can you just check that page for me I'm just going to finish up our remarks um like I was saying it is such an honor to celebrate this day oh no it's it's the nurse in bed too she says she needs us to prescribe Tylenol because the med student can't do it [Applause] but we can literally get Tylenol over the counter well graduates I guess the work begins congratulations class of 2023 and please give it up for our wonderful dental school co-moderator Paulina Miller [Applause] good afternoon everyone and welcome my name is Paulina Miller and it is a privilege to represent the Harvard School of Dental Medicine class of 2023 today when I was eight years old after a visit to the dentist I told my parents I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up well as I stand here today about to embark on my career as a dentist I guess I'm officially grown up I know my parents would agree it's about time this journey towards becoming a dentist would not be possible without the support of those closest to me and I know my classmates share this same sentiment to all of our family friends mentors patients the list goes on we would not be here without you today is a day to celebrate all of our Collective efforts four years ago we sat in these same chairs for a white coat ceremony I remember being filled with so much excitement yet so much uncertainty since then we have spent our time as we like to say in the dental school putting the mouth back in the body we spent our first year studying alongside our HMS classmates building a foundation for the integration of oral and systemic health we then transitioned to the dental school where we continue to expand upon our Dental education and clinical knowledge all against the backdrop of a global pandemic I might add we spent long days and nights in our pre-clinical lab we're finding our sand skills we then transitioned to the clinic where we drilled and filled prepped and tempt extracted teeth and made some Dentures along the way we've also faced personal adversities overcome challenges and celebrated joyous moments all with the support of one another we have shared countless laughs and maybe a few tears but have created memories to last a lifetime I'm so proud to be part of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine class of 2023 and a community that embodies strength persistence compassion and perhaps most importantly family I'm thrilled to join the dental field alongside my colleagues and cannot wait to see all the greatness and success to come thank you all for joining us for the celebration and congratulations [Applause] I would now like to welcome Dr karchmer to the podium to welcome this new generation of Harvard medical and dental alumni [Applause] thank you I had to retrieve my cell phone here before it went off for a Tylenol nose um I am the chair for alumni relations for Harvard Medical School and I always am delighted to be here and honored to be here I don't officially speak for the School of Dental Medicine but I'm sure my thoughts are comparable from your Alumni Association as well uh thank you for allowing me to be with you today and have a few minutes to make a comment or two first I want to congratulate the class of 2023 Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine who are a fantastic job listening to some of those accomplishments read before is just a wonderful introduction to the great things that you will do in the future my congratulations to your parents and your loved ones who have had your backs and gotten you here really important cornerstones for your life it's my pleasure to welcome you to your alumni associations they are really there for you they've been for you for your entire time as students here as a member of the alumni Council of medical school I can tell you that interest in terms of hard work to address student indebtedness and reduce it building mentorship programs that will help you as students or have helped you as students and it will be available during the early parts of your career should they they be needed so the alumni really are excited to welcome you to that body which is about ten thousand strong the opportunity to engage with the school is really an open and wonderful opportunity and we encourage you to really take advantage of it and to engage in ways that you will find fulfilling I have one word of advice or one sort of bit of advice for you all of you are now transitioning from students into teachers and you will be teachers of students teachers of colleagues teachers of residence teachers of patients in any number of ways and I want to just share with you some words from Daniel D Federman who was a beloved teacher here a former dean of students a chair of medicine at Stanford a graduate of HMS and Dan said something that has always stuck with me he said when you're teaching think out loud keep it simple and never miss a chance to be kind and I think that last part of it is really the essential advice coming from Dan fetterman for today so again my welcome to all of you to the alumni associations good luck to you as you transition into the next stage of your career godspeed thank you [Applause] great honor that I now introduce the Harvard School of Dental Medicine class of 2023 student speaker and my dear friend Ruby Sandu [Applause] Ruby grew up in Lasalle Quebec Canada before moving to the United States when she was 14 years old calling Grand Rapids Michigan her new home she graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2019 where she received a degree in Biochemistry before matriculating to the Harvard School of Dental Medicine during her time at Harvard Ruby has served as a class of 2023 president A diversity Equity inclusion and belonging student ambassador and has led countless volunteer and mentorship efforts over the past four years Ruby has been dedicated to fostering Community within the dental school organizing social events and collaborations within and between classes she has most certainly left her mark on hstm Ruby credits her parents for teaching her the importance of perseverance and determination which has allowed her to reach his milestone she is also an immensely proud big sister of the individuals her younger brother and sister are today in the upcoming months Ruby will be embarking on her career as a general dentist in private practice her remarks are titled Community better together please join me in welcoming my classmate future colleague and personal friend Ruby Sandu [Applause] hey doctors so first I want to thank Paulina for the wonderful introduction and to Ahmed and Nikki and our administrators for their outstanding work in organizing today's celebrations this day would not have been possible without you all now on to my graduation speech without shedding a tear to be honest when anyone has asked me are you excited about graduating I have given the same answer I'm sad usually when I say this I get a variety of responses ranging from agreements to wow I cannot relate as I work through why such a huge milestone invoked so much apprehension in me it didn't take me long to realize that it was because the community that has been my Haven for the last four years is changing in my time today I want to emphasize the power of community and the friendships that we have developed but before I dive into that can we all take a moment to appreciate the fact that we made it through dental school in one piece for those who may not know we've been working with drills sharp instruments and unpredictable Bunsen burners for years now the fact that we made it out with all of our fingers and our sanity intact is something to celebrate in itself the community at Harvard School of Dental Medicine is unlike any other with an average class size of 35 we have gotten to know one another in a way that students at other dental schools don't always get to experience we have supported each other through the long grueling hours of Zoom lectures with mandatory cameras on might I add and we have been there for each other as we transitioned into the clinic where we suddenly went from working with mannequin heads in the basement of the school to treating real living patients on one random day in July of our second year together we laughed we might have cried and we definitely persevered I learned the importance of cultivating a supportive Community from a young age having experienced two major moves before the age of 14. I know what it feels like to go from being included to being an outsider and those experiences taught me how crucial having a community is to one's happiness and ultimate success as social creatures we have an innate need to belong and connect with others in today's fast-paced and increasingly isolated world it's more critical than ever to prioritize our interpersonal connections when we feel connected to others we experience a sense of belonging that is essential to our well-being this support can make all the difference in the world when we are struggling whether we were studying together for our homeostasis exams coaching each other through a tough Clinic day or figuring out how the heck to mount on an articulator the right way our Journeys would not have been possible without one another's support well we have gotten so much out of belonging to this tight-knit community each of us has given just as much in the words of Helen Keller alone we can do so little together we can do so much contributing to a strong community in this environment has also strengthened our professional Networks the dental and medical fields are small worlds and the relationships we have formed over the past four years will be invaluable as we move through move forward in our careers I mean how many people can say they have every dental and medical specialist in one single GroupMe message our strength as a unit is a testament to all of our commitment to health care as well both dental and Medical Teams would be unable to function without teamwork leaving our patients to suffer the consequences in the dental clinic all of us have served as assistance planned or not the ease at which my classmates have been willing to step in when they see someone struggling whether it be for something as simple as perio charting or as complex as taking hundreds of case presentation photos makes me realize how lucky I am to have learned the practice of Dentistry surrounded by these people each one of you has taught me that our field will always be strengthened when we support