The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) welcomed the MD Class of 2029 to the Foggy Bottom campus on July 30, launching their journey toward careers in medicine.
The new cohort arrives with a strong academic foundation — most hold science-related undergraduate degrees, and many bring prior experience in health care and research. Sixteen students are former EMTs, and 14 have published research. The class features graduates of universities from across the country, in addition to 15 who earned their undergraduate or graduate degrees from GW.
Orientation began with icebreakers and introductions from SMHS leadership, including Barbara Lee Bass, MD, RESD ’86, vice president for health affairs, dean of SMHS, and the Walter A. Bloedorn Chair of Administrative Medicine, and professor of surgery; Rhonda Goldberg, associate dean for student affairs; Lorenzo Norris, MD, associate dean for MD programs, and Ioannis Koutroulis, MD, PhD, MBA, associate dean of admissions for the MD program.
Goldberg encouraged the class to lean into new connections and shared a reflection from a recent alumna to help frame the path ahead.
“A good day is when you find a parking place close to the hospital when it's raining, or when you score better on an exam than you felt capable of doing ... . A hard day is where you lose your first patient after the CPR you tried didn’t work,” she continued. “You’ll each experience all of these feelings. How you take them in is what matters. Don't take a single day for granted. Become better doctors.”
Dean Bass also reflected on her own first days in medical school, which began 50 years ago. “It feels like it flew by,” she said. “Some of the happiest years of my academic life, except maybe when I trained as a surgeon afterwards, were spent in medical school. It’s really wonderful to see the many different faces in this room who will be the deliverers of health care in the decades ahead.”
"On behalf of the Office of Admissions and the Committee on Admissions, I want to welcome you,” said Koutroulis.
Competition for this year’s incoming class of students, he added, was steep, with the program receiving more than 17,000 applications. “Congratulations, what you did was amazing. It’s a long journey, but a very, very fulfilling journey.”
Orientation week continued with team-building activities across campus and on the National Mall, culminating in a professionalism seminar led by Dean Norris.
Helping organize the week were second-year students Sanika Karandikar, Colin Smith, and Hannah Lee, who reflected on the pressures of being new to medical school.
“They're probably nervous about not messing up the first day,” said Karandikar. “It's so hard to get into medical school, to get here takes so much work, so you're so nervous, and you want to make friends, but you don t want to come off as like somebody who’s really nervous about school.”
The trio drew on their own orientation experiences and feedback from classmates to shape the programming. “We wanted to maintain the energy of our favorite moments,” said Smith, “while also identifying areas to improve on.”
