("Pomp and Circumstance") (audience applauding) (audience applauding) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (stately music) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (dignified music) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) ("Pomp and Circumstance") (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) - Thank you.
Platform party, please be seated.
Good afternoon, everybody.
I'm Dr. Andrea Amalfitano.
I'm Dean of the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
It's my pleasure to serve as the dean, and we welcome all of you to the hooding and commencement ceremony at the MSU Breslin Student Event Center.
We will see nearly 300 of our graduates from our three campuses at East Lansing, Detroit Medical Center, and the Macomb University Center graduate this evening as Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine.
(audience applauding and cheering) I'd ask you kindly to please turn off any cell phones, iPads, computers you brought along with you to keep the noise down, so thank you.
Also, today we bring together our graduates along with their families and friends to honor you and your accomplishments.
We gather today while being mindful that our community is still mourning the violence our community experienced on February 13th.
It may feel uncomfortable to celebrate while that occasion still consumes so much of our thoughts and feelings.
We are dedicated to supporting everyone who was impacted by this event, including the students who were injured, witnesses to the violence, and families of those who were injured or passed.
As we begin to shift to a celebration of your accomplishments, let us pause for a moment of silence to consider how we can live our lives in a way that honors all Spartans, including those who are no longer with us.
Thank you.
I would now ask that our active military graduates and veterans please rise if you can and raise your hand so that we can acknowledge your dedication and service to our country.
(audience applauding and cheering) Could everybody rise and join me in the singing of the United States National Anthem, performed by the Lansing Concert Band?
("The Star-Spangled Banner") (audience cheering and applauding) Please be seated, and I'd like to thank the Lansing Concert Band for today's performance conducted by Dr. Sam McIlhagga.
(audience applauding) Also, we'd like to thank the entire staff of the Breslin Center for everything they're doing today and for their preparations in support of our ceremony.
Thank you, everybody at Breslin.
(audience applauding) We have sign language interpreters.
I'm looking.
Let's see, Ms. Kathy Jerco and Mr. John Stucklas.
Thank you.
(audience applauding) Now I'd like to introduce some of our members of the platform party today to stand, who do not have a formal speaking part in today's ceremony but have been instrumental in getting us here today.
Dr. Norman J. Beauchamp, Executive Vice President for MSU Health Sciences.
(audience applauding) Dr. Kirsten Waarala, Senior Associate Dean, Medical Education, and Professor, Osteopathic Medical Specialties.
(audience applauding) Dr. Katherine Ruger, Senior Associate Dean, Admissions and Student Affairs, and Associate Professor, Psychiatry.
(audience applauding) Dr. Anissa Mattison, Assistant Dean, COM Detroit Medical Center, and Assistant Professor, Osteopathic Surgical Specialties.
(audience applauding) Dr. John Goudreau, Director and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of Neurology, Ophthalmology, and Pharmacology and Toxicology.
(audience applauding) Dr. Marita Gilbert, Associate Dean, Diversity and Campus Inclusion, and Assistant Professor, Kinesiology.
(audience applauding) Dr. C. Patricia Obando, Assistant Dean, Statewide Campus System, and Associate Professor, Osteopathic Surgical Specialties.
(audience applauding) Dr. Nikolai Butki, Associate Professor, Osteopathic Medical Specialties, and class advisor.
(audience applauding) Dr. Lori Dillard, Assistant Professor, Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, and class advisor.
(audience applauding) And Dr. Alyse Ley, Associate Professor, Psychiatry, and class advisor.
(audience applauding) Thank you, everybody.
Next, the 125-year-old Michigan Osteopathic Association represents all DOs in Michigan.
This association was instrumental in creating the College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU back in 1969.
I don't know if you know this or not, but every osteopathic physician in the state back in the early '60s donated $2,000 a piece to create the corpus that became the funds that started this college.
That's $20,000 in today's inflated dollars.
It was a real sacrifice back then, but that was the vision that your predecessors had, and the MOA helped lead that.
So please join me in welcoming Dr. Bruce Wolf, Assistant Dean COM Macomb Community Center, Associate Professor, Radiology, and Michigan Osteopathic Association past president.
(audience applauding) - Dean Amalfitano, guests, family, friends, and graduates, thank you.
It is an honor to be here as a past president of the Michigan Osteopathic Association, which has represented osteopathic physicians in Michigan since 1898.
So I am especially proud to be here as we celebrate our 125th anniversary.
Congratulations to all the graduates.
Receiving your osteopathic medical degree is a huge milestone, and based upon my experience, you might have more than a sense of accomplishment.
Today's ceremony is a recognition of growth.
It is the next step of your medical education, the next chapter of your career.
So I want to remind you that the white coat is more than a symbol of acceptance.
It also represents commitment.
You are committing to pursuing the education and philosophy you will need to serve your patients.
Remember, that as you start your residencies, you are taking a piece of MSUCOM with you and your trainers with you.
Based on years past, a large majority of you will remain in Michigan for your residency training.
It is my hope that you will choose to stay in Michigan to practice as well.
Our state has a long history of osteopathic medicine, and that influence continues to grow.
Today, as I look out at the graduates before me, I feel confident in the future of osteopathic medicine.
As each of you proceed on your path as an osteopathic physician, I encourage you to stay active within the profession.
Connect with the associations and other groups that help shape the future of your profession and especially the healthcare policies that affect your patients.
The American Osteopathic Association represents more than 129,000 DOs and osteopathic medical students.
Michigan happens to be the largest delegation to the AOA.
When legislators look for input of healthcare policy and legislation, they rely on the information from the leadership of these groups, and these organizations highly value your input to help decide the direction that Michigan and the country will take.
Join the MOA and become an active participant.
You'll be able to have ownership on the issues that impact your profession.
You will be rewarded with a strong connection to both your colleagues and your patients.
Most of all, I hope you can enjoy this day.
Look at your fellow graduates, treasure this memory, and know that your connection to MSUCOM and your classmates will last a lifetime.
Best of luck in your future as you take the next steps on the path to being a practicing osteopathic physician.
Congratulations.
(audience applauding) - Thank you, Dr. Wolf.
It's now my honor to introduce this afternoon's commencement speaker, Chaya Pitman-Hunt, DO.
