Kerry Kusz Blaha and her husband, Michael Blaha, cheer along with their Vanderbilt University School of Medicine classmates at last week’s commencement ceremony.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Graduation 2006: Health care bar set high for VUSM’s class of ’06
Brian Kamdar gives a thumbs up during the School of Medicine processional at graduation.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Sabina Wong of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is all smiles during graduation. Sitting beside her are twin sisters Lisa and Lydia White.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Ibironke Oduyebo is surrounded by her family from Lagos, Nigeria, after VUSM’s graduation ceremony. It is the custom in Nigeria for families to wear the same color of dress during celebrations. There were two graduates in this class from Lagos — Oduyebo and Eniola Mudasiru.
Photo by Dana Johnson
Andrew Camarata is lifted off the ground by his father, Stephen Camarata, Ph.D., after he presented his son with his diploma at the VUSM graduation ceremony in Langford Auditorium.
Photo by Dana Johnson
With tough challenges dotting today's health care landscape, 111 Vanderbilt University School of Medicine graduates were tasked last Friday to lead a new generation of physicians working to extend and improve life.
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Harry Jacobson, M.D., asked Vanderbilt's newest physicians to lead a generation facing “three vexing problems” in health care — the “runaway cost of providing care,” 43 million uninsured or underinsured Americans and the challenge of delivering consistent, high quality, evidence-based care.
“The physicians of my generation have been remarkable at prolonging life,” Jacobson said. “The physicians of your generation will cure disease. They will not only keep people alive, they will preserve their vitality.”
School of Medicine Dean Steven Gabbe, M.D., spoke to the graduates about becoming “courageous physicians” during the standing-room-only ceremony in Langford Auditorium.
“There are times when it may be easier to play it safe, to remain silent. For example, when another resident or a faculty member has made a derogatory comment about a patient's race or sexual orientation or socioeconomic status,” Gabbe said.
“Or to withhold your opinion, when a more senior physician tells you that a particular therapy would be preferred for a patient when you know that is not true. At those times, it takes courage to say ‘I don't agree’ or to ask why something is being done.”
Gabbe's speech also highlighted student accomplishments, including creation of the Shade Tree Clinic, which provides access to health care for persons in the community who have no other resources.
He mentioned student acts of courage, including a student who spent this past Christmas donating his kidney to save the life of a family member in renal failure.
Graduates were awarded the Doctor of Medicine degree and were led by Professor of Medicine John Sergent, M.D., in the Oath of Hippocrates, which was administered during the ceremony.
Class President Tracey Wilkinson said her Vanderbilt experience has prepared her to walk confidently into the first day of residency.
“This school has something that you can't really put your finger on that makes it special,” she said. “That is what makes it so hard to actually leave and go on to the next phase of our lives, because there is a little part of you that knows you won't find that unnamed element anywhere else.”
Graduate Rasheeda Stephens, who earned a Bachelor of Engineering in biomedical engineering in 2001, received both M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Vanderbilt last Friday.
She will start her internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center in late June.
“I am excited to finally have an opportunity to focus on taking care of patients,” Stephens said. “This is only the beginning of the path to becoming a great physician, and I can only hope that I live up to the examples that I witnessed on the wards here at Vanderbilt.”
Stephens, who has been at Vanderbilt since 1997, said her best memories include jogging with classmates and Gabbe around his neighborhood and presenting the portrait of Levi Watkins Jr., M.D., to the school.
Sanmit Basu will serve his Pediatrics residency at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
“I value my friends among all else, and those I've made here will last a lifetime and beyond,” Basu said. “Aside from the social aspect, the education and training we've received here are unparalleled. I will always remain grateful to Vanderbilt for giving me the opportunity to spend time here learning, living and growing toward being someone who can meaningfully work to make a difference in people's lives.”