one another because let's not forget there is always room for one more at the top when we first arrived at Harvard the dental students much like the medical students were divided into separate societies this further fragmented our already small class and left us with the year of Separation before we began our dental school journey together however this didn't divide us instead we took the initiative to connect with each other on a personal level we organized monthly birthday celebrations shared potluck dinners and supported one another through challenges of being a tooth lover in a medical world these early efforts laid the foundation for the people and the group that we are today as we reflect on these past four years it's hard to believe how quickly they have flown by we have all undergone tremendous personal growth and change experiencing some of the highest highs and lowest lows but what lies ahead is just as exciting we have so much more life left to live and undoubtedly more challenges to face in those difficult moments I hope that we can all look back at the strong community that we have built and take comfort in knowing that we will always have a whole class of people cheering us on supporting us through thick and thin and only a message or a phone call away at this point I hope you can all understand my answer to the previously raised question how could I not be sad to leave such an incredible group of people well what I have realized is that this is not the end of our community but only the beginning as we spread out all over the country and the world our community will only grow in numbers and in strength trust me I'm already thinking about how I can plan our reunions before I graduate so here's to the memories we have shared and the ones yet to come and here's to always remembering that in our wonderful amazing and one-of-a-kind Community we are and always will be better together thank you [Applause] thank you Ruby for that excellent and moving speech it is with great honor that I now introduce the first of the Harvard Medical School class of 2023 student speakers hey Lynn Cho [Applause] ylin was born in Seoul South Korea and moved to the United States in 2001 where she grew up in Palo Alto California she then became an East Coast convert to attend Dartmouth College where she graduated summa laude with a degree in biology after graduation Halen completed a bioethics fellowship at the NIH before matriculating here at Harvard Medical School here she has been engaged in medical education and oncology research from conducting phase one clinical trials in triple negative breast cancer to analyzing ethical issues in access to emerging cancer Diagnostics however she considers her True Legacy at Harvard to be the drawings and photographs she's taken of her friends and the homemade baked goods she feeds them Halen will soon be starting Internal Medicine Residency less than 100 feet from this podium at Brigham and Women's Hospital after which she hopes to pursue a career in oncology she's joined here today by her parents to whom she dedicates all of her success and who she did not warn about this upcoming speech her remarks are titled the power of Story please join me in welcoming hey Lynn Cho thank you Ahmed and thank you everyone for being here today seven years ago my doctors told me that they weren't sure I would make it to the end of the year let alone to medical school if I didn't start prioritizing my health today I am graduating from Harvard Medical School with a group of intelligent passionate and diverse peers we made it guys all of us here today have been through thick and thin in our Journeys to this moment and what a journey it's been from road tripping to Vermont with pizza boxes hanging out of our trucks to waking up at 5am to wake up our patients at 6 a.m to ask them whether they farted overnight Journeys composed of multitudes of stories I stand here today because several months ago thanks to the guilt tripping oh I mean encouragement of a close friend and classmate I found myself on a plane to Anchorage Alaska to take part in Harvard's Community engagement and Healthcare clerkship beyond the frozen Arctic tundra that left me with three black toes and multiple encounters with moose what I really left Anchorage with was a collection of stories and an appreciation for what those stories mean for medicine and those lessons are what I hope to share with you all today one as Physicians We should strive to understand not just the stories of our individual patients but of our larger communities in Anchorage I observed at South Central Foundation a healthcare organization owned by and serving Alaska native communities their success I learned came from embodying their community training employing and partnering with their community on the first full day of the rotation we participated in a workshop on historical and generational trauma learning about the complicated and often exploitatory relationship between the government the medical system and Alaska native communities stripping of tradition and family that results in cultures of silence and fatalism and again and again I saw these individual stories fit into the larger Narrative of these traumas and while I couldn't personally relate to the Alaska specific facts I could see Echoes of other types of historical and generational traumas across the patient communities at Boston and across the Asian and korean-american communities with which I identify in medical school we learned to gather and appreciate the individual patient story but we must also remember that that patient story is contextualized by the community they come from as we recently learned during match day our lives our training will take us to places we never anticipated and wherever we go we should strive to build rapport with their communities in the same way we approach relationship building and rapport with our individual patients that means seeing them understanding them and advocating for them two The Power of the story is in the interpretation as students or as some of our attendings fondly called us future doctors we received many stories as full-fledged doctors from today onwards we are poised to receive hundreds more but we are also storytellers we tell our patients stories to other providers we tell stories in our research the ways in which we frame our questions our findings our recommendations we even tell stories in the way we interpret and respond to our patients in the moment on my last day in Anchorage the vice president of medical services at South Central Foundation told us the best way to promote Health in your patients is to promote their self-confidence and their autonomy in medicine we often focus on problems to solve and issues to address but we can also frame these efforts as trying to study and support our patients and communities resilience to acknowledge not only you what has been done to a community but how they have responded to it not just what has prevented a community from thriving but what has allowed them to persevere in the face of these struggles and most importantly how can we reinforce and bolster that response by providing resources that is a subtle perspective shift but reminds us that if the power of the story is in the interpretation interpretation depends on not just the Storyteller but also the receiver and finally three there is power in owning your story in Alaska we talked about sharing story from surface level stories about something funny that happened that morning to deeper Iceberg level stories that really Define Who We Are we all tell stories to create connections connections protect us from burnout connections drive us to be in medicine even though as we've learned over the last four years medicine is hard work as researcher brene Brown once said we are the others that is to say in some ways we are our patients we can understand what they feel not necessarily because we have lived those same experiences but because we can associate their emotions and experiences with our own we understand the pain of our patients and our loved ones not because we've lived it but because we have all experienced pain and joy to acknowledge that to ourselves and to others can be a powerful experience even when medicine can no longer offer cures or treatments we can provide value and promote healing simply by allowing patients to tell their stories and I believe that that is true for us as providers as we promote self-confidence and autonomy in our patients there is value to be gained from promoting these things in ourselves this has at least been true for me I have never openly acknowledged my dual identity as patient and provider on any platform in fact I spent years feeling ashamed of and hiding the fact of my past experiences with an eating disorder but today I feel like the gift of my time at Harvard and of medicine has been to show me the importance of authenticity and of confidence in my story to appreciate how my experiences have helped me empathize with my patients and to appreciate how my patients strengths have allowed me to see my own ultimately we are all storytellers and receivers as we each Go off into our various careers as clinicians researchers Advocates I encourage all of you to share your own stories as you see fit because sharing story may help you empathize respond and carry other stories let us each reflect about the levels at which we tell stories from surface stories to build rapport with our patients personal stories to practice our self-empowerment stories to understand the communities we will serve stories to explain the data we will gather and let us all appreciate the power of a story thank you for listening and congratulations class of 2023. [Applause] thank you Halen for such a thoughtful and impactful speech it is my pleasure to now introduce the next Harvard Medical School 2023 speaker lean alcasab [Applause] for those of you who have not seen her featured on Harvard's Instagram feed you may remember her as Canon's birthday Baker or more infamously as the perpetrator of the Vandy 2019 kitchen fire believe me when I say I was not amused at the time I still remember standing in the freezing cold when it was negative 10 degrees outside but honestly you can't ever be that mad at lean she's one of the kindest people you will ever meet and I'm grateful to call her a close friend lean is a member of the pathways MD entering class of 2018. taking a fifth year for research graduating