She's a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, where she also did her pediatric residency, and is program director of the Authority Health Pediatric Residency Program.
She began her medical career here in COM in East Lansing, as a member of Sigma Sigma Phi Honor Society, president of the Pediatrics Interest Group, and graduated as part of the class of 2010.
She's currently board-certified in pediatrics.
She holds appointments as a clinical assistant professor at MSUCOM, assistant professor at Central Michigan University, and clinical faculty at Wayne State University.
Everybody wants her.
(audience laughs) Dr. Pitman-Hunt is program director and associate DIO at the Authority Health Pediatric Residency and Graduate Medical Education Program.
She holds positions in several departments and divisions at the Children's Hospital, has received numerous teaching awards, is involved in research, and is highly published.
I've had a pleasure to work with Dr. Pitman-Hunt as a board member of the Authority Health Program, and I've witnessed her passion and her caring for education, her dedication to the profession.
And I'm just, I've been so impressed to see one of our graduates in action, and I thought it would be a thrill for her to share some advice with you.
And she's got some solid advice.
I'm a thousand percent behind what she's going to tell you.
Please welcome Dr. Pitman-Hunt.
(audience applauding) - Thank you.
Well, I'm going to lower the podium so you can all see me.
Can everybody see me now?
Hi, everybody.
(laughs) Thank you, Dean Amalfitano, and welcome to the faculty and staff, alumni, proud family and friends, and especially the graduates.
What an honor and a pleasure it is to join you tonight.
Let me start by saying congratulations to the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine class of 2023.
Woohoo.
(audience applauding) I remember sitting in your place in this very room just 13 years ago so excited for the future.
Excited that I was finally going to practice in pediatrics, a field that I still love.
I was and still am so thankful to all of you that have decided to dedicate your lives to the specialty of your choice.
I'm thankful to the future internal medicine docs that love caring for us smelly adults and for the future surgeons of the group who don't mind rounding at the crack of dawn and being tortured by our two-page progress notes.
For those on the road who have traded their stethoscopes for nights and weekends off, good move, and those in cardiovascular surgery who have taken the meaning of training to a whole new level and intend to train until retirement.
(audience laughing) Whatever specialty you've chosen, you are collectively the future of our profession.
Some of you will go on to become cutting-edge researchers like Dean Amalfitano.
Others will dedicate your entire careers to clinically practicing medicine.
Some will find another avenue and use your talents as entrepreneurs or inventors.
Whatever the future holds, it all starts today.
I am so humbled and honored to be invited as your speaker, and it's been really fun to spend the past few months driving down memory lane, remembering all of the valuable lessons that I learned at this medical school.
I learned how to interpret blood gases from Dr. Hughes.
I learned what true supportive leadership and compassion looks like from Beth Courey.
I learned that twice weekly OMM sessions with Dr. Gugel and Dr. Lisa prevented migraines and that the power of healing is much more about personal connection and communication than board scores and test results.
It's so much fun to think about all of the hopes and the dreams that I had sitting in your seat and how nervous I was to start residency.
So here are a couple of pieces of advice that I have for all of you that I wish that I could say to my younger and much less wrinkly self of 13 years ago.
I would tell that Chaya that you are about to meet some of the best friends that you'll ever make.
So my advice to you is to find your person.
Find a confidant that you can turn to in what will inevitably be one of the most challenging periods of your life or a trusted colleague to cheer you on.
As we all know, medicine and particularly residency will challenge you and change you in ways that you won't see coming.
It will also offer some of the most fulfilling and rewarding moments you will have in your career.
So find a person to share those times with.
Forgive yourself.
You're a learner.
If you walked into residency already knowing everything, then there would be no point in training.
So I encourage you to take every opportunity to say I don't know.
It's an incredibly powerful phrase, and one that you should practice before you start your intern year.
Understanding where your limitations are is such a vital part of your learning, and your patience will benefit from your ability to know what you don't know and work really hard to figure it out.
But forgive yourself along the way, and remember that no one is perfect and that's okay.
Embrace change.
Whether it be change in your professional trajectory or assimilating new evidence and altering your practice, change is important.
This is such an incredible time of your life, and understanding that what your thoughts and your dreams for the future look like today may look very different in 10 or 20 years from now.
You will grow as a professional, as a partner, as a family member, and when you embrace change, you grow.
Know that you are capable of so many things.
Today, you are earning a doctorate degree, arguably the most prestigious accomplishment in education, and if you can make it through four years of medical school in a global pandemic, survive being thrust into a clinical environment that was fraught with uncertainty and fear, and not only survive but thrive, then know that you are capable of so much more than you think.
So as challenges arise, as they will, know that you're capable and embrace that challenge.
Embrace change.
Thank the nurses a lot and as often as possible.
Recognize that nurses will save you in some of the most critical moments of your career.
Learn how to be gracious when calling for those off-schedule lab draws or the Q1 neuro checks on that combative patient.
Recognize that you work within a healthcare team and that every single member of that team has an important role to play and that humility and grace go a very long way.
So thank the nurses, often.
And finally, learn how to listen, like really listen.
Your patients need you to listen to them.
They don't need a doctor with perfect grades or perfect board scores.
They need someone that takes an extra minute to hear them.
Remember that you are treating someone's mother or brother or someone's child and that it is an honor bestowed upon you to care for them.
So take the extra few minutes to sit down, look at them in the eye, and truly listen.
It goes a very long way.
As I conclude, I want to extend one more congratulations to the class of 2023.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for devoting your lives to this amazing profession.
Thank you for the hard work you've done and the hard work that you will do, and May the 4th be with you.
Congratulations.
(audience laughing) (audience applauding) - Thank you so much.
We'd like to present, let's see if I got it here, Dr. Pitman-Hunt with this gift that reads, "In appreciation as keynote speaker for the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine Hooding and Commencement Ceremony to Chaya Pitman-Hunt, DO, Fellow of the American Association of Pediatrics."
Thank you.
- Thank you, thank you.
This is beautiful.
(audience applauding) Wow, thank you so much.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you.
- There's a little case that goes with it.
Wonderful.
We'll now hear remarks from soon-to-be Dr. Derick Scott Versalle, President, Class of 2023.
