Greetings to all. I am Dr. Suzi Rose. And as the Senior ViceDean for Medical Education, it is my proud honor toopen these proceedings and pronounce that theCommencement Exercises of the Raymond and Ruth PerelmanSchool of Medicine at the Universityof Pennsylvania, recognizing and honoring thegraduates of the Class of 2020, will now begin. I would like to take thisopportunity to welcome you all virtually, including our Trustees, Dean and ExecutiveVice President for the Health System,Dr. Larry Jameson, our commencement speaker,Dr. Katrina Armstrong, the Class of 1970 speaker,Dr. Elliot Yolles, members of our 50th ReunionClass, the Class of 1970, our Class of 2020student speaker, Dr. Ilana Nelson-Greenberg, the entire Class of 2020,virtual guests, faculty, parents, children, relatives,significant others, and friends. We realize that this is notthe celebration you had planned for, but we do celebratewith great enthusiasm as you, the Class of2020, have reached this wonderful milestone. You have worked sohard to get here, with many joys and successes,and some more challenging times, supported byyour own resilience. And that has been tested nogreater than in the past couple of months. But also supported by thepower of those who love you. This is a commencement--a beginning, in a difficult time-- but what we expectwill transition to a magical journey foryou over many years to come. This is a powerfulpoint of transition, and it is only right to pauseand celebrate your achievements and reflect on your successesand accomplishments. We are exceptionally proudof each and every one of you, and applaud your ideals,commitment, and talents. So please, enjoy this moment. Cherish your senseof pride in yourself, your family, your school. Many of you are staying atPenn, but others are leaving. We hope you will alwayslook upon our school as your launchingpad and as a source of professional development,knowledge, and support. On behalf of the faculty, Iextend hearty congratulations to you, our graduates, and tothose who love and support you. I now introduce our ExecutiveVice President and Dean, Larry Jameson. Thank you, Dr. Rose. Good morning, everyone. I'm Larry Jameson, Dean of thePerelman School of Medicine. It's great to be with youtoday, even virtually. Graduates, thisis still your day! And we're here to celebrateyou, the Class of 2020. To say that yourcommencement is different is, of course, ahuge understatement. Certainly, I missthe opportunity and the togetherness ofa traditional graduation ceremony. But gathering this wayis a mark of our resolve to be resilient untilthe end of this pandemic. Rarely has a graduation ceremonybeen more significant or more essential. Commencement remains abeginning and a time of joy, and our focus is firmly fixedon the medical knowledge and skills you have acquired andwill use for decades to come. There are many people torecognize for bringing you to this point in your career. This recognition beginswith our faculty-- the professors, the clinicians,and the scientists-- who have been rolemodels and mentors, sharing theirwealth of knowledge and their values of humanismand professionalism. Many of them havejoined us online to demonstrate their support,and I thank them for that. This group also includes theTrustees of Penn and Penn Medicine, and other leaderswhose service to the school is invaluable. I want to recognize some ofthem online with us today. David Cohen, Andy Heyer, Walter and Anne Gamble, Barrie Jordan, Robert Johnson, Kevin Mahoney, and Jon Epstein. Thank you for all you doto support our graduates and the missionof Penn Medicine. Your families, spouses,partners, and friends have made sacrifices toget you to this point. For their support, I'm sureyou're deeply grateful. So please turn to thosewho are with you now and acknowledgetheir support, along with the support ofthose who could not be with you physically today. To reach this milestone, you'veworked extraordinarily hard, met every challengewe've set before you, and amazed us withyour accomplishments. We're proud of each of you. Congratulations to all of you. This is a moment of greatchange and transition. Even in extraordinarytimes, it is bittersweet. Many of you will bemoving away to a new city with the added challengesof physical distancing. And as you begin internshipsin the next month, the learning curve will besteep, but also incredibly exciting and invigoratingas you hone your skills and begin your lives as doctors. Penn has prepared you wellfor this new responsibility. You have proven yourability to acquire the knowledge andskills to serve as outstanding physicians. While the pandemic hasbeen swift and frightening, it has also affordedyou an opportunity to reflect on what matters mostto you, what kind of doctor you want to be, and what kindof impact you want to have. You have chosen themedical profession because it is a calling toserve, as well as a profession. In this respect, the pandemichas revealed your character, and I couldn't beprouder of the way you have run towards this crisis. You've responded withurgency, resourcefulness, and resilience. Staffing ourtelemedicine hotlines, working with the e-ICU, staffingthe CHOP COVID call center, working with the Penn MedicineCenter for Health Care Innovation to create anartificial intelligence chatbot for patientquestions about COVID. Helping our hospitals findpersonal protective equipment and other essential supplies,shopping for groceries, volunteering, andcountless other ways to support the people ofPenn Medicine, the patients and the communities we serve. You have come togetherin this crisis and will be different doctors-- better doctors than youotherwise might have been-- stronger, more resourceful,and better prepared to address the urgent needsof our communities, and more appreciativeof teamwork, and quicker to lookout for one another. You're becoming doctors at anexciting time for medicine. The tools we have for discovery,diagnosis, and treatment have never been more powerful. As you enter the medicalfield and practice, the use of imaging,minimally-invasive surgery, new medicines, informatics,and artificial intelligence will allow you tomake diagnoses earlier and treat diseases withever-increasing precision and better outcomes. These advances makeour health system one of the best in the world. However, the pandemic hasshined a harsh light on the ways that the health ofour society falls short of our expectations-- the fragility of ourpublic health system, the racial and socioeconomichealth disparities that have been starkly exposedin the midst of this outbreak, particularly with respect to thehigh death rates of our Black and Hispanic communities. The crisis