At the School of Public Health’s Convocation May 14, student speaker Faiz Kidwai (SPH’16) stressed the necessity for “radical compassion” as graduates start their careers.

Speaking to the 281 SPH graduates at Agganis Arena, Kidwai said his family “became poor overnight” when they emigrated from Pakistan when he was 16. They didn’t have health insurance and lived in subsidized housing.

“We were poor, but not that poor,” he said, “and I wish I could say the same thing for the people who I met at the homeless shelters, emergency rooms, and free health clinics where I volunteered during high school and college. Whatever little privilege I had hit me like a ton of bricks, and I realized that the only reason I sat on this side of the table was due to nothing more than good fortune.”

He urged his fellow graduates to always be aware of their own privilege as they combat the inequalities at the root of such health issues as obesity and addiction.

“At SPH we have learned about the origins and epidemiology of viruses like Zika and Ebola,” he said, “but perhaps more important, we have learned the origins and epidemiology of injustice, racism, sexism, and oppression.” The centrality of these issues, Kidwai said, makes public health “a moral enterprise.”

Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders(CAS’76, SSW’78) was the convocation speaker.