(audience cheering and applauding) It's all yours.
- Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
For those who don't know me, my name is Derick Versalle, and I've had the honor as serving as our president of the class over the last four years.
I'm exci- (audience applauding) Thank you.
I'm absolutely thrilled to share this experience with my classmates, and as many of them know, I really emphasize comradery.
Therefore, I'd like to start off by saying, Go Green.
- [Audience] Go White.
- Thank you.
I'd like to welcome all family and friends who are here with us today to support our class in this pivotal moment.
I'd also like to recognize family and friends who may not be physically here with us, but whose legacy we carry throughout our medical journey.
Today is a celebration to be shared amongst graduates, but also for you, our loved ones.
As we reflect on the last few years, we could not have achieved these goals without your patience, insight, and continuous support.
Classmates, I ask you to join me in a round of applause to help show some gratitude for our loved ones.
(audience applauding) Thank you.
I'd also like to recognize distinguished members of the platform party, faculty, and staff.
You've helped guide us throughout an arduous medical journey, and we thank you for your support and entrusting us to carry the MSUCOM legacy.
In addition, thank you to our class executive board for all your hard work in supporting and empowering our class throughout medical school.
Classmates, once again, please join me in a round of applause for the entire MSUCOM-unity who has brought us here today.
(audience applauding) Before we get to our guests of honor, I'd like to recognize another individual who has played a monumental role in our success.
This individual does not know he is receiving an award today.
However, I'd like to tell you a little bit about him.
As the current dean of MSUCOM, Dr. Andrea Amalfitano has left quite an impact in the medical community.
Prior to becoming dean, he was an associate professor at Duke University, and when asked about his most rewarding experiences, his first answer is always the Spartan victory against Coach K and the Blue Devils in the 2019 Elite Eight.
Go Green.
(audience cheering) However, as a leading researcher for various diseases, including muscular dystrophies, cancer, and autoimmune disorders, Dean Amalfitano has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and received multiple awards and grants.
He helped navigate our class through the COVID-19 pandemic, taught us to learn through his patience, and overall embodies the quality of a true leader in medicine.
Dean Amalfitano, we are honored to have had your guidance throughout our medical school journey, and the class of 2023 would like to present you with the Award for Distinguished Service to MSUCOM for your phenomenal leadership, professionalism, and dedication towards making this university the best medical college.
(audience applauding) It's heavy.
- Thanks a lot.
Thank you, everybody.
- Now I'd like to extend a very special welcome to our guests of honor, the class of 2023.
(audience applauding) Look around, take a snapshot, and let this long awaited moment sink in.
I can't believe it either.
I never thought I'd be graduating medical school in the same building that hosted the Backstreet Boys back in 2000.
(audience laughing) But in all seriousness, think about our journey and ask yourself, how did I get here?
Many members of our class started immediately after undergrad or graduate school.
Others had families and careers in motion.
Some of us stemmed from healthcare families, and others planted the seed as a first-generation college student.
Nonetheless, one common theme that arose with all our differences is that we chose to take the leap and have the DO inked after our name.
I'm sure you recall those weeks of MCAT studying, writing in scheduled bathroom breaks, reading the same sentence over and over again in a personal statement, hoping someone on the committee doesn't disagree or misunderstand your vocal complexity.
The pre-interview jitters, only to drive home in silence, pondering how you answered the interview questions.
The pit in your stomach when you said you wanted to practice medicine in rural Ohio.
(audience laughing) Yet when all was said and done, someone saw characteristics in you that would shine upon this day, and that was your greatness, your generosity, and your dedication to helping patients.
Fast-forward to starting medical school, where there was an unspoken anxiety walking through the clapping tunnel to Conrad.
We were given plastic bags with anatomy scrubs four sizes too big, and the orientation tent turned into a mud arena.
While we can laugh about it now, that time was pivotal in forming the relationships we carry today, for it started to foster a sense of community.
It carried us when creating Anki decks, planning hay rides, and creating memes.
Thank you, Trey Shaughnessy.
(audience laughing) It allowed us to work together in student organizations, play on IM sports teams, and socialize on Med School Mondays.
And it was this continued comradery that would allow us to persevere through the most grueling robbery of a medical school experience.
After two and a half successful semesters, which included the unforgettable neurology quiz debacle, (audience laughing) our class had returned from our very first spring break when our worlds were shattered by a global pandemic.
What we thought would be a few days away from in-person activities and long lines at Harper's turned into a new reality, and we were forced to adjust and continue despite these unprecedented times.
We adjusted to changes in our curriculum, evolving COVID policies, and personal hardships, all while trying to learn what it meant to be a physician.
Yet despite being deprived of this normal medical school experience, many of you stepped up to the plate.
Individuals from our class constructed a new definition to the word leadership through various ways, such as organizing an MSU COVID-19 call center, organizing a statewide PPE drive to protect frontline workers, hosting presentations with public health professionals for COVID data acquisition, implementing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to cultivate broader representation of social identities, hosting wellness forums and coffee hour discussions, organizing anatomy review sessions for incoming first years, organizing the Midland flood cleanup, and much, much more.
Throughout all this, we arrived at our clerkship hospitals and were quickly integrated into the ever-changing field of medicine.
We wore our N95s and attended COS meetings for missed COVID screenings, despite working a 16-hour day, and being pimped about the critical view of safety.
(audience laughing) And yet even though these changes weren't easy, we remained flexible and resilient, dedicated to moving forward, and committed to our dream of becoming physicians.
I'm told residency is challenging and it requires unparalleled commitment, but it's one of the most rewarding experiences in our medical training.
I'd like to share a quote with you by C.S.
Lewis.
"You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending."
A lot can be extracted from our experiences through COVID, and moving forward, there's no telling what other challenges lie ahead.
Yet I know one thing.
This class is tough, and this class will always persevere.
As we move forward as physicians, I hope you remember these many years of medical school, what you loved, what you'd change, and I encourage you to apply those principles to your very own medical practice.
Healthcare is ever changing, and societal pressures keep growing, but I ask that you continue being the beacon of change.
Continue advocating for patients, learn from their experiences, trust your gut, and most of all, don't stop challenging the system.