today with the class of 2023. lean is originally from Damascus Syria and sidon Lebanon by way of Dubai UAE and Jeddah Saudi Arabia she moved to the U.S and graduated from Harvard College in 2018 having studied molecular and cellular biology with a secondary in global health and health policy she has been an integral student leader of the Arab community on campus since and is a resident tutor at the college's Adams house her passions lie at the intersection of women's health and Refugee and immigrant health and she will soon be starting residency In Obstetrics and Gynecology in the combined Brigham and Women's Massachusetts General Hospital program right here at Harvard her remarks are entitled physician ambassadors join me in welcoming lean to the stage [Applause] good afternoon everybody it is a pleasure to be here and share some reflections with you today is a special day for many reasons but it is extra special for me as some of you may know because my father who is a Syrian passport holder could not make it to my 2018 college graduation or my white coat ceremony but thankfully he is here today he is here alongside my incredible mother my brother the best of lifelong friends and classmates and I'm so grateful it is an honor to be a part of this day with all the families and parents here physically virtually and in spirit collectively celebrating our and truly your incredible Milestone and significant achievements a culmination of over 10 even 25 years of your guidance support patience and encouragement we thank you during my time at HMS I took a year research year to work on an immigrant woman's health project and through many focus group discussions the concept of identity the strength and empowerment it brings was so palpable I reflected on what cultural and religious identity meant to me how it empowers me and intersects with my identity as dare I say now a physician after nine years in the U.S and on Harvard's campus every time I see someone from my home region the first question I get is how are you treated there do you face any challenges because of your head scarf or because you're Arab thought-provoking questions like this did not only come from those far away during tce a clerkship director was checking in with me about my experience with patients and faculty asking me the same question later during my residency interview Trail noting that my personal statement and extracurricular activities were all relevant to my identity as an Arab Muslim woman an interviewer asked me what make you feel what made you feel like you can so openly and unapologetically be yourself can be hard to quiet the noise as a busy medical student and reflect on your own identity but I owed that reflection to myself and to those asking the question prompted me to wonder about the weight of wearing my identity is it burdensome to me inconvenient to others the answer was never simple or concrete it was always so undeniably complex a composite of experiences memories stories and internalized perspectives never simple much like identities I thought back to an experience I had at the Harvard Square homeless shelter where I was doing intake with a guest who was getting an overnight bed and experience much similar to doing a new admission for a patient next morning he shared that someone on his Facebook feed had made an islamophobic post but this time he took it upon himself to comment saying you don't know what you're talking about you've never met a Muslim I met one last night and she treated me with more kindness than anyone I would have never thought that how I interacted with this guest after a long night I've got volunteering would be ingrained in his mind as what Muslims are like I'm grateful that I was able to present a real world manifestation of the values my identity is founded upon and deconstruct misinformed assumptions about it in recalling stories like this one I recognize that while no one ecosystem is perfect Harvard is a special place that respects and promotes celebrating individual identities in all its kinds and it was a privilege to be here and to be a part of its community throughout the years through [Applause] out the years away from home and from a decade-long Civil War I have grown to recognize that with privilege comes power and with power comes responsibility and by virtue of us being here we have accepted that responsibility when I first got into Harvard my uncle called me safiritna which translates to ambassador he called me this to refer to the identity I was to exemplify and represent in this new place there was so much pride excitement and pressure in just one word I am not unique in holding an identity that shapes my worldview and values each one of us has their own beautifully crafted ever evolving identity but perhaps one remarkable identity we now share and visibly wear together is that of Medicine in just two weeks we will all be wearing our big bright badges that reads MD or doctor or physician we will all be wearing our not short length white coats will be carrying our stethoscopes probably not in surgery and we'll probably be wearing our scrubs I think now is a good time to reflect on the responsibility power and privilege that comes with carrying the weight of here on wearing your identity as a physician it is important to always think about how as Physicians our individual 15-minute interactions with one patient may have Ripple effects on their future interactions or lack thereof with Healthcare systems and Professionals for themselves and their families and for consequential decisions they make with regards to their well-being we may have rough days we may experience burnout we may not be perfect and the identity of a profession does not fall on one individual but as we celebrate the privilege of living out our dream of becoming doctors let us remember to maintain the things we learned in pom remember to nurture your empathy your compassion your willingness to be an educator to check your assumptions and stigma to advocate for your patients and to go the extra mile our interactions and care no matter how fleeting are representative ingrained and consequential to those we've dedicated the last several years to and care most about our patients the beauty of the duality in our profession is that we are often both the scientists and The Advocate the empathetic caretaker and the tough news Bearer The advisor and The Listener the entrusted teacher and the lifelong student we are also the physician and the Ambassador graduating today from Harvard Medical School yes take that in we really did it we are each asafir or safeto ambassadors of both the identity we openly and unapologetically carry as individuals and now our shared identity as Physicians in Canada if the white coat had an identity then our identity is Humanity wherever we may be may we all proudly wear our white coats and take on our responsibility as ambassadors of this profession thank you thank you for those beautiful words lean in a slight change to the order of the program it is now my distinct pleasure to introduce the dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine Dr William B genobli Dr Ginobili is a leader in the field of periodontology and an internationally recognized scholar in oral regenerative medicine tissue engineering and precision medicine and has produced over 300 manuscripts textbook chapters and patents Dean Ginobili is an alumnus of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine with an advanced degree in periodontology and oral biology he also completed his postdoctoral training in molecular biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in September 2020 he was appointed the 11th dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine since his arrival is the dean in the fall of 2020 our class has been fortunate to get to know him Dean Ginobili is arguably a rock star in the field of periodontology with an impressive list of accolades and awards but he is also accessible and down to earth he takes time to meet with students learn about our future career plans and research interests and he always has an Open Door you can often find him chatting with students in the Halls checking in on us on the clinic floor or asking about our weekends over tea time it has been my pleasure to get to know him over the last several years and it is my distinct privilege to welcome Dean Ginobili to the podium [Applause] okay congratulations class of 2023 you did it and thank you so much Paulina for your warm introduction and thank you so much Ruby for your class remarks you both have been wonderful role models and advocates for your class over these years so it's my honor to welcome the class of 2023 their families friends and loved ones as well as our distinguished guests here today it is truly a joyous occasion and we are delighted to come together to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in Harvard Medical School so graduates as you look around today you will see a sea of supporters and cheerleaders who have been in your corner throughout your journey family members classmates professors mentors spouses and partners please take a moment to reflect on everyone who has helped make your Journal Journey possible we're very grateful for all of those who have influenced your decision to pursue medicine supported your dreams and helped shape you into the compassionate Health Care Providers you have become so as I reflect on your class I would I feel very fortunate to have gotten to know you well we both arrived at the dental school at the same time I was just starting as a new Dean coming from the University of Michigan and you were starting your second year of the pre-doctoral program at hsdm after spending your first year at the medical school I did my best to identify you behind the masks as you started in the lab rotations and pre-clinical work after a while I think we all became quite good at greeting each other and recognizing who was behind each of these masks you know I was immediately impressed by you you're a tight-knit class that genuinely cares for one another in in our making and are devoted to making a difference for your patients and for the profession many of you in your class of 35 were ambassadors in our diversity and inclusion programs or active and community outreach efforts you have been instrumental in establishing and promoting programs such as the bridge to dental school a pipeline program for college students who are