Class of 2024 Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Graduates Urged to Become Changemakers
![Photo: Louis Toth, a Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate clinical professor of anatomy and neurobiology, and Adam Hall, an assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology, with Graduate Medical Sciences students at their May 16 convocation ceremony. A group of graduating students in robes snap a selfie with each other prior to the ceremony.](/files/2024/05/crop-GMS-24-SELFIE.jpg)
Louis Toth, a Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine associate clinical professor of anatomy and neurobiology (left), and Adam Hall, an assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology, with Graduate Medical Sciences students at their May 16 convocation ceremony. Photos by Jacob Mackey
Class of 2024 Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Graduates Urged to Become Changemakers
“Success is not just in the destination, but also in the journey,” a student speaker says
In greeting BU’s Chobanian & Avedisan School of Medicine Class of 2024 MD and PhD graduates at their May 16 convocation, Karen Antman, school dean and provost of the Medical Campus, noted that graduation is one of the most joyous annual events of academic life. She also reminded them that their doctorates in philosophy and medicine convey considerable public trust.
Citing the amount of unrest around the world, natural disasters, and medical challenges on a global scale, Antman said: “We hope that you will become leaders in solving these issues.”
At the afternoon ceremony at the BU Track & Tennis Center, 35 PhD, 144 MD, 4 combined MD/PhDs, 3 combined MD/MBAs, an MD/JD, and 2 MD/OMFS (oral and maxillofacial surgery) degrees were bestowed. Nearly 400 Graduate Medical Sciences students (43 master of arts, 323 master of science, and 10 combined master of science/master of public health) received master’s degrees in a ceremony held that morning at the same venue.
“The faculty know that you will use the knowledge, the research, and clinical skills that you have mastered here to make a difference in the world going forward,” C. James McKnight, associate provost and dean of Graduate Medical Sciences, noted in his remarks to the MD/PhD graduates.
Josiane Fofana (CAMED’24) was selected by PhD students to address the MD/PhD graduating class, their families, friends, and faculty.
“[I am] truly humbled, because humility reminds me of how far I’ve come and how much more there is to accomplish,” said Fofana, who grew up in Senegal, and in 2011 moved to Boston, where she completed an associate degree in biological sciences at Bunker Hill Community College before earning a BS in biochemistry from Brandeis University, and finally, a PhD in virology, microbiology, and immunology at BU.
![Photo: MD student speaker Josiane Fofana (CAMED’24), with her three-year-old, as she receives her doctoral hood at the BU medical school’s MD and PhD convocation ceremony May 16. A black woman wearing a robe and doctoral hood stands in front of a room of other graduates who are clapping](/files/2024/05/crop-MD-PHD-JOSIANA-FAFANA.jpg)
Fofana asked students to look beyond their degree.
“In the pursuit of knowledge, we often overlook the importance of emotional intelligence,” she said. “Brilliance devoid of empathy renders us empty, contributing to the injustice in this world.”
The mother of a three-year-old, Fofana founded a nonprofit providing quality and STEM-based education to children in Dakar, Senegal. She is pursuing a postdoctoral position at the University of Ghana as a Fogarty Global Health Fellow.
Selected as this year’s student speaker by her MD classmates, Bridgette Merriman grew up in Rochester, N.Y., graduated from Boston College, and will become a pediatric resident at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. A survivor of childhood cancer, she was hooded by David Korones, her pediatric oncologist at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester.
“One of the most beautiful aspects of our journey together has been the friendships we’ve formed and the shared experiences that have strengthened our bond,” Merriman said. “From our first days of orientation to the challenges of clinical rotations, we’ve grown together, supporting each other every step of the way.
“I know…that you have the minds, the hearts, and the souls of changemakers,” she said.
In her address to the MD and PhD graduates, Monica Bharel (CAS’94, CAMED’94), former chief medical officer at Boston Health Care for the Homeless, former commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and currently the clinical lead for Public Sector Health at Google, urged students to consider global issues of health equity and socioeconomic impacts.
“Healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege,” she said. “Our profession should focus on improving health beyond the healthcare system—in communities—and focus on prevention of disease with equal focus as treatment of disease.”
Brent Leung (CAMED’24) was the first of three student speakers chosen by their peers to speak at the GMS convocation. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Leung graduated from the Master of Science in Medical Sciences program and will enter BU’s MD program this fall.
“Bonding over practice questions, writing out pathways on whiteboards, going out for drinks after an exam—these are the memories that come to mind when I reflect on the past two years,” said Leung. “While I don’t know what the future holds for all of us, I do know that we all have the capacity to succeed.”
![Photo: Newly minted doctors wearing red robes and doctoral hoods recite the Hippocratic Oath at the conclusion of the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine’s MD and PhD convocation ceremony May 16 at the BU Track & Tennis Center](/files/2024/05/crop-MD-PHD-HIPPOCRATIC-OATH-1024x684.jpg)
Representing the physician assistant program, student speaker Ellie McIntosh (CAMED’24) admitted that she fainted at the first surgery she attended. “Soul-searching” was how she described an undergraduate journey that shifted through four majors, from biomedical sciences to “undeclared,” before she finally graduated with a degree in finance.
Working in an OB/GYN clinic in Dallas brought her back into medical science and healthcare. Now, the Texas native will remain in Boston as a practicing PA. Like Leung, she said she wasn’t alone on her journey, but was supported by classmates, faculty, family, and friends.
“My charge to you is to not let this fervor for life dissipate on those grueling days that will inevitably come as we continue this roller coaster of life,” McIntosh advised. “We can treat, heal, and interact with people of all different backgrounds and socioeconomic status…and help them fight for a truly better tomorrow.”
Student speaker Aris Desai (CAMED’24), also a Texas native, invoked New England poet Robert Frost in speaking on behalf of medical science students.
“The road less traveled is often rugged, and less signposted perhaps, but it is ripe with the promise of personal growth and discovery,” Desai said. “Each lab experiment, each patient case study, and each research project was an opportunity to choose resilience over resignation, curiosity over complacency, persistence over surrender,” he said. “It is a testament to the idea that success is not just in the destination, but also in the journey.”
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