To the class of 2023, on behalf of the entire E-board and myself, thank you so much for allowing us the opportunity to be your voice throughout these past four years.
You've left such a positive impact in our lives, and I can only hope that we reciprocated.
Never in a million years did I think we as a class would have to experience what we went through, but I'm honored to have successfully navigated it with you.
Congratulations, everyone.
May the 4th be with you, and Go Green.
(audience applauding) - Thank you, President Versalle.
Those remarks of yours weren't in my script.
(laughs) I just want to comment.
I'm gonna go off-script a little and just say that when I became dean in 2018, it was the highest honor, and it always will be.
So I appreciate everybody here, the students through the years.
Really incredible.
(audience applauding) So COM staff will now prepare graduates to line up for hooding and to accept their diplomas.
Mr. Jody Knol and Dr. Linda Kernohan from MSU WKAR Radio will be presenting the graduates and their family, mentor, or faculty hooders this evening.
Dr. Chaya Pitman-Hunt will take a place at the end of the stage to hand out your MSUCOM alumni pin.
- Dr. Derick Scott Versalle will be hooded by his spouse, Dr. Rochelle Versalle.
(audience applauding) (audience laughing) Dr. Natalie Kmet will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Rochelle Versalle.
(audience applauding) Dr. Amira Al Nabolsi will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Moneer Al Nabolsi, and her brother, Dr. Mohammad Al Nabolsi.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Ilinca Juana Caluser will be hooded by her father, Dr. Dan Caluser.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Samantha Barbara Guerra will be hooded by her uncle, Dr. Raymond Redone.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Zechariah Hasan Attar will be hooded by his father, Dr. Mohammed Attar.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Theresa Marie Sitto will be hooded by her sister, Dr. Sabrina Saleem, and her mentor, Dr. Jodi Flanders.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Sukhwindar Singh Ajimal will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Gurjit Ajimal.
(audience applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Arben Sokoli will be hooded by his fiancee, Dr. Jennifer Hutnik.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience laughing) (audience applauding) Dr. Matthew Harris Saperstein will be hooded by his father, Dr. Glen Saperstein.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Robert Adam Alexander will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Diane Kaiser.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience laughing) (audience applauding) Dr. Justin Romualdo Abadejos will- Dr. Justin Romualdo Abadejos will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Tessie Abadejos.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Erica Tifany Nanni will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. William Caddy.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Kathrine Ed Yacoo will be hooded by her aunt, Dr. Basima Yacoo Damon.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Sumiran Mehta will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Rakshita Kumar.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Cherie Chen will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Teresa Chen.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience laughing) (audience applauding) Dr. Fayven Teklehaimanot will be hooded by her father, Dr. Dawit Teklehaimanot.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience laughing and cheering) Dr. Serena Schumann will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Miriam Schumann, and her father, Dr. Amon Schumann.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Trey Joseph Shaughnessy will be hooded by his mentor, Dr. Miriam Schumann, and his cousin, Esquire Amanda Knutsen.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Steven Haydon will be hooded by his father, Dr. Paul Haydon.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Immanuel Anani Jackson will be hooded by his father, Dr. Fredrick Jackson, and his cousin, Dr. Tanya Coates.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Mitchell Scott Oliver will be hooded by his father, Esquire Kevin Scott Oliver.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Alyssa Soules, Captain, US Army, will be hooded by her sister, Dr. Nicole Rye.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Lina Maria Erlingus will be hooded by her best friend, Dr. Rachel Barrett.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Miranda Elaine Hunt will be hooded by her best friend, Dr. Moriah Moore.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Taleen Shahrigian will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Steven Karageanes.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Abigail Louise Webster will be hooded by her uncle, Esquire Daryl Krimmel.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Meredith Kate Herman will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. James Billman, and her husband, Esquire Christopher Candela.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Kyle James Przybylski will be hooded by his father, Dr. Albert Przybylski.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Vito Vitale will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Matthew Vitale.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Asim Syed Ghani will be hooded by his father, Dr. Syed Ghani.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Clare Kelly Reidy will be hooded by her father, Dr. Richard Reidy, and her sister, Dr. Colleen Reidy.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Andrew Glenn Nelson will be hooded by his mentor, Dr. Susan Fedewa.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Sarah Baribu will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Susan Fedewa.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Robert Chaouki Gemayel will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Anthony Gemayel.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Albert Joseph-Nicholas Dionise will be hooded by his mentor, Dr. Todd Wichman.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Blake Alton Seelbinder will be hooded by his mentor, Dr. Christopher Rogers, and his mentor, Dr. Robert Williams.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Daniel Schane Moyer will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Donna Moyer, and his partner, Dr. Katherine Woods.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Paul Jon Lascuna will be hooded by his father, Dr. Paul Lascuna.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Nicholas Gerald Hallenbeck will be hooded by his wife, Dr. Samantha Hallenbeck.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Kyle Reese Zaremba will be hooded by his father, Dr. Daniel Zaremba.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding and laughing) Dr. Rachel Scheeres will be hooded by her father, Dr. David Scheeres.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Brandon Quach Pham will be hooded by his mentor, Dr. Michael Donahue.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Paul Ibrahim Zakhary will be hooded by his father, Dr. Ibrahim Zakhary.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Dylon Lewis Daoud will be hooded by his sister, Dr. Danielle Daoud.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Andrew William James Moore will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Robert Moore.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Wendi Wang will be hooded by her father, Dr. Sheng Wang.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience laughing) (audience applauding) Dr. Saher Fatima Siddiqui will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Firdous Siddiqui, and her father, Dr. Mukarram Siddiqui.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Tanner Hewitt will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Mitzie Hewitt.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Jennifer Colleen Cushman will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Philip Cushman.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Lillian Evelyn Ranspach will be hooded by her mother, Esquire Amy Weiss Ranspach.