underrepresented in dental medicine on top of your rigorous academic and clinical programs you spent numerous hours of personal time mentoring promising young students who were considering Dental School you also volunteered to treat young patients through Outreach efforts such as the Action Clinic give kids A Smile as well as create an oral health literacy materials in multiple languages to reach historically underserved communities so additionally your class was actively involved in basic translational clinical research initiatives curriculum design and sustainability efforts it is clear to me through your actions your class sees a future when you can serve as advocates and leaders and use your voices to lift others from here you will go on to residencies practice and service across the country I know you will make your mark in the profession and Propel the field forward From This Moment On graduating dentists and Physicians you are doctors we couldn't be prouder to call you that and with the title of doctor comes great responsibility including the responsibility of humility recognize that this is just the start of your career and education is a journey a lifelong journey we are all lifelong Learners who will learn from every patient every procedure every colleague and new research new technology and new areas of scientific inquiry so today's distinguished speaker Dr Sanjay Gupta has written about the power of the brain and its ability to adapt in this way and he said the brain can be continuously and consistently enriched throughout your life no matter your age or access to it correct okay so I think many of us at a certain age are thrilled to know that I know I am so graduates in your own dental and medical education you experience the elasticity of the brain firsthand when you you were faced with a global pandemic you encountered new obstacles adjusted to uncertainty stretched your expectations and began to learn in new ways these adaptations added an extra layer of resilience and wisdom that will allow you to navigate daunting challenges throughout your life and in your professional careers so in your lifetime you will encounter Innovative Technologies in scientific breakthroughs never seen before already the applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning and Medicine open a limitless number of uses that could revolutionize how we diagnose and risk stratify clinical care and treat our patients advances in addressing oral health disparities and public health through personalized medicine May better optimize the delivery of dental care to the underserved so as you go out into the world today I know that you will bring with you a shared ethos from your time together here at Harvard and you heard it from your your Representatives today your classmate Jessica Murphy summed it up perfectly in a reflection written in hsdm's commencement booklet and she said to my patients I did my best to give you the care you deserve to my class I did my best to support you to my family I did my best to remember who I am I am proud of how I've grown during my stay in Boston so when I go you are all with me I will do my best to represent you well along the way so you know graduates we're so proud of you and we know that you will represent us well in all of your future endeavors I encourage you to dream big and keep that sense of connection and curiosity you found here keep stretching your brains as you continue to learn and grow we can't wait to see where your journey will take you congratulations doctors so now I would like to invite Dr sang Park our associate Dean for dental education to the stage for the conferral of dental degrees in park associate Dean for dental education to School of Dental Medicine it is truly an honor to introduce to you our amazing members of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine class of 2023. so as the class members are approaching the podium to their right like to introduce our society directors who are assisting into hooding today who are Dr Aram Kim Dr Luis Lopez Dr Sam coffin these incredible graduates have completed four or more years of study toward a degree of Doctor of Dental Medicine I think the class is almost ready okay good I know the first the first one is always the toughest so a clap for being so brave Nikki [Applause] Dr Nikki Shireen alfatuni [Applause] Dr Ariana Z Aram [Applause] Dr Abigail Castle Baldwin [Applause] Dr Anna Elizabeth Bullock [Applause] Dr Bradley Allen bousquet [Applause] Dr Michaela on Brock [Applause] Dr Eric Justin Chen [Applause] Dr Michael Chen [Applause] Dr Suey Chen [Applause] Dr Laura hope durienzo [Applause] Dr Rose debrinski joined by a children Shane d'andina thank you Dr Matthew James Godwin [Applause] Dr Madison Zamora Haka day excuse me she's not able to be here but she's joining us virtually and I promised her I'll wave at her so congratulations Madison [Applause] Dr Christy and cosmeric Stewart Dr Jenny Kim [Applause] Dr Jeremiah y Kim [Applause] Dr Alice Lee [Applause] Dr rolina low [Applause] Dr Christopher Yang Yang Ma foreign Tyler Middleton [Applause] Dr Paulina Lauren Miller [Applause] Dr Jessica Christina Murphree [Applause] Dr Jessica Yin norlinger [Applause] Dr shayda parsai [Applause] Dr Lara Sofia pascara cologne [Applause] Dr Cameron Wesley Farr [Applause] Dr Edward Popa [Applause] Dr Ruby Carr Sandhu [Applause] Dr Rebecca Lee shalaba [Applause] Dr Andrew Jared shinebaum [Applause] Dr Monica Solomon Dr Olivia Catherine Watrous [Applause] Dr Sophia wrong yen [Applause] Dr Susanna young lay yay [Applause] Dr Franklin Chan Zhang [Applause] did the father he's gonna binder no words almost took the script thought I was gonna have to go off the cuff here congratulations to the new dental school graduates please give it up for them [Applause] it is now my great honor to introduce our class day keynote speaker let me start by saying if you've ever watched television or if you know someone who has then you might have come across our keynote speaker before Dr Sanjay Gupta is the Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN for decades he has been a trusted voice covering the world's most pressing health issues While most may know him for this work his reach actually extends far beyond the production lights he maintains an active clinical practice as the associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital he is the author of multiple New York Times best-selling books and he's the proud dad of three teenagers and to all of the parents out there he reports this as his most challenging role not brain surgery most of this you can find online but I wanted to share something with you that you can't it's my first memory of Dr Gupta it dates back 13 years ago at the time he is called onto the scene of Port all Prince the capital of Haiti following a ground-shattering earthquake it's a grim sight but the reality on the ground tells an even darker Tale as the live camera cues to Dr Gupta what becomes quickly clear is that there will be no news he can report the field hospital he is set to report from has evacuated all of its medical personnel no doctor no nurse is left on site yet 25 critically ill patients lie in the field in need of immediate Medical Care and he's told it's just you Dr Gupta in his TV crew would go on to stay the entire night long after the generators gave out and the tents they were working in went black they stayed through it all helping each one of those patients he inspired me then as a young high schooler and I'm certain that his remarks today on the lessons he has learned throughout his career will be just as moving please give a warm welcome to our keynote speaker Dr Sanjay Gupta [Music] wow [Applause] I am so touched I got goosebumps thank you Ahmed Dr Ahmed and thanks to the The Faculty the distinguished faculty the guests all the Deans here I'm really honored to be here most of all though I want to congratulate the class of 2023. huge congratulations you have you have to soak this moment in you have to just take it in and just reflect it's just it's one of those things by the way is this is this straight I mean I'm a neurosurgeon but I can't seem to get this uh all right you you are now doctors and that's for life no matter what you do from here on out you're going to be doctors whether you like it or not it's going to be likely one of the most Central tenets of who you are and people are going to have all sorts of Notions of Who You Are what kind of person you are what you're capable of doing some may assume you've just gone into medicine to get rich which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes going into medicine for the money is kind of like having sex for the exercise you will likely become the doctor of your neighborhood every Backyard Barbecue will be filled with questions about aching backs and strange rashes and even impotence you'll be amazed well people will suddenly be comfortable sharing with you Embrace that role never shy away from it one group of people who will surprisingly not come to you as much as you'd expect however your kids I have three teenagers and if they have a medical problem they go to Mom mom's a lawyer a divorce lawyer at the head [Applause] I think they figured if it wasn't a ruptured aneurysm or a brain tumor they didn't want to bother me with their more Minor Medical malady truth is I wish they had please know that I'm tremendously honored to be here grateful at the opportunity to share a few words and frankly humbled that anyone would care what I have to say but the truth is truth is your ears and your sensibilities and now your ability to do some incredible things in the world at a time when we desperately need it has taken on a greater sense of urgency I don't want to put too much pressure on you but your jobs and now your role in society are more important than ever in fact in my estimation you are the new Guardians of the Galaxy and that is something I wanted to talk a little bit about today it's been about 30 years since I graduated from medical school a lot of things have changed the world's a tremendously different place people have more faith than ever before and yet we are more suspicious as well we value our freedom and yet we too often live in fear we spend more money on health care than ever and yet life expectancy has decreased we can treat and even cure diseases we barely understood when I graduated from medical school and yet the people who sometimes would most benefit from