AAMC Reporter: June 2005

Schools Stay Local When Choosing Graduation Speakers

James Henry "Red" Duke, Jr., M.D., delivered the 2005 commencement address for University of Texas Medical School at Galveston.

Celebrities, elected officials and authors are part of graduation ceremonies each year. But several medical schools opted this year for inspirational figures closer to home to salute the next generation of physicians.

And the speakers have one thing in common: the students chose them to deliver the commencement address.

This year, students at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) picked James Henry "Red" Duke, Jr., M.D., to send them out into the front lines of medicine with some parting words of wisdom. Duke, while not formally affiliated with the school, is famous in Texas and across the nation for his accomplishments in surgery and biological research. He is also a pioneer in establishing medical facilities in areas of dire need domestically and internationally in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Duke was an ideal choice to speak at UTMB's graduation, according to William Hooks, Jr., president of the graduating class, because he could draw from his many experiences.

"He's had a long and prosperous career, and he's a great person to offer advice on how to start our careers and provide a vision for healthcare in Texas and America," Hooks said.

Officials from schools in Texas, New York, Maryland and Vermont said that students must have a voice in choosing the speaker because they are the only ones who really know what is important to them as a graduating class.

Early Selection
Selecting a commencement speaker begins during the fall semester when fourth-year students receive guidance on how to select a speaker from student affairs officials. At several schools students have great autonomy in choosing who delivers the keynote address at the most important ceremony of their medical school career.

"We give our students full authority to come up with a list and rank those individuals," said Lauree Thomas, M.D., associate dean for student affairs and admissions at UTMB. "It's a special day that will forever be embedded in their minds as they transition to the world of delivering healthcare."

The only tangible advice UTMB students receive is to find a speaker with at least peripheral ties to the school that can reflect the school's commitment to diversity, community service and patient care, Thomas said.

But not every school gives its students recommendations on the types of speakers they might consider. At Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, the selection process is handled entirely by students without any school restrictions to consider, according to Clare Rooney, assistant dean for student affairs.

"We don't give the students a protocol to follow," Rooney said. "They don't have much say in what goes on with curriculum or requirements during their four years of medical school, so unless they request an unreasonable speaker, they can choose whoever they want."

The selection process at Columbia is as informal as the school's speaker requirements. The class president sends a broadcast e-mail to all seniors, requesting suggestions. After a list is compiled, the class votes, and the president sends the top 15 names to the dean.

In recent years, Rooney said student lists have included President Bill Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and actor Michael J. Fox. This year, however, graduating seniors looked internally to Jeffrey Sachs, Ph.D., director of Columbia's Earth Institute, to provide the keynote address.

Formal Affair
But not all selection processes are so simple. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine uses a more formal system. School officials instruct students to find a speaker who made an impact in the medical community, and because the medical and graduate students share a speaker, representatives from both classes meet to compile a list of potential invitees. This year, they chose Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to George Ho, a graduating senior who was part of the selection committee at Johns Hopkins, this year's class chose Collins because his work revolutionized the practice and art of medicine.

"His efforts as the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and the completion of the Human Genome Project had a tremendous impact on how we understand genetics and how we will treat patients in the future," Ho said. "Furthermore, his career is pertinent to clinicians and researchers, which is ideal for our class consisting of M.D.s and Ph.D.s."

Other schools, including the University of Vermont College of Medicine, allow students to assemble a wish list of speakers but require the dean's office to be more involved with the process. The dean's office reviews the list and encourages students to choose the most appropriate candidate, according to Nini Anger, Vermont's events coordinator and student services representative.

Like Columbia, Vermont's students turned inward when selecting this year's commencement speaker. During the ceremony, Neil Hyman, M.D., a surgeon at Fletcher Allen Hospital, delivered the main address. Students chose Hyman to speak because he is a caring and compassionate role model, and they regard him as a superior professor who connects well with his classes, Anger said. The graduating class also presented him the Surgery Excellence in Faculty Teaching award.

In choosing speakers with extensive experience and success in science and medicine, students reflect their own ambition and desire to contribute to the healthcare field. According to AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., who delivered commencement addresses this year at Mercer University School of Medicine and Eastern Virginia Medical School, today's students are demonstrating they have the same passion for medicine as the ones he studied with when he began his career.

"As far as I can tell, current students seem every bit as bright, eager, idealistic and committed, if not more so, than my generation," Cohen said.

—Whitney L.J. Howell, whowell@aamc.org

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