(audience applauding) Dr. Kerrigan Baird Lemoine will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Jay Sandweiss.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Erika Ruth Overbeck will be hooded by her uncle, Esquire Edward Overbeck.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Mara Jean McMurray will be hooded by her father, Dr. Mark McMurray.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Shannon Lynn Hood will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Mary Finta.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Brittany Anna Marie Beeler will be hooded by her fiance, Esquire Christopher Semronek.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Victoria Rose Behlow will be hooded by her husband, Dr. Derek Behlow.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Jordan Lewis will be hooded by her father, Dr. Paul Lewis.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Shea Repins will be hooded by her mother, Esquire Raini Repins.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Alyssa Marie Shermetaro will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Jacob Shermetaro.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Kelsey J.
Harden will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Dylan McKay, and her uncle, Dr. Steven Harden.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) - Dr. Molly Stern will be hooded by her husband, Dr. Dan Stern.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Lauren Susan Bonilla will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Kevin Durand.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Raana Abbas Ali will be hooded by her uncle, Dr. Asgar Boxwalla.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Amanda Yasmin Alkhafaji will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Ammar Alkhafaji, and her sister, Dr. Amani Alkhafaji.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Katarina Mary Mansour will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Suha Kassab, and her father, Dr. Nazar Mansour.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Sara Dervishi will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Nazar Mansour.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Rodan Beltran Mecano will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Rhoda Beltran, and his father, Dr. Liton Mecano.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Erika Clara Malana will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Heidi Malana.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Lauren Cole will be hooded by her fiance, Dr. Casey Schukow.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Alexandra Waldman will be hooded by her grandparent, Esquire Barry Waldman.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Riya Malhotra will be hooded by her partner, Dr. Jasdeep Butla.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Pooja Dandamudi will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Visala Dandamudi.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Alexa Noel Magsoudi will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Rose Demchuck.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Harkamal Singh will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Gursimran Singh.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Jacob Talib Mallad will be hooded by his aunt, Dr. Najah Bazzy.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Dhruva Govil will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Hema Govil.
(audience applauding) (audience cheering) (audience laughing) (audience applauding) Dr. Nigel Lewis Leslie-Allen will be hooded by his father, Dr. William Leslie.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Serena Soleimani will be hooded by her sister, Dr. Sara Soleimani, and her brother-in-law, Dr. Brad Solomon.
(audience applauding) Dr. Tulsi Patel will be hooded by her brother, Dr.
Deep Patel.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr.
Sister Mary Luke Feldpausch will be hooded by her sister, Sister Dr. Mary Rafqa Boulos.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Ryan William Friedl will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Daryl Lawrence-Friedl.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Danielle Brooke Sherman will be hooded by her father, Dr. Michael Sherman.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Sara Nesheiwat will be hooded by her father, Dr. Michael Nesheiwat.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Emma Adeline Tice Sirek will be hooded by her brother, Esquire Hayden Tice.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Olivia Danielle Flessland will be hooded by her father, Esquire Eric Flessland.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Sahar Basem Rammaha will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Mark Sadzikowski.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Nassrine Jihad Naim will be hooded by her sister-in-law, Dr. Reem Naim.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Fatima Majid Risk will be hooded by her sister, Dr. Zainab Mackie.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Sumair Adnan Dubaishi will be hooded by his uncle, Dr. Imad Dubaishi, and his uncle, Dr. Hassan Dubaishi.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Karisa Elaine Cobb will be hooded by her husband, Dr. Alexander Cobb, and her brother-in-law, Dr. Eric Cobb.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Adam Michael Artzberger will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Joanne Mitchell, and his father, Dr. George Artzberger.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Viviana Maria Raphtis will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Sotirios Raphtis, and her father, Dr. Constantine Raphtis.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Leah Elsa Manimalethu will be hooded by her sister, Dr. Ria Richards.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Sravya Mallajosyula will be hooded by her fiance, Dr. Ram Palepu.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Vraj Tripathi will be hooded by his cousin, Dr. Kush Tripathi.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Daniel Martin Chmielewski will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Joseph Chmielewski.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Patrick Stephen Waldron will be hooded by his sister, Dr. Lauren Waldron.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Jaclynn Kovach will be hooded by her pediatrician and mentor, Dr. Helen Economy.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Gaurav Shirish Gadgeel will be hooded by his father, Dr. Shirish Gadgeel.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Arth Nilesh Patel will be hooded by his father, Dr. Nilesh Patel.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Charles Kenneth Tobin will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Amy Tobin, and his father, Dr. Kenneth Tobin.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) - Dr. Quynh Van Duong, PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dissertation, "The Origins of Superoxide and Hydrogen Peroxide Production by the Mammalian Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain: A Computational and Experimental Approach," Advisor, Jason Bazil, PhD, will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Diap Li.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Sabrina Maria Barretta will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Peggy Zitek.
(audience cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Anhdao Thi Tran will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Quynh Nu Vu.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Vivian Nguyen will be hooded by her cousin, Dr. Quynh Nu Vu.
(audience cheering) Dr. Amanda Ayad Darzi will be hooded by her brothers, Dr. Oliver Darzi and Dr. Brian Darzi.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Claudia Kassouf will be hooded by her partner, Dr. William Bentz.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Nicholas Olen will be hooded by his father, Dr. Thomas Olen.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Alaina Skotak would be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Thomas Olen.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Ivana Jordan will be hooded by her fiance, Dr. Sam Rubenstein.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Kenna Mackenzie Clements will be hooded by her mentor, Dr. Gregory Piro.
(audience cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Jason Tyrone Ross Jr. will be hooded by his mother, Dr. Donna Ross.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Alyssa Marie Naimi will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Jonathan Naimi.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Marilyn Rose Zahrt will be hooded by her brother, Esquire Thomas Zahrt.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Rishita Gupta will be hooded by her aunt, Dr. Sita Gupta.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience applauding) Dr. Anjali Mohan Gundeti will be hooded by her father, Dr. Mohan Gundeti, and her husband, Dr. Vinai Gudagumpla.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. John Ayman Hanna will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Anthony Hanna.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Megan Marie Knuth will be hooded by her mentor, Esquire Paige Shamansky.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Tricia Joanne O'Brien Gomez, MBA, will be hooded by her father, Dr. John O'Brien.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Hannah Marie Howarth will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Zachary Howarth, and her mentor, Dr. Avlokita Badhwar.
