Members of the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) MD program Class of 2021, faculty members and alumni of the school, and friends and family from across the country and around the world once again gathered virtually to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work and dedication of this year’s medical school graduates.
“We have all experienced this last year, this vast global pandemic in a very personal way, each in our own lived experience,” Barbara Bass, MD, RESD ’86, vice president for health affairs, dean of GW SMHS and CEO of the GW Medical Faculty Associates, told the audience in her welcoming remarks. “It’s surely a period we never imagined and now we’ll never forget.”
She added, “Over these last 12 months, you have shown compassion, resilience, generosity, and bravery. We, your faculty and teachers of all sorts in this school, are so proud to have supported your growth and metamorphosis into doctors during this remarkable time.”
Following the dean’s welcome remarks, valedictorians Pradeep Ramamurthy, MD ’21, and Caitlin Marie Ward, MD ’21, who introduced this year’s keynote speaker, Luciana Borio, MD ’96, BS ’92, vice president, In-Q-Tel, and senior fellow for global health, the Council on Foreign Relations.
In her remarks, Borio took a moment to recall the vital role Henry Masur, MD, chief of critical care medicine at the National Institutes of Health, had on her career. “Put simply, without his mentorship,” she said, “I wouldn’t have become the doctor who I am today.”
Even now, Borio continued, despite being friends and colleagues, she still considers Masur her mentor. “Whenever I face a tough issue — how to treat a patient, whether to accept the job, what to discuss in a commencement address — I can always count on Dr. Masur for candid counsel.”
“Why am I telling you this?” she asked. “Because if you don’t have a mentor, then you need to get one. Tomorrow. Finding a mentor is the single best investment you can make in your career.”
Borio turned her attention to the soul of medicine: empathy. She quoted poet Maya Angelou, who said, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”
She recalled a patient who came to her, having just been discharged from the hospital. The patient was using drugs and had advanced AIDS. Years later the patient told Borio, “You looked me in the eyes and asked one question, ‘Do you want to live, or do you want to die?’ ”
“I was dumbstruck,” Borio recalled, “not to mention mortified. ‘Did I really say that?’ I asked. ‘Yup,’ came the reply, ‘and thank you for doing so. That meant you cared, and that was exactly the spark that I needed to turn my life around.’ ”
Technology is transforming medicine, Borio noted. Already, artificial intelligence, in some cases, is reading certain radiological images more accurately than radiologists. “But [technology] can’t displace you if you hold on to what’s essential, that care for your patients. Nor can technology advocate for your patients as well as you can. In short, Siri and Alexa have neither the sensitivity nor the sagacity to ask a dying woman, ‘Do you want to live, or do you want to die?’ ”
Borio concluded her remarks by acknowledging the challenges the Class of 2021 has experienced en route to earning a medical degree while also issuing a challenge to the graduates. “You earned your degree during a time of great turmoil,” she said. “You’re the first class to cut its teeth in the worst pandemic of more than 100 years. As a result, you are about to practice medicine in a world that’s been profoundly altered.”
“Yet a pandemic also offers opportunities to build back better, as President Biden likes to say,” continued Borio. COVID-19, she explained, has unmasked unacceptable health disparities. “It will be your class and your generation that will steer people where they need to be, toward a society where one’s social standing does not dictate one’s health.”
Pranav Krushna Kaul, MD ’21, followed Borio’s address with some words of encouragement for his classmates as they begin their residency training this summer.
“My hope for us today is that we’re reminded to be confident and proud of ourselves, and with that, we will do and create great big things,” Kaul said. “For our patients and our profession, yes, but more importantly, for ourselves and our families and communities. Why? Because we already have.”
Rounding out the day’s events, Dean Bass addressed the newest members of the GW SMHS alumni family. She reminded graduates that, from patient-centered, compassionate care to transformational policies and health care access and delivery, change doesn’t just happen. It happens because “people with passion, the skills, training, and the lifelong commitment to stay at the top of their games jump in, lead, and persevere. They care and do all they can to create a valuable impact and make our people and communities healthy.”
Like Borio before her, Dean Bass cited the pandemic’s role in spotlighting the nation’s health disparity crisis. “As a school, we’ve launched numerous initiatives to dismantle the structures that have allowed persistent inequity in even our own privileged community. Here at GW, our Anti-Racism Coalition, the work of our White Coats for Black Lives student groups, and the Committee on Diversity and Inclusive Excellence are providing important goals, metrics, and initiatives to guide us to true inclusive excellence unencumbered by structural barriers.”
