Lieutenant General Nadja Y. West, M.D. '88, will serve as the keynote speaker at the 2017 M.D. Diploma Ceremony, held on Sunday, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium. She will also receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service at the George Washington University (GW) Commencement, held on the National Mall. West will receive this distinction alongside U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron.
West is the 44th surgeon general of the United States Army and commanding general, U.S. Army Medical Command. She has served in a variety of leadership positions that span the globe and has commanded at the Army Community Hospital, Army Medical Center, and Regional Medical Command levels. Before being named surgeon general, she served as the U.S. Joint Staff surgeon.
The university honored West in October 2016 with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. West also served as the keynote speaker at the 2015 M.D. White Coat and Honor Code Ceremony, where she spoke about the white coat’s impact beyond the circle of medicine.
"I wear the cloth of our nation in my uniform, but the threads of my white coat are embedded in the fibers of this uniform here," she said at the ceremony, noting the unique privileges of physicians.
West holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, and she earned her Doctor of Medicine from the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1988. After completing her family medicine residency at Martin Army Community Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia, she pursued a dermatology residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado.
Visit GW Commencement for more information on GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences graduation celebrations.