those therapies don't have access to them but here's the thing you have the ability to change that you have the capacity to restore the faith reverse some of those tragic Trends and reassure people who are going to come to depend on you it is an awesome task it's awesome for society and it's awesome for all of you personally as well because I got to tell you there can be times in your life when the trajectory seems a little confusing it's going to seem a little muddled and you're going to come to appreciate just how important the Clarion call of compassion can really be you're going to know your purpose here on Earth and it is an enormous gift it comes with obligations as has been mentioned you have to protect the legacy of medicine you have to contribute to its growth and most importantly you always have to respect the sacred bond between you and your patient making sure it stays sacred I can tell you there's no other relationship like it in society got to remember to be humble soak yourself in the privilege of your profession but never the arrogance you're going to be standing there in your crisp white coat and your patient will probably be there in a paper or cloth gown probably fumbling with the ties you're going to have your tools bright lights and Hammers and Blades to shine bang and probe and your patients are going to be worried and insensitive and secure they may barely know you at that point but you will be the most important person in their lives thing I've really taken away is that I think it's the greatest privilege given by one human being to another to care for them at their most vulnerable time to restore them to health when their bodies have betrayed them to take them to the brink of death if you have to but then promise to bring them back in better condition than when you started I didn't really know or realize any of this when I was in your shoes it was a confusing time honestly it was a noisy time I didn't always know that I could trust what I knew when I was at my own commencement I heard a story about this kid named Danny and of course that he took seems this kid showed up for the first class at the beginning of the semester after that he never came back until he took the final exam was a hundred questions his Professor called him into the office after and he said Danny I got to tell you I don't understand this you come to class the first day you never come back after that you take the final and you got a 97. I guess I should be asking how come you didn't get a perfect score Danny says well tell you what doc that first day you confused me a little gotta you gotta be honest with yourself because the biggest lies in the world are the ones we tell ourselves you know you're well on your way to the medical part of your life so I thought I'd focus a little bit today on the Life part of your life you've spent years getting the big rocks in place so think of these comments as some of the sand in between here are a few of the things I know now that I wish I knew then as Dr karchmer said the right decision is always to be kind may not seem like it at the moment and there's going to be many sources of frustration and irritation but the Arc of history is long and you're always going to be feel better if you made the decision to be kind I've always felt that in retrospect what bothered me the most about those irritating situations is how I reacted to them even more than the situation itself so be kind take the extra moment to touch in this most human of all professions chat GPT be damned smile a lot even use humor you know as as the great Maya Angelou once wrote people may not always remember what you said or even what you did but they will remember how you made them feel during my neurosurgery training I was called one day to care for a woman who'd been playing on the trampoline with their kids and at some point she was hurtled off that trampoline we saw her in the emergency room and luckily she was neurologically okay intact as we like to say unfortunately though she had a broken bone in her neck and would need a Halo device to help immobilize her spine I explained this to her and then I went to go speak to her husband who was very anxious understandably after explaining this all to him he looked at me a bit bewildered and said but doctor you look so young have you ever done this before and I don't know what came over me but I paused and I smiled and I said well no but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night [Applause] now apparently he had never seen that commercial so class of 2023 be kind use humor always make sure to know your audience first another lesson they say don't fix it if it ain't broke 30 years later I got a little bit of a different take on that one keep fixing it not broke somehow means that you've made it perfect and it's not perfect nothing is it is true that perfect can be the enemy of good we say that all the time in the operating room so to not take that extra millimeter of tumor that could cause blood loss but what I'm saying here is that it means you have the opportunity to take a bunch of shots on goal and because you can you're almost obligated to do so so keep tinkering keep improving yes keep fixing it's an obligation to the Future for me it gets at this bigger idea that somehow we think of evolution as this steady March toward increasing perfection over the last 30 years though I've been convinced more and more that's not the way it works instead there are lots and lots of shots on goal some too high some not high enough some Far wide progress it turns out is actually quite chaotic and messy but here's the thing one of those shots on goal could amount to something could mean something new something transformative so graduates keep fixing no one's earned the privilege more than you also graduates remember this it's an important one don't spend your life continually trying to prove that you are smart I'll just say it you're smart you've proven it so instead spend your time becoming wise there's a difference smart person knows the right answer wise person knows the right questions so spend your time asking the right questions even if they seem dumb because those are often the questions everyone else is too afraid to ask and along the way you may find yourself starting to no longer just continuously memorize the past but instead changing the future graduates respect history but don't be afraid to make some also you know as much as we strive to hit the home runs and score the touchdowns and deliver the knockout punch sometimes the small wins can lead to an outsized amount of happiness one of the most memorable times of my life was back in the third grade it was field day and as usual I was the last person picked for teams it was the beanbag toss he had four bean bags and a Target in front of you you got three points if you got a bullseye and none if you miss the target altogether there had been three players on my team that had already gone all four players on the other team had gone so I was the last person to go frankly no one really expected much of me but now there was no way to escape the attention either we were eight points down which was a lot but if we won this we would win all a field day for the entire third grade I know this sounds a little silly but it was one of those moments that still feels Monumental more than 40 years later I walked up to the line I threw the first bag I missed the target altogether zero points I still remember my third grade teacher sort of dismissively waving his hands at me still stings I had three bean bags left and nine points I needed to get I threw the second bag bullseye three points the looks I was getting from people were not so much celebratory as confusion how would this kid gone from not even hitting the target to hitting a bullseye next beanbag bullseye six points people who had started walking away were now starting to walk back they weren't in any way enthusiastic or encouraging instead they gave me a look normally reserved for a stray dog or someone with a black eye was an oddity to them that hasn't changed last beanbag bullseye nine points life went into slow motion at that point it had been dead quiet and then there was this explosion of sound cheering and hollering in my name being shouted by my teammates I was a team hero for a single moment at least it was such a wonderful unexpected moment one that I decided if I was ever asked to speak at Harvard class day I would share the story [Applause] you know the thing is graduates as Healers there's going to be tough moments that's the nature of our shared profession learn from those moments but cherish the wins as well celebrate them no matter how big or how small today you might be feeling a little scared you might be kicking yourself or feeling that way but don't truth is I like to be scared just a little bit I've been shot at I've been beaten I've been starved I've been humiliated and all of that was just for my wife after our last boys weekend away [Applause] but I I think being scared is good I think the corollary is also true never being scared that's bad I'm not talking about playing games with your life I'm talking about imagining things you never thought possible I'm talking about actually savoring it when someone tells you nope can't be done because you know deep down you now have an opportunity to do the impossible so graduates do one thing every day that scares you and as Kafka said in the process you can become the action hero of your own life for the last 20 years I've straddled these two worlds of medicine and media and people often ask me what is the connective tissue between the two well the reality is they are bound together by a critical ingredient they contain some of the best stories and most important stories Ever Told the story of people the story of patience the story of the scientific process which allows us to learn more about both in many ways these are the ingredients for the story of humanity itself as Dr Cho said Remember the stories share the stories write the stories tell the stories of the process and the people because that's where so much of our real learning our real lessons come from so many years later I'm still learning every day through those stories a few years ago one evening I was on call a 93 year old man was brought into the emergency room all I initially knew was that he had been in some sort of accident and a CT scan revealed that he had bleeding on the brain when my