(audience applauding) Dr. Aaron Mahoney will be hooded by his father, Dr. Gerard Mahoney.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Kristina Jennifer Krupiak will be hooded by her brother, Dr. Alex Krupiak.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Morgan Alexis Dalm will be hooded by her father, Dr. Stephen Dalm, and her brother, Dr. Brian Dalm.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Salam Ahmad Smidi will be hooded by her uncle, Dr. Khalil Masri.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Nabeth A. Midley will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Arnelle Midley.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) The following graduates will be hooded by college faculty.
Dr. Howard Teitelbaum.
Dr. Zachary R. Fent.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. John Dominic Monterosso.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Natalie Wardia.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Brenna Erin O'Brien.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Austin Tyler Smarsh.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Jason Schomer.
(audience applauding and cheering) - Dr. Kacie Alexandra Klott, Captain, US Air Force.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Jaysa Lee Withey.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Kenneth Pereira.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Tess Elizabeth Vindischman.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Kaitlin Anne Wiewarha.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Carol Wilkins.
(audience applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Carol Wilkins.
Dr. Yamini Vepa.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Christopher Robert Coles.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Kim Pfotenhauer.
Dr. Andrea Luna Romero.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Jennifer Lynn Staeglich.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Bret Bielawski.
Dr. Trevor John Belavek.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Samuel Haddad.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Vanessa Ibrahim.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Isabella Cristina Comsa.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Dean Joseph Fitch.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Bernadette Gendernalik.
Dr. Edward Joseph Czarnecki.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Caroline Margaret Soderstrom.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Samantha Paige Perovski.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Zachary Osborn.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Matthew Thomas.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. John Taylor.
Dr. Steven Cvetkovski.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Katherine King.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Nicholas William Diloreto.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Michael Richard Ragnone.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Genevieve Claire Stone.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Navin Singh Moltani.
(audience applauding) The next graduate will be hooded by Dr. Larry Prokop.
Dr. Samantha Brooke MacKay-Forton.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Michelle Sarah Shoshiev.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Noor Gul Haq will be hooded by her father, Dr. Masroor Haq.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Elizabeth Ann Deming will be hooded by her aunt, Dr. Lori Claypool.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience applauding) Dr. Mohammad Emari will be hooded by his brother, Dr. Hashem Emari, and his sister, Dr. Leila Emari.
(audience applauding and cheering) (audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Ken Stringer.
Dr. Zachariah Randolph Whitcomb.
(audience cheering) Dr. Emily Therese Whyte.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. David Kaufman.
Dr. Natalie Kathleen Champagne.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Andrew Teion Pham.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Jaya Marie Telang.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Nicole Zuckerman.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Laryssa Kaufman.
Dr. Alaa Ibrahim.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Robert James Ruddy.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Mary Hughes.
The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Mary Hughes.
Dr. Jennifer Surim Kang.
(audience cheering and applauding) Mohammad-Nadim Samad.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Matthew Elwyn Watland.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduate will be hooded by Dr. Jane Turner.
Dr. Melissa Anderson-Chavarria, PhD, Medical Anthropology.
Dissertation, "Forgotten Families of the Sea and the Sun: An Ethnography of Autism in Puerto Rico."
Advisor Linda Hunt, PhD, Professor, retired, Department of Anthropology.
(audience applauding) The next graduate will be hooded by her mother, Dr. Shirley Harding.
Dr. Laura Marion Harding-Jackson, PhD, Genetics.
Dissertation, "Heterogeneous Thalamic Reticular Nucleus Neurons and Their Functional Role in Thalamacortical Processing."
Advisor, Charles Lee Cox III, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Jed Magen.
Dr. Hussain Ali Sharara.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Benjamin Morris Wheeler, Captain, US Army.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. John Lewis.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Lisa DeStefano.
Dr. Ryan Robert Bean.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Lauren Nicole Feld.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Claire Elizabeth Mears.
(audience cheering and applauding) - The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Kevin Robinson.
Dr. Hassan Adnan Hamadi.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Ashley Lang.
(audience cheering) Dr. Bryan Tephwang Pham.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Richard Bryce.
Dr. Mustafa Ahmad Atriss.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Nicholas Anthony Melucci.
(audience applauding) Dr. Cameron Mackenzie Goodman.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. William Dunker.
Dr. Micah James Gerakinis.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. William Howard Schultze.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Peter Blakemore.
Dr. Zachary Brennan.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Debalina Bandyopadhyay.
Dr. Gayathri Priyadarshini Kollipara.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Benjamin Roshak.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Alissa Catherine Mossbarger.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Jason Gumma.
Dr. Evelyn Issam Fadel.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Nora Kallabat.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Lorin Sallan.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Graham Atkin.
Dr. Carly Jo Ellen Suriano.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Matthew Davidson.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduate will be hooded by Dr. Brian Schutte.
Dr. Jose Alexander Rodrigues, PhD, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
Dissertation, "Molecular Epidemiology, Pangenomic Diversity, and Comparative Genomics of Campylobacter jejuni."
Advisor, Shannon Manning, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Carrie Nazaroff.
Dr. Emily Jordan Davidow.
(audience cheering) Dr. David Isaac LeRoy.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Rachel Loken.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Gino Michael Lombardo.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Mangala Sadasivan.
Dr. Seth Cauder Brauman, Captain, US Air Force.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Matthew Steven Luce.
(audience applauding) Dr. Nicholas Allen Zonca.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. David Hickling.
Dr. Benjamin Edward Bolcer.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Solomias Witka.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Rebecca Lee Rush.
(audience applauding) (audience applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Marjan Moghaddam.
Dr. Jane Ojales Delasai.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Mitchell Sarkisov.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Carol Restini.
I'm sorry, Dr. Carolina Restini.
Dr. Michelle Caitlin Burke.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Kelly Nicole Irwin.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Elise Ketelaar.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Josalyn Marie Nowels.
(audience applauding and cheering) - The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Stephen DiCarlo.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Taylor Casey.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Jessie Maupin.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Alexandra Cristina Petroj.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Ferdous Ahmed Nipu.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Chelsy Stephenson.
Dr. Ali Abdallah.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Nate Edward Farner.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Suruchi Dash.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Brittni Mihajlovic.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Juanita Tookes.
