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CLASS DAY
Student Speakers Take Their Values on the RoadThe rain couldn't dampen the spirits of HMS and HSDM students or their families and friends as they celebrated the culmination of four or more years of hard work on Class Day, June 6. The three student speakers each addressed in their own way the future of their professions and what they believed was most important to remember as they ventured forth as doctors.
At the Class Day ceremony on June 6, medical student speaker Trevor Burt (above) spoke about the difficulties of being a physician and told his classmates, "As you care for your patients, never forget to take care of yourself and of each other." Below, a light moment is enjoyed by Dental School graduates (l to r) Heather Gormley, Harpavat Srinivasan, and Francis Harrington. (Top photo by Steve Gilbert; bottom photo by Liza Green, HMS Media Services)
The first speaker, HSDM graduate Jerome Shuman, gave an outline of the legendary and historical figures who helped shape the course of medicine and dentistry, including Aesculapius, Hermes, Hippocrates, and Aristotle. He also told the story of the first woman dentist in the U.S., Emeline Rupert Jones, who after overcoming some obstacles went on to practice for nearly 50 years. Healing ThyselfTrevor Burt, the first medical student speaker, used T.S. Eliot's "The Wounded Surgeon" as a jumping off point to talk about the effect a patient's illness has on his or her doctor and how physicians must take care of themselves in order to be effective healers."That to me is Eliot's paradox: that with all of our training and degrees and technology, we cannot effectively touch the lives of others without somehow giving up our own lives," he said. "We cannot heal the wounds of others without being wounded ourselves." So he cautioned the new physicians not to forget about themselves. "The danger ... comes when the surgeon forgets to tend to his or her own wounds." "There comes a time in each of our lives when we discover that we are no more spared from the ravages of the mind and body than anyone else. It is this commonality that then allows us to feel genuine compassion and empathy, even when the pressures mount to cut corners, to save time, and to forget the small things that make the patient-doctor relationship unique and sacred." The final student speaker was HMS graduate William Meehan, who shared entries from his journal from the past four years. His humorous talk touched upon his trials and embarrassments as a medical student, and, judging from the laughter he provoked, they were common experiences among his classmates. The Heart of Professional BehaviorHe also thanked his parents for being strong role models and for all their help. "My two greatest role models as I begin my career in pediatrics are, in fact, themselves not physicians: my parents are the epitome of self-sacrifice and diligence." He told of how his father had learned geometry just so that he could help him with his homework and how his mother sacrificed her own career to take care of him and his sister full-time until they were old enough to take care of themselves.In June HMS awarded 154 MDs to 87 men and 67 women. Twenty percent of the graduates are underrepresented minorities, and 13.5 percent earned or are candidates for an additional degree; 34 degrees were awarded through the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. The 32-member HSDM Class of 2002 is composed of 19 women and 13 men who received the DMD. The Dental School also awarded 14 Master of Medical Science degrees to nine men and five women and 10 Doctor of Medical Science degrees to six men and four women. --Michael Higgins |