resident first told me about the patient the main fact that stood out to me was his age 93 and being completely honest I thought maybe he was too old to undergo an operation but then I started to hear and listen to more of the story my patient the 93 year old I told I was told was incredibly healthy he was still an avid Runner he even worked part-time as an accountant still they kept him around his 65 year old son told me because he was such a whiz with numbers in fact his brain bleed had occurred because he fell off his roof after taking a leaf blower up there trying to blow off the leaves so given all that I decided to take him to the operating room and decompress his brain now as you might imagine I was pretty nervous to see afterward how he was going to wake up what his recovery might be like did I make the right decision had I prolonged his life or just extended his death and as soon as I walked into the room I knew the answer the man was already up reading his smartphone his reading glasses adjusted over his white bandage he told me that he was following the recent elections in West Africa as one does right after emergency brain surgery it was pretty clear he was recovering well and after examining him I asked him I said how did this whole event affect you wondering how he was thinking about his mortality he smiled and he looked at me and he said the biggest lesson in all this no more trying to blow the leaves off the roof it's a story it's a story you have to remember and graduates you're going to be surrounded by data and information all the time surround yourself in the stories as well and learn judgment from that the guy taught me a lot you only live once but if you do it right once is enough graduates your time at Harvard Medical School is coming to an end but as another doctor once said don't cry because it's over smile because it happened Dr Seuss looking back 30 years I can tell you this your friends from this time in your life maybe some of the best friends you'll ever have and it is true you don't get this time back it's gone but the friends who shared this journey with you that are still here even if you don't get to see them every day so final lesson graduates of the few touchstones that you hold close to your heart place lifelong friendships right there at the very top appreciate those friendships nurture them make them grow and realize as you get older those friendships will become some of the most valuable things you have in your life fly around the world graduates for the weddings of your friends be there for the births of their children and always answer the call in their times of need my most heartfelt congratulations to you graduates I love you I am with you now go guard the Galaxy thank you thank you [Applause] thank you Dr Gupta for that moving wise and hilarious address one more round of applause for Dr Gupta [Applause] it is now our honor to introduce Dean George Daly Dean Daly is the dean of Harvard Medical School and the Caroline Shields Walker professor of Medicine a physician scientist and an authority on stem cell science and cancer biology his discoveries have twice been cited in science magazine's top 10 breakthroughs of the year he has co-authored International guidelines for the conduct and clinical translation of stem cell research and regenerative medicine for ethical oversight of emerging biotechnologies Dean Daly's priorities as dean of Harvard Medical School include fostering Innovative biomedical computational and Health Care policy research building a pipeline of Novel Therapeutics founded on basic science nurturing the next generation of physician scientists and advancing diversity in science technology engineering and Medicine Dean Daly earned his bachelor's nmd degrees from Harvard University and a PhD in biology from MIT he has worked as a trainee fellow or staff physician at the MGH Brigham Dana Farber and Boston Children's Hospital where he continues to run a lab in the division of pediatric hematology in oncology please join us in welcoming Dean George Daly wow well listen uh thank you Dr Gupta for that spectacular speech now now as Dean I'm supposed to be in charge here and believe me it was not my idea to choose to speak after a charismatic TV personality I'll have to talk to the organizers but before I do speak I also want to make a special recognition of Dr Dean Edward hundred for his remarkably dedicated service to Harvard Medical School and personally for his wise counsel to me please join me in thanking Dr hundred [Applause] and we are gonna miss you uh thank you Nikki and Ahmed and students faculty uh family friends good afternoon welcome it's an honor to be here with you today now some of you will have noted that I was late to the podium uh it's because I rushed over here after attending our son's graduation from Harvard across the river some of you may have heard this shout out uh so today uh it's really especially meaningful for me and I have a deeper appreciation for your special day here on the quad so class of 2023 let's just take a moment to acknowledge this triumphant milestone you're becoming doctors today congratulations foreign spent in the clinic the classroom the lab after weathering a once in a hopefully Century pandemic and after making lifelong friendships that will sustain you through this all you're now embarking on the next phase of your professional Journeys as a class you hail from Egypt from Cuba Italy Mexico Nigeria all across the United States and these are just a few of the countries you call home among your many areas of study you've investigated the role of the bracket gene on sensitivity to the drugs for ovarian cancer you've explored the history of Health disparities in rural communities you've documented the treatment of immigrants held in ice detention facilities during the covid-19 pandemic and you've conducted vaccine information sessions and Massachusetts prisons and jails and these are impressive accomplishments yet right now you may be asking yourselves with all the challenges facing medicine and health care how am I as an individual going to funnel my accumulated knowledge and experience into making tangible differences as I go forward in my career and I'll just give you the following charge focus on one patient at a time yourself how can I best serve the patient right in front of me now we can take inspiration from the careers of two revered Boston doctors the late Paul Farmer the former color katronus University professor and the chair of our department of global Health and Social medicine and Jim O'Connell the president for the Boston health care for the homeless program and assistant professor here at Harvard now Paul and Jim approached their work from two different perspectives one Global one local but they were both at their core doctors trying to relieve suffering and both driven by a desire to do well by their patients one at a time and many of you already know of Paul's legendary work the co-founder of Partners in Health he believed that the cost of medical treatment was never an excuse for positive care he spent countless hours serving in Haiti Peru Russia Africa and Beyond proving time and time again that seemingly intractable problems in global Health Equity could indeed be solved Jim O'Connell personifies the same values and aspirations as Paul does but right here in Boston in 1985 Jim put off and ultimately abandoned a prestigious oncology Fellowship to pursue a year of clinical work serving the unhoused well that one year serving the homeless is now going on 38. and in addition to running some 60 clinics within various homeless shelters around Boston Jim rides a van at night that delivers food hot drinks and blankets to those living on the streets and throughout the endless winter he invites the most reluctant to seek Refuge from the cold now like Paul Jim has treated horrifying medical ailments that most of us will never confront in our careers frostbite gangrenous limbs maggot infested wounds grotesquely metastasized cancers but Jim's patients live on the streets of Boston right here in the shadows sometimes literally of some of the best hospitals in the world now under Jim's leadership the Boston healthcare for the homeless program has become a paragon of success nationally it is a beacon of Pride for the city of Boston and the subject of journalist Tracy kidder's newest book rough sleepers I highly recommend it to all of you now although both Paul and Jim are extraordinary Medical humanitarians the good that they've done rests in an accumulation of ordinary Deeds soaking the course and feat of homeless patients for example as Jim did so often in his early years serving them or treating a child with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis as Paul did again and again in Peru and Haiti and for both Paul and Jim their singular focus on serving the patient in front of them evolved into two distinct scalable models of Health Care One Global one local but both have transformed medicine as we know it and you too class of 23. you too will accumulate ordinary Deeds but from the ordinary done over time relentlessly generously Faithfully you too will accumulate an extraordinary body of work now if you're a basic scientist take note that your research also has a critical role to play in caring for individuals too I offer the work of my colleague Stu Orkin the David Nathan distinguished professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School as an example now in the early 2000s Stu began to investigate the biological mechanisms that regulate the switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin which occurs in red blood cells shortly after birth theorized that the answer to that question might lead to treatments for sickle cell anemia now Sickle Cell Research has been tragically underfunded even though it affects a hundred thousand individuals in the United States most African-Americans as well as 20 million people in the rest of the world sickle cell anemia shortens life expectancy by decades and the painful episodes that characterize it are so excruciating that they're called crises now over the past two decades Stu and his trainees have demonstrated that blocking the BCL 11a repressor effectively turns back the clock restores fetal hemoglobin expression in adult red cells and counteract sickling this remarkable Discovery revolutionary you will hear more about it it has spurred a Renaissance in sickle cell research and we are now