Dr. John Burton.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Mark Chesebro.
(audience applauding) Dr. Sarah Subhi.
(audience applauding and cheering) The following group of graduates will be hooded by faculty from the platform party.
Dr. Nikoli Butki.
Excuse me, Nikolai Butki.
Dr. Ali Baydoun.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Candace Margaret Brecht.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Christian-Gabriel Roche Dondonan.
(audience cheering) Dr. Shachi Desai.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Lori Dillard.
Dr. Puja Laroia.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Cassandra Lynn MacLeod.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Kathleen M. Sorensen.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Rachel Robert Semaan.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Alexis Lauren McKay.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Alyse Ley.
Dr. Brad Garrett Bamford.
(audience applauding) Dr. Ethan Alexander Bork.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Phong Duong.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Patricia Obando.
Dr. Jared Robert Emerson.
(audience cheering) Dr. Brittany Maliah Kirch.
Captain, US Army.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Abigail Zhao.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Marita Gilbert.
Dr. Chace Michael Davies.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Rachel Lin.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Savannah Rana.
(audience applauding and cheering) The next graduate will be hooded by Dr. John Goudreau.
Dr. Narayana Yelleswarapu.
Excuse me, Dr. Narayana Krishna Yelleswarapu, PhD, Neuroscience.
Dissertation, "The Role of a-Synuclein in Cholinergic Neurotransmission in the Enteric Nervous System."
Advisor, James Galligan, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
(audience applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Anissa Mattison.
Dr. Sydni Alexis Golfin.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Ali Jamil Hamade.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Bruce Wolf.
Dr. Rafael Eduardo Bernal.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Cameron Hubbard.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Alexander Matthew Michael Ora Luna.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Paramveer Singh Swaich.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Courtney Elizabeth Merlo.
(audience cheering and applauding) - The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Katherine Ruger.
Dr. Polo A. Kostecki.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Victoria Schomer.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Philip VanHuigenbos.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Jessica Anne LaVoie.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Stanley Li.
(audience cheering and applauding) The next graduates will be hooded by Dr. Kirsten Waarala.
Dr. Hunter Millet Holsinger.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dr. Matthew David Cho Stander.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Kayla Wolfert.
(audience cheering and applauding) Our last platform party hooder only needs to move a few feet.
Dean Andrea Amalfitano.
(audience applauding) Dr. Austen Nicklaus Grooms.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Patrick O'Connell, PhD, Cell and Molecular Biology.
Dissertation, "Investigations into the Immunomodulatory Properties of SLAMF7 and ERAP1."
Advisor, Andrea Amalfitao, DO, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
(audience applauding and cheering) Dr. Michael Moran.
(audience cheering and applauding) (audience cheering) Dr. Lark Amer Steafo.
(audience cheering and applauding) Dean Amalfitano, I present the MSUCOM class of 2023.
(audience cheering and applauding) - That's 1,800 doctors for me over my tenure as dean, so I'm really proud of that.
Class of 2023, please rise.
(audience cheering and applauding) On behalf of the president who has delegated to me the authority of the state of Michigan vested in the Board of Trustees, I confer upon all of you the degree for which you have been recommended with all the rights and distinctions to which they entitle you.
According to custom, you may now move your tassels from the right side of your caps to the left.
Congratulations, Doctors.
(audience cheering and applauding) Your futures are so bright, (audience laughing) I gotta wear shades.
(audience laughing) Sorry, I'm gonna steal that.
Why don't we go ahead and be seated, and I'll settle down here.
(laughs) This act represents the conclusion of a great achievement and marks the beginning of a lifetime of dedicated service to your fellow men and women.
It is an achievement worthy of celebration, and we are here today to celebrate this fact with you.
I would ask the vice presidents of the class now, Dr. Amira Al Nabolsi, Dr. Lark Steafo, and Dr. Kaitlin Wiewarha, to come forth and administer the Osteopathic Pledge.
The Osteopathic Pledge was administered to these three now doctors earlier this afternoon in a prior ceremony.
- We please ask the class of 2023 to stand and invite any other osteopathic physicians here today to rise.
Raise your right hand to read the Osteopathic Pledge, which you will find in the program.
We will read it together.
- [Graduates] As members of the osteopathic medical profession, in an effort to instill loyalty and strengthen the profession, we recall the tenets on which this profession is founded, the dynamic interaction of mind, body, and spirit, the body's ability to heal itself, the primary role of the musculoskeletal system, and preventative medicine as the key to maintain health.
We recognize the work our predecessors have accomplished in building the profession, and we commit ourselves to continuing that work.
I pledge to: provide compassionate quality care to my patients, partner with them to promote health, display integrity and professionalism throughout my career, advance the philosophy, practice, and science of osteopathic medicine, continue life-long learning, support my profession with loyalty in action, word, and deed, and live each day as an example of what an osteopathic physician should be.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
(audience applauding and cheering) - Thank you, Doctors, and I ask that our physicians stay standing.
I didn't say you could sit down yet.
(audience laughing) Please turn around and honor your families, your friends, your significant others, and all those that helped to get you to this moment today.
(audience cheering and applauding) They've always been with you and they'll always be with you.
Also, Doctors, please give a round of applause to all of our college's staff, not only for their months of preparation with today's ceremony, but also for their years of dedication to the class of 2023.
Thank you, staff.
(audience applauding) And finally, I ask that you give a round of applause to the tremendous faculty members in our college who have also imparted upon all you, all they know to you to make you the great physicians we all know you will become.
(audience applauding) Doctors, please be seated.
I ask that if you have a chance, look towards the back of the program that you have for tonight's ceremonies, and note the names of the award recipients presented at this afternoon's banquet and award ceremony.
Let's give a round of applause to all the recipients of those awards and their achievements.
(audience applauding) Again, want to first thank Dr. Pitman-Hunt for her inspirational message to all of us today.
Heed her words.
We thank you so much for honoring us with your wisdom, and we wish you all the best on your continued efforts on behalf of the profession.
Thank you.
(audience applauding) Now, I next, I want to acknowledge the pledge we all just took and how important the words in that pledge truly are.
Clearly, if a single physician chooses not to uphold the tenets of our pledge, that can potentially cause great harm, not only to those patients who trust them as a physician, but also to the osteopathic and medical professions as well.