She then charged the graduates with carrying the effort forward as they take the next steps in their medical careers and beyond. “I ask that each of you commit to action in your upcoming roles as residents around the nation to dismantle the old structures and build new structures that will allow us all to be at our best personally and in serving our diverse nation.”
“As you join your new teams as PGY1 residents, in the weeks ahead, know that your faculty, staff, deans are all proud to have helped lift you to this moment,” Dean Bass concluded. “You are now our terrific GW ambassadors to the world of medicine. So, to each of you, go forward to do your great work as a physician. You are ready.”
MD Class of 2021 Student Award Winners
- Medical Student Excellence in Anesthesiology Award
- Trevor Hebenstreit
- Medical Alumni Association Award
- Reem Qabas Al Shabeeb
- Robert Keith Cole Memorial Award
- Alicia Thomas Lipscomb
- Taylor Nicole Wahrenbrock
- Dean’s Special Recognition Award
- Daniel Ezekiel Bestourous
- Social Justice in Medicine Award
- Charles Hartley
- Walter Freeman Research Award
- Aslam Akhtar
- Kendrah Valerie Osei
- Doris DeFord Speck and George Speck, MD Student Research Award
- Neil Deryck Almeida
- William G. Schafhirt Award
- Louisa Howard
- John Ordronaux Valedictorian Award
- Pradip Ramamurti
- Caitlin Marie Ward
- Lawrence A. Rapee Valedictorian Award
- Pradip Ramamurti
- Caitlin Marie Ward
- The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award Presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation
- Kime Cleary McClintock
- Walter F. Rosenberg Award in Dermatology
- Chapman Wei
- Department of Emergency Medicine Award
- Arman Hussain
- Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Award
- Paulyne Bora Lee
- American College of Emergency Physicians Award
- Pranav Krushna Kaul
- Benjamin Manchester Humanitarianism Award
- Charles Hartley
- Office of International Medicine Programs, Global Health Humanitarian Service Award
- Harleen Kaur Marwah
- Christina Marie Pugliese
- Allie S. Freed Award in Preventive Medicine
- Chinelo Lynette Onyilofor
- Phillip S. Birnbaum Award in Primary Care
- Erika Pashai
- Mark Millen Memorial Award
- Marissa Gabriella Mangini
- Jorge C. Rios Award in Internal Medicine
- Maria Abigail Sangalang Cerezo
- Hyman R. Posin Award in Neurology
- Lauren Marie Vilardo
- American Academy of Neurology Excellence in Neurology
- Melesilika Elisapeti Finau
- Samuel M. and Miriam S. Dodek Award in Reproductive Endocrinology
- Prabhleen K. Aneja
- Rachel Morris Dominick Obstetrics and Gynecology Award
- Rose Saskia Milando
- Taniya Varnae Walker
- Huron W. Lawson Award in Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Megan Fuerst
- Julius S. Neviaser Award in Orthopaedic Surgery
- Pradip Ramamurti
- College of American Pathologists Distinguished Medical Student Award
- Noor Habboosh
- Pediatric Departmental Award for Excellence in Care, Advocacy, Research, and Education
- Sivan Aliza Ben-Maimon
- Ciara R. Brown
- Salman O. Kazmi Memorial Award in Urology
- Ezra Jonathan Shoen
- Jerry M. Wiener Award in Psychiatry
- Tulha A. Siddiqi
- Navdeep S. Kang Award for Excellence and Service
- Celia Shoily Islam
- Alec Horwitz Award in Surgery
- Ryan Paul Lin
- Paul L. DeWitt Award in Surgery
- Mary Katherine Matecki
- Excellence in Public Health Award
- Harleen Marwah
- Excellence in Family Medicine Award
- Louisa Carrigan Fitzsimons Howard
- Student National Medical Association Hope Jackson Award
- Alva Powell
Gold Humanism Honor Society
Recognizing Humanistic Exemplars
- Reem Qabas Al Shabeeb
- Iman Hany Aly
- Gabrielle Aquino
- Sivan Aliza Ben-Maimon
- Hannah Rosemarie Chase
- Gifty Aboagye Dominah
- Sara Jean Emamian
- Megan Fuerst
- Jonathan George Gougelet
- Noor Habboosh
- Charles Hartley
- Louisa Carrigan Fitzsimons Howard
- Elaine Bywater Hynds
- Samantha Arden Izuno
- Pranav Krushna Kaul
- Jessenia Alicia Elsa Knowles
- Ryan Paul Lin
- Alicia Thomas Lipscomb
- Harleen Kaur Marwah
- Kime Cleary McClintock
- Paulina Angeline Ong
- Alva Powell
- Sanjana Rao
- Aida Roman
- Natalie Alena Rosseau
- Taylor Nicole Wahrenbrock
