Commencement speaker encourages graduates to ‘honor your wellbeing’
During two graduation ceremonies, the Class of 2024 celebrated their achievements in the School of Medicine’s M.D. and graduate programs.
2024 M.D. hooding ceremony (Photo by Arda Athman, VCU School of Medicine)
On Friday, May 10, the VCU School of Medicine community celebrated the graduation of 175 medical students and 60 graduate students. During both ceremonies, work-life balance and wellness were front and center.
Commencement speaker Katherine Chretien, M.D., an internal medicine physician and associate dean for medical student affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, encouraged graduates to make authentic connections, lean on their support systems and make decisions that prioritize their own wellbeing. She noted that “sometimes you need to have the courage to make a change for your own sake,” and reflected on her own journey of balancing her clinical and administrative duties with her family at home.
“These can be opportunities for good and for change, and you don’t have to fear them. You can make changes that benefit not only yourself, but everyone around you,” Chretien said during the M.D. hooding ceremony. “Graduates, you are entering an incredible profession with so much meaning. It is immensely gratifying. My wish for you is that you honor your wellbeing in your career, and that you thrive.”
M.D. hooding ceremony
Arturo Saavedra, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine, acknowledged the many proud entourages filling the seats of the Stuart C. Siegel Center, and emphasized the critical role of community support in getting through medical school.
“Beyond what it took inside each one of you, how did we really get here today?” Saavedra asked, encouraging the graduates to consider the classmates, faculty and residents who supported them along the way. “Yet another reason, I’m sure, is sitting in the bleachers. Your own support system, from the beginning, turned into the cheering section, bursting today with pride and with love. It is exactly teamwork and love that gets us here.”
Before the M.D. graduates walked across the stage to be hooded by Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, M.D., and Linda Costanzo, Ph.D., class president Madison Sokol addressed her classmates one final time. She reminded the Class of 2024 of their many challenges and accomplishments, noting that their path to medicine started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when they had to navigate virtual lectures and make friends six feet apart.
“We continued our journey through medicine in a pandemic, finding passion amongst the uncertainty and finding joy even in the most difficult of times,” she said. “And with this passion and drive, we were able to learn more than we ever thought.”
Katherine Chretien, M.D., spoke at both the M.D. hooding ceremony and the advanced degree recognition ceremony. (Photo by Arda Athman, VCU School of Medicine) Advanced degree ceremony
The advanced degree recognition ceremony, held in the auditorium inside the Kontos building, honored the School of Medicine’s 21 Ph.D., 45 master’s and 36 certificate graduates, who represented 21 different programs. More than 50 students were also recognized as recipients of awards at the school, university and national levels.
Mike Grotewiel, Ph.D., associate dean for graduate education, opened the ceremony by congratulating the graduate students for their achievements and recognizing their families, friends and VCU faculty and staff for their support each step of the way.
“I commend your commitment to your training, your craft, your programs, your productivity, as well as the broader community,” Grotewiel said. “I’m sure I speak for everyone involved in your training by saying job well done.”
Saavedra, himself a physician-scientist who can relate to the rigor of graduate-level coursework and research, also delivered remarks, and lauded the field of graduate education for its contributions to the progress of medical care. He noted that his own continued education had evolved over the years thanks to new technologies developed by researchers, such as new treatments for diseases that used to require invasive surgeries.
“We often think of medicine, the research engine and administration, as this very large tugboat that moves very slowly,” Saavedra said. “And it is a tugboat, not just because it moves slowly, but because when it splashes the water, it creates a wave.”
Follow VCU School of Medicine on Instagram, @vcuschoolofmedicine, for more coverage and photo galleries of both ceremonies.
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