I'm also here to once again confidently proclaim that our profession, and critically for our profession, this college is thriving.
Matter of fact, look around you.
Right now there's almost 8,000 applicants to this college who want to be seated right where you are right now.
Congratulations.
Why is it that so many wish to be in your shoes right now?
I think a major reason is our ability as the best osteopathic medical school in the country to embrace the concept that MSUCOM is a place where the science of medicine has not forgotten the art of medicine.
And what do I mean by that?
First of all, you as graduates of MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine have received an unrivaled education.
For example, you already can diagnose incredibly complex diseases by merely asking a few questions, utilizing your enhanced physical examination skills fostered by osteopathic concepts of anatomy and physiology, and, if necessary, intelligently request lab tests, imaging technologies, genomics and molecular tests to confirm what you already know to be true.
This is the science of medicine, and you are second to none in your education on this aspect of being a physician.
But no one can dispute that practicing medicine is still much more art than science.
Your college has also taught you over and over and over again that being a physician is not simply confined to reducing your patient to a single problem or symptom.
Your education here at MSUCOM has taught you that our profession, and, yes, our society demands that medical treatment follow a holistic approach, a progressive philosophy that not only treats symptoms and diseases, but always aspires to prevent disease in the individual, in the family, and the community.
We also taught you that much, most of medicine is actually empiric, i.e., not evidence-based, and that is not a bad thing.
We have simply educated you to understand these failings in our scientific knowledge.
Apply what your mentors have successfully learned to help you manage these scientific gaps, and then provide the best care possible today to those who seek you out.
That is the art of medicine.
We, along with all osteopathic physicians in the state and nation, have been united in our unwavering commitment to pursuing health for the whole person, and this passion resonates with those wannabe 8,000 physicians, pre-medical students who want to join our college today.
Our commitment as a osteopathic profession to holistic medicine is also the reason for the explosive growth of the profession over the past 130 years and by the presence of MSUCOM for over 50 of those years.
Indeed, 25% of all US medical school students will graduate from an osteopathic medical school this year, and by 2030, one in five physicians in the United States will be a DO.
Due to our College of Osteopathic Medicine, the results in Michigan confirm these predictions, and actually we lead the way, and we show what that potential for impact is going to look like.
Right now, over 25% of all practicing physician in Michigan are DOs, and most of them are our alumni.
These DOs not only improve health holistically for millions of Michiganders, they generate $18 billion in economic impact and hundreds of thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions in wages, and hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes for the state of Michigan in the process of delivering the healthcare that Michiganders deserve, and they do this throughout the nation as well.
Yeah, I heard a clap there.
(audience applauding) You can tell I'm pretty proud and I like my numbers.
Furthermore, although we aren't the largest nor oldest medical school in the state, we not only have more alumni practicing in Michigan than any other Michigan medical school by far, we have more alumni practicing in primary care or underserved areas than all the alumni of all the other medical schools in the state of Michigan combined.
(audience applauding) It's why I love to say that the College of Osteopathic Medicine is Michigan's medical school.
(audience applauding) I also ask you not to forget what your medical school has provided to you as you proceed on into your careers.
In fact, I'm telling you, you need to stay in touch with your medical school from this day onward.
Why?
You will learn as I have and as 7,300 alumni before you have learned that most everything you accomplish professionally going forward, the good deeds, the impact, the gratitude you receive, the great awards that you get, (audience laughing) these are all due to the efforts that this college took to educate you.
There can be no denying this fact.
For example, in my tenure as dean, I have met countless alumni of our college, and they all agree with this sentiment, and in fact, many alumni have made me aware that for them, MSUCOM is their anchor.
Think about why.
Why is COM, MSUCOM their anchor?
Well, many MSUCOM graduates trained in hospitals or in institutions and clinics after they left COM.
Yet those institutions no longer exist.
Yet MSUCOM not only continues to exist, but has been here ever-steady and growing for now 50-plus years, and we plan on continuing to grow its efforts for another 50 years.
But we need your help.
You should not forget us, and you need to find ways to keep in contact and help us, as we, together as colleagues, plan to train the next 50 years of world-class DO physicians and provide those future physicians ever-increased levels of expertise and experiences that we provided to you during your education here at MSUCOM.
With those thoughts, I sincerely offer my congratulations, and I wish you all good luck.
Go Green.
- [Audience] Go White.
(audience applauding and cheering) - We ask you to, if you can, please stand now, and we're gonna sing "MSU Shadows" Together.
It's found in your program, with the accompaniment of the Lansing Concert Band.
(dignified music) Thank you.
(audience applauding) I sang once way back when, and I was informed, don't ever sing again.
(audience laughing) Wonderful.
Now, the commencement this evening celebrates 279 outstanding MSUCOM graduates moving forward in their osteopathic careers.
These newly hooded physicians will bring care to our community for years to come, and we as staff, faculty, and administrators, are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside all of you.
One of our longtime staff members spent the past 44 years serving the students of this college, and I would like to take a moment to recognize her, the person who coordinated this evening.
In fact, in her career, she has coordinated over 22 of our graduation ceremonies and guided over 6,000 students, their families, and our faculty through this evening and across this stage.
She's there at the beginning of the medical school journey, planning our orientations, and during pre-clerkship years, mentoring students through leadership and student engagement activities.
Please join me in celebrating Ms. Beth Courey.
(audience applauding and cheering) Come on up here.
Where are you?
(laughs) Beth has been an integral part of the osteopathic profession for 44 years.
This is Beth's final graduation.
She prepares for a well-deserved retirement.
Our sincere gratitude and appreciation for consistently helping MSU to be a leader in our world of education and achievement.
Congratulations.
(audience applauding) Thank you, Beth.
She didn't know that was coming.
I get to sneak in a little something too as dean.
Sincerely, thank you so much.
Our ceremony is now concluded.
I would ask our guests to remain seated until the entire platform party and all graduates have recessed out of the arena.
The Breslin Center will stay open for an hour after the ceremony is completed.
Again, congratulations, good luck, and Go Green.
- [Audience] Go White.
(audience cheering and applauding) (energetic music)
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