on the brink of an FDA approval for a crispr-based cure for this devastating disease yes pioneered right here but we must be vigilant when it comes to such advances especially as we enter this golden age of biotechnology recall the covid-19 vaccines they were a major Triumph of modern bioscience but the lack of Equitable Global vaccine distribution was a major failure of Public Health and if we're not mindful Sickle Cell therapies will have a similar fate remaining inaccessible to Regions like sub-Saharan Africa where Millions suffer from the disease so as we hustle to create the therapies of tomorrow and you will we must remember that real people are awaiting those therapies all over the world real people with families and hearts and Ambitions make it your business no matter what your specialty to keep those individuals top of mind and if you can't see a patient in front of you then imagine them and let them be your guide so class of 2023 we are so proud of your accomplishments we are in awe of the promise of the future of medicine that you all represent in your quest to alleviate suffering from all you will have many HMS role models to look to leaders whose work runs the gamut from basic science to on the ground clinical delivery all of us here at Harvard Medical School believe in you can't wait to see what extraordinary changes transpire as a result of the many accumulated ordinary Deeds thank you and congratulations again [Applause] now the moment the medical class has been waiting for it was great excitement let me invite Dean for medical education at 100 and Terry galuska the HMS registrar to join me for the conferring of the MD degrees [Applause] thank you so much all for those of you who don't know how we organize this Harvard Medical School students are assigned to five academic societies sort of like Hogwarts houses here at HMS and hsdm and we confer the degrees by having the advisory Dean the the sort of you know Professor McGonagall of each come up and call the names for each of their students and one of the other great Traditions is that some of our students have been here quite a while some of our MD PhD students have spent close to a decade here and they're very productive including sometimes they have children with them and they like to bring their children up on stage so you see those little lambies we have over there there was a time when people talked about a diploma as a sheepskin so we think it's only appropriate if we give the parent a sheepskin we give their kid a little Lamy to go with it and so um it looks like we're almost ready for the first we go in alphabetical order and so the first Society is the Canon society and the advisory dean of the Canon Society is the incomparable professor of Medicine Dr Sarah Fazio thank you Dean Hunter and welcome to faculty distinguished guests friends and family allow me to introduce to you the Canon class of 2023. doctors Daniel Kamen and Dr Adara Landry are hooding them over on the side all right without further Ado may I introduce Dr lean Al casab [Applause] Dr Seamus Patrick carragher [Applause] also receiving a doctorate of philosophy Dr Dawn Elizabeth Comstock [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Dr Mary Barber Daniels [Applause] Dr Anthony Ryan Dinkel [Music] [Applause] Dr Brendan Spellman epan [Applause] also receiving a master's in medical science Dr Joshua James Ellis [Applause] [Music] Dr Jaden Riley Garcia [Music] and children [Applause] Dr Elizabeth Hansen [Applause] [Laughter] Dr asvah dojan Hussein [Applause] Dr Colby John Hyland Dr Amanda Romy Joel [Applause] Dr Kyrie young Kim [Applause] Dr Trevor Matthew Kester also receiving a master's in Business Administration Dr Serena madovan [Applause] [Music] Dr Chandler Elizabeth Moore [Applause] also receiving a master's in public health Dr Depot nagda [Applause] Dr Casey Orozco poor [Applause] [Laughter] it's okay Dr katharina pond [Applause] Dr ayush Parikh [Applause] Dr Nicole poliakov Dr Anika prasanna Dr Akash Prem Kumar Dr Nicholas Reed [Applause] Dr Catherine Marguerite rich [Music] [Applause] Dr Sylvia Salamone [Music] [Applause] also receiving a master's in Business Administration Dr Shivani Ashish Shah Dr Chad Benjamin Sussman Dr Catherine Clark tashman [Applause] Dr Nicholas Kareem Trad all right also receiving a doctorate of philosophy Dr Emily Sarah Unger also receiving a master's in Business Administration Dr Alexander yang [Applause] Dr Ellen Zhang also receiving a doctorate of philosophy Dr Zenon Zhang [Applause] and last but not least Dr Nancy Zoo [Applause] please give a warm Round of Applause to the canongraduates doctors for the 2023. [Applause] next up alphabetically we have the castle society and so I'd like to welcome to the podium The Advisory dean of the castle Society the wonderful amazing professor of Medicine Dr Jenny Potter and good afternoon everyone I'm going to start by thanking doctors Natasha Johnson and Alden Landry advisors and Associate directors of the castle Society who are hooding today it is my great honor to present to you the William Bosworth Castle Society graduates of the class of 2023. Ahmed [Applause] Dr Daphne Alton Dr chai Arnold [Applause] Dr Hannah Grace Bender [Applause] Dr Stephanie busleman [Applause] so graduating with a masters of Medical Science Dr Taylor Boyd [Applause] [Music] Dr Janice juho Chung [Applause] Dr Stephen Dean Chris [Applause] Dr John Anthony Isaac Fraga Dr sashini kosalya godage [Applause] also graduating with a masters of public policy Dr Emma hartswick [Applause] also graduating with a masters of Business Administration Dr Kevin bintan Huang Dr Christopher Thomas hanaki also graduating with a masters of Business Administration Dr Simone Lenore Isaac Wilkins [Applause] Dr Jordan kg condo [Applause] Dr tiwade lawal [Applause] Dr Oscar Alejandro Leiva Camacho [Applause] also graduating with a masters of Public Health Dr Julia Rachel mallets [Applause] Dr Trevor James McBroom [Applause] also graduating with a masters of Business Administration Dr khazra Soraya mclei [Applause] Dr Quentin James Moyer [Applause] Dr Mary Kathleen muncell [Applause] Dr Lauren Chase omara [Applause] [Music] Dr John Christopher panagidis Dr cushy ranganath [Applause] Dr John Alexander Rincon hecking [Applause] Dr Luis Eduardo Rivera Delgado [Applause] Dr Sandy Samuel [Music] Dr Miriam singer [Applause] [Music] Dr Lacy Marie Smith [Music] [Applause] Dr Jason Orlando Aldine Thomas [Applause] oh also graduating with a masters of Business Administration Dr Kevin tyan Dr maida vevahara [Applause] also graduating with a doctor of philosophy Dr Edie Wong [Applause] Dr Tatiana Lily winkelmann [Applause] also graduating with a masters of bioethics Dr Sophia weichen Yin thank you please join me in congratulating the class of 2023 Castle graduates [Applause] next up we welcome The Hinton Society The Advisory dean of the Hinton Society is the career advising Legend professor of radiation oncology Dr Anthony D'Amico okay thank you Dean hundred accompanying me is Dr Anita Anita Vanka and Dr nihat Trin are all hooding our graduates and it's really a joy for me to be able to confer the name of doctor on this family in the William Augustus Hinton Society so Dr Jean Ann occasin adomfa [Applause] Dr Grace Elizabeth Baldwin [Music] [Applause] also receiving the masters of Public Health Dr Michael Frederick Barton foreign [Music] also receiving the Doctorate of philosophy and accompanied by her son Nathaniel Dr Alyssa adachi Botello [Applause] Dr William Harris Butler [Applause] Dr Alexis Lee Cole [Applause] also receiving the masters of Public Health Dr IO luja o Douglas thank you Dr Samuel Theodore Ellie [Applause] Dr Kimberly y Fang [Applause] [Music] Dr Giovanni Jamar Franco [Applause] Dr Rachel Alexandra Hurst royfey [Applause] Dr Grace Sue [Applause] Dr Sean Floyd Johnson [Applause] also receiving the masters of public policy in one of our co-moderators Dr Nicholas pothole Joseph [Applause] Dr Jennifer Francis anomaly Kisa Brown [Applause] Dr Carolyn Helen Lee [Applause] Dr Jason Joshi Lee [Applause] also receiving the Doctorate of philosophy Dr Jenny Liu [Applause] Dr tarahar Margaret Dr Taryn Selassie manshaw [Applause] Dr Lucia Rose Isha Milam [Applause] [Music] Dr Patrick James Monet [Applause] Dr Carson Tyler Moss Dr Patrick Ray ning [Applause] [Music] Dr Lily Rosalind offit [Applause] also receiving the masters of Business Administration Dr Cava Pathak foreign [Applause] [Music] Dr James Andrew pruneski [Applause] Dr Erica storm rich [Applause] Dr abadias Rodriguez [Applause] Dr Kevin Ernesto Salinas [Applause] Dr Sophia Rose Schneider [Applause] Dr Leah nechma Schwartz [Applause] all right also receiving the masters of Business Administration Dr Nicholas Kirsch Smith [Applause] Dr ahana Michelle Thomas [Music] [Applause] Dr Annette anchi Wang [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Dr Jamie Claire yay [Applause] Dr Tristan Allen Young one more round of applause please for the Olive for the William Augustus Hinton family next up we have the London Society the London Society is the home of our Harvard MIT program in Health Science and Technology and the advisory dean of the London Society is the inspirational physician scientist Dr Wolfram Gosling thank you Dean hundred congratulations HST class of 2023. also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University Dr Timothy Cardona [Applause] congrats uh graduating magna laude Dr Brian Yale Chang [Applause] graduating laude Dr Eric chiway Chen [Applause] Dr Wan food Chui [Applause] graduating laude Dr David Lawrence kochmeier also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr Paul dannenberg [Applause] also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr Natalia drusu also graduating laude also obtaining a PhD from Harvard University Dr Ellison Elizabeth havelos also obtaining a doctorate and philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr gibral feature Kadir [Applause] Dr Nira n krasno [Applause] also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University Dr Diana Liu [Music] [Applause] [Music] also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University Dr John George Michael graduating magna laude Dr Jacqueline omura also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [Applause] graduating magna laude Dr Manish paranjape graduating magna laude and here with his newborn son ayton Dr Brian Joseph pimpemuni [Applause] Dr archana puduri [Applause] graduating laude Julia