Founder’s medalist Sarah Page Hammond and class president Adam Barkin lead the processional at the commencement ceremony last week. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Class of 2002 steps into world
Sarah Page Hammond receives the School of Medicine Founder's Medal from Dr. Steven Gabbe. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Kristen Eller receives her diploma from husband Robert Eller, a VUSM class of 2000 alumnus. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Graduate Stephanie Park, center, hugs her mom Dr. Chong Park and dad Dr. Jai Park. (photo by Dana Johnson)
When Drs. Bernard Muscato and Dorthea Downey presented their daughter, Nicole Muscato, her Vanderbilt University School of Medicine diploma last week, they must have thought back to her third-grade year when she checked patients in at her father’s obstetrics practice, or to her sixth-grade year when she would help set up the ultrasound machine for his expectant patients.
“I found a book recently at home from the third grade where it asked what I wanted to be,” said Muscato, one of 104 graduates of the Class of 2002. “I had written, ‘a doctor.’ I had lots of exposure to medicine at an early age.”
Muscato, who plans to marry classmate Nathaniel Dueker next fall, will begin a pathology residency at Vanderbilt July 1. Although the coursework has been difficult, her experience at VUSM has been gratifying, she said.
“This is such a student-oriented school and there are so many opportunities for electives. It enhances the medical school here and gives the students experiences that we couldn’t get elsewhere.”
The graduates began the morning by attending the 2002 commencement ceremony on Alumni Lawn. It was Chancellor Gordon Gee’s second commencement and he told the large group of Vanderbilt graduates and their friends and families that “fearlessness and moxie is just what you need to survive.”
Gee told the group that the 2002 graduation is a “mingling of celebration and loss (after Sept. 11). “But you are the ones who have the power and responsibility to turn the world around…Every generation has the chance to fulfill its moment of greatness,” he said.
At the university-wide ceremony, Sarah Hammond was presented the Medical School’s Founder’s Medal, the award given since 1877 for first honors in each graduating class. Hammond will be serving an internal medicine residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.
VUSM’s new emeritus professors were also recognized at the university ceremony. They are: Drs. R. Benton Adkins Jr., Alexander McLeod, James A. O’Neill Jr., Harris D. Riley Jr. , and James A. McKanna, Ph.D., R. Edward Stone Jr., Ph.D. and Richard M. Zaner, Ph.D.
At the medical school recognition program at Langford, Dr. Harry R. Jacobson, vice chancellor for Health Affairs, said that four years ago the members of the Class of 2002 were the “best students America undergraduate education had to offer. To have failed with this group would have been impossible.”
Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, recognized the 100 faculty members who attended the ceremony.
“I’ve been to medical school graduations for almost 30 years and I have never seen this number of faculty come to a graduation. Ours is a community of mutuality where faculty and students work closely together,” he said.
Gabbe gave the well-rounded students two pieces of advice: to take their residencies one day at a time, “or one rotation at a time,” and to stay anchored in what has fulfilled their passions, whether it be family, music or art or other outside interests.
Also participating in last week’s ceremony was Dr. Alice C. Coogan, associate clinical professor of Pathology, who read the graduates’ names. Coogan was the winner of the medical school’s 2002 Shovel Award for outstanding teaching. Jacobson and Dr. Deborah C. German, senior associate dean for Medical Education, conferred the academic hoods and Gabbe and Dr. Bonnie M. Miller, associate dean for Medical Students, awarded the diplomas. Dr. David S. Raiford, associate professor of Medicine, led the students in reciting the Hippocratic Oath.
In addition to the students receiving their medical degrees, four students received Master of Public Health degrees; five, Master of Science in Clinical Investigation; three, a joint M.D./MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management; one, Master of Science; and five, joint M.D./Ph.D degrees.
Drew Moghanaki, 32, was a latecomer to the class of 2002. He joined the class at the beginning of the third year. After his second year at Texas Tech, he realized that academic medicine was his calling but he wasn’t getting the opportunities he wanted at Texas Tech. He applied to the few schools that were taking transfers and was accepted to four schools, including Vanderbilt. His wife, Amy, was also looking for more stimulating academic opportunities. They chose Vanderbilt. She will graduate from her five-year master’s program at Peabody in August and pursue her dream of becoming a management consultant. Moghanaki will serve a one-year surgical internship at Vanderbilt, beginning in July. The couple has two children, Jordan, 5, and Lily, 1.
“The opportunities just weren’t there for us in Texas,” he said. “We feel very fortunate to have found a place like Vanderbilt. I really believe all the moons lined up and that’s why we’re here.”
Graduation was a family-oriented day for Laurie Archbald who received her medical degree from her father, Louis, and sister, Cheryl, a 1994 graduate of VUSM. Her fiancé, Aaron Pannone, who works in research development for the Medical Center, was also on hand. Archbald will serve an internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia.
“It was an honor to have my father and sister present me my diploma,” she said. “Vanderbilt Medical School is a wonderful place. The administration and faculty have been so supportive.”