scantarelli also obtaining a masters of Business Administration and graduating laude IVC graduating laude [Applause] graduating laude Dr akanksha tarun [Applause] graduating magna laude Dr Alice Wang [Music] [Applause] Dr Jason kuwang [Applause] also obtaining a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard University Dr Angela Zhang [Applause] graduating magna laude Dr Yi Chen Zhang also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University and graduating magna laude Dr Kali Gail Keane Ziegler [Applause] also obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy from Harvard University Dr Haley Jessica zullo [Applause] and I wanted to acknowledge my associate Society directors Dr Rick Mitchell and Dr Daniel Solomon who assisted with the hooding again congratulations class HST class of 2023. [Applause] now last but definitely not least is the Peabody society and I do have to just call out that the founding advisory dean of the Peabody Society Dr Ron arkey who served in that role for 30 years is sitting right over here he's turning 94 next month he still comes to work every day he's in a row of just extraordinary faculty how about a round of applause for the faculty to talk to you over here [Applause] to present the Peabody students to present the Peabody students is the advisory dean of the society the amazing professor of Neurology Dr Bernard Chang thank you Dean Hunter and it is my distinct privilege to present to you the 2023 graduates of the Francis weld Peabody Society assisting in their hooding are associate directors of Peabody Society Dr Beverly Wu and Dr Holly cachadorian Ilya also receiving the master of business administration degree Dr Arjun abbar [Applause] Dr Sarah Ahmed [Applause] Dr Maria Sophia azdorian [Applause] Dr Stephen James Babcock also receiving the master of business administration degree Dr Adam Lawrence Beckman [Music] [Applause] also receiving the master of business administration degree Dr Evan Ross biter [Applause] Dr Dylan James Cahill Dr Amanda Cao [Applause] Dr Noel J Castilla Ojo [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Dr hey Lin Cho [Applause] [Music] Dr John Hernandez also receiving the master of public policy degree Dr Muhammad a Jabra [Applause] Dr Navid Reza gaffari [Applause] Dr yanet de la Caridad Gomez [Applause] Dr Daniel James Ikeda okay Dr Carolina jaramio [Applause] Dr sang Min Kim [Applause] Dr Richard jingsong Liu Dr Margo Elizabeth Manning [Applause] Dr Layla Ashley [Applause] Dr John Conrad Messinger [Applause] Dr Muhammad Medi musavian Dr Maz Moa [Applause] thank you Dr Bailey Callan Nagel [Applause] also receiving the master of public health degree Dr Jaya prakash [Applause] [Music] Dr menting Q [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] also receiving the master of business administration degree Dr Catherine Ayers Rowe [Music] [Applause] Dr Alexis Jordan Smith [Applause] Dr Grant loughness Steele [Applause] appreciate it Dr Rachel Elizabeth Stoddard [Applause] one more round of applause please for the graduates of the pbd society [Applause] and one more shout out one shout out please for the people who organized this event Cheryl O'Brien and Carrie Sylvan all the people in the Student Affairs office all the facilities people who create all this and clean up after us and I just want to thank everybody who makes this event possible give them a round of applause and then one more big round of applause for the entire class of 2023. [Applause] all right so this last portion of our ceremony is dedicated to a special individual one whose career has embodied service scholarship leadership and most importantly kindness to me he has played an instrumental role in my medical education serving as a primary mentor and spending countless hours with me over the course of the last five years I still distinctly remember my first time in Dean hundreds office as a first year student unsure of my ability to fit in in a place like Harvard this is my first time away from my home of Houston Texas and I really didn't feel like I could succeed I confided in him these concerns and his words in response to me still ring through my head you belong here I knew that he meant it and I've carried it with me all my years of medical school it is my honor to now introduce the dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School Dr Edward Hunter after earning his bachelor's degrees in mathematics and the history of science and medicine summa laude from Yale University Dean hundred went on to earn a degree in philosophy politics and economics at Oxford University as a marshall scholar he then went on to earn his MD in 1984 right here at HMS where he remained for his residency in Psychiatry and McLean Hospital while Dean hundred has certainly had an illustrious career in which he's made an impact in many different places the quality that I'd like to highlight today is his genuine kindness Dean Hunter possesses the sort of humility that can't be taught of course his resume speaks for itself but in my mind his success is at the hands of his truly genuine nature no matter how busy deed hundred may be he will always find time for you he could be running off to meet the president of another University but no matter the occasion Dean Hunter will stop and strike up a conversation with anyone because he cares it's a quality I've tried to carry with myself every day for me Dean Hunter embodies the kind of man that I hope to become genuine kind funny and able to come up with the sort of speech that will both rinse your gut and make you belly laugh all in one for me what I'll miss most is being able to drop by and say hello at his office at a moment's notice the coffee he's got stocked in that office is to die for and I recommend that anyone who hasn't yet had a chance to drop by and try it I've had the privilege of getting to talk through so many things with Dean hundred ranging from travels across the world to the role of spirituality in medicine to even prioritizing family alongside a rewarding career and I still feel I only scratched the surface in the process I'm certain I'll be in touch with him for years to come because I know I'll have so much more to learn this year Dean hundred is stepping down from his role as Dean for medical education transitioning to the office of alumni Affairs development as a senior philanthropic advisor while also continuing to serve as associate director of the center for bioethics leader and teacher of the MD bioethics curriculum and as a senior faculty member in the department of global Health and Social medicine it is my distinct privilege to welcome Dean Hunter to the stage my mentor my friend and the life and soul of HMS to lead our class in giving its oath one final time as the dean for medical education [Applause] they didn't have that one in my part of the script so thank you that was really incredibly sweet I'm going to lead the oath I just want to say the feeling is mutual I love you all and I'll still be around full time doing everything that he just said trying to drive down student debt this is one of my causes as you know but the oath is a very special thing because as for those of you who don't know the families our class rights their own oath and they're going to join me up here to recite the oath and since the time of Hippocrates over 2 000 years ago medical practitioners have always taken an oath to uphold the principles of the profession to which they dedicate themselves and in setting forth these principles the oath you know sort of served as a contract with the community and also as an affirmation of a deep commitment to the profession of medicine so today class of 2023 you stand before family and friends and teachers and colleagues poised to join this Rich tradition of Discovery and healing being mindful of the debt that you owe to the mentorship of those who came before you while also recognizing that your work will inform the practices of those who will follow you have created an inspirational oath drawing on the elements of both ancient and recent principles and I now invite the entire class of 2023 to rise and with all of the co-moderators and student speakers we will articulate the ideals and principles that will guide you in your journey as Physicians and dentists together let us recite in my service as a provider I vow to respect the dignity and autonomy of my patients guard their confidentiality do them no harm and be their partner in the journey toward health to represent my field ethically and professionally to provide high quality evidence-based care with empathetic and humanistic intent to care for patients without bias including but not limited to age disease or disability Creed socioeconomic status ethnic origin gender nationality political affiliation race sexual orientation and social standing I recognize that many Pursuits in life take practice my progress may not always be linear but I vow to try to take joy in what I do to care for myself to remain grateful and aware of my privileges to be patient and to persevere as a member of the larger medical community I vow to respect all who work alongside us to Foster collaborative environments and share medical knowledge for the advancement of Health to pursue lifelong learning as a student teacher and mentor We join our profession in an evolving world our communities increasingly call upon us to advocate for our patients I vow to answer that call I vow to empower marginalized peoples to attain Justice I vow to promote equity in health care I vow to thoughtfully respond to change I vow to Envision and work toward a future with Greater Hope and less suffering we now offer a moment of reflection for each graduate to take their own personal Oaths and we now conclude together before those who stand by me throughout my ongoing journey I take this oath congratulations again to all you can do it together all right so it is freely joyfully and With Honor that we now send you out into the world to practice in good faith that for which you have been so diligently trained let us be among the first to officially welcome you our fellow doctors into the profession [Applause] we wish you long long Noble and productive careers congratulations and enjoy the day congratulations awful all right [Applause] [Music] thank you [Applause] thank you

Channel: Harvard Medical School

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Id: NQFnw1LO3_A

Length: 156min 10sec (9370 seconds)

Published: Thu May 25 2023