isilluminating a better path for the future of medicine-- one that places more emphasis onprevention, access and equity, and has a more robust andinnovative public health infrastructure that expandstelemedicine and uses technology to engage patientsmore actively in their care and applies cutting-edgesequencing technology and informatics to spread thedevelopment of new therapies and vaccines. You benefit from thetraining you have received at the PerelmanSchool of Medicine, but also from the diversity andwide-ranging life experiences that each of you brought here. These are tremendous strengths. As you join thehealthcare workforce, we're confident that youwill elevate your impact. At Penn Medicine, we'reaccustomed to taking the long view. Our medical schoolwas founded in 1765 as the first inthe United States. Our graduates haveanswered the call to service throughoutour nation's history-- from outbreaks ofyellow fever at the time of the American Revolution,to the Spanish flu in 1918, and the coronaviruspandemic today. Soon you will be hearingfrom the Class of 1970, marking its 50th reunion. I would like to thank Dr. Elliott Yolles for all of his support. Ordinarily, he would be joinedby many members of his class. While they could notbe with us today, I want to thank them for theirengagement and generosity over the years. Today's graduates couldnot find better role models than our 50-year alumni. They never stopped learning,and over the decades, they have adapted tothe enormous changes in our profession. You will have to do thesame over the course of your careers-- perhaps even moreso, as the creation of new biomedical knowledge andthe accompanying pace of change continue to accelerate. I know you're anxious tobegin this next exciting phase of your career. The Perelman Schoolof Medicine has prepared you extraordinarilywell, not only to save lives in thiscrisis, but to lead throughout your medical careers. We're very proud of you and welook forward to your impact. It is now my privilege tointroduce today's graduation speaker, an internationalleader in academic medicine and an expert instudies of health disparities, medicaldecision-making, and cancer prevention. Dr. Katrina Armstrong is Chairof the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at theMassachusetts General Hospital, where she alsoserves as the Jackson Professor of Clinical Medicineat the Harvard Medical School. I'm proud to say that shewas a distinguished member of the Penn faculty and a PennMedicine leader for many years. Dr. Armstrong isa graduate of Yale and the Johns HopkinsUniversity School of Medicine. She was a resident and achief resident in Medicine at Johns Hopkins and completed aresearch fellowship and Masters of Science in ClinicalEpidemiology at Penn. In 1998, she joinedthe Penn faculty and led a researchprogram in cancer control. Over the years, Dr. Armstrongtook on multiple leadership roles, including servingas the Associate Director of the Abramson Cancer Center,Co-Director of the Robert Wood Johnson ClinicalScholars Program, and Chief of the Division ofGeneral Internal Medicine. In recognition ofher impact, she is an elected memberof the American Society of Clinical Investigation,the Association of American Physicians, and theNational Academy of Medicine. Among other awards, she hasreceived the Outstanding Junior Investigator of the Year Awardfrom the Society of General Internal Medicine, theOutstanding Investigator Award from the AmericanFederation of Medical Research, and the Alice HershAward from AcademyHealth. In addition to hercareer in health policy and disparitiesresearch, Dr. Armstrong is a dedicatedpracticing internist. Over her career, shehas prioritized her role as an educator, includingdeveloping and leading courses on clinical decision-makingat Penn and at the MGH. She has created multipleinnovative educational programs, including the Master'sprogram in Health Policy Research at Penn and the Centerfor Educational Innovation and Scholarship at Mass General. Diversity and inclusion arecentral to Dr. Armstrong's leadership, includingher award-winning roles in the advancement of women,her commitment to programs to support diversityacross faculty and trainees at the MGH, and herresearch leadership in health disparities andcommunity-based research. These are extraordinaryaccomplishments, and it's my distincthonor and pleasure to welcome Dr. KatrinaArmstrong to our ceremony. Katrina. Thank you. I am delighted to be apart of this incredible day of celebration. I want to congratulateDean Jameson, Dean Rose, and the rest of the PerelmanSchool of Medicine leadership on this innovativeonline ceremony, on their unwavering dedicationto your medical education, and on their exceptionalleadership at this time of national crisis. I have never been more proudto be part of the Penn family. Of course, I alsowant to congratulate you, the Class of2020, and your family, friends, and colleagues who havewalked this journey with you. This is a graduationthat will be written into the history books. Some of that history will beabout what we are missing. We're missing beingtogether in person today to celebrateyour achievements. Across the globe, peopleare missing spending time with their family and friends,sending their children to school. Many are missinga job, a paycheck. And most importantly,more and more are missing a loved one whohas been lost to COVID-19. But even as we recognize andhonor those losses today, I have no doubt that thismedical school graduation, the graduation of 2020, will beremembered first and foremost not for what we have lost, butfor what we have been given-- the chance to beginand to begin again. For your class, it is thechance to begin your career at a time ofnational crisis when your humanity and your skillshave never been more needed. For medicine, it is the chanceto begin again as a field, to begin a new era formedicine, to define what medicine can do for ourpatients, our communities, and our society. What it means tobe a doctor today. Even though it has beenalmost 30 years since I stood in your shoes,I have strong memories of medical school. Some of those memories areconcrete, even visceral-- memories of rooms, andpeople, and smells. But my strongest memoriesare of feelings-- the combination of fear,excitement, and humility when I first walkedinto a room to take a history from a sick patient,the growing anticipation that I am sure youall are feeling now of when I would be the doctor,not a student doctor anymore. But my deepest feelings wasa growing sense of awe-- awe about what it means tojoin a profession that is dedicated to serving others-- as you will say inthe oath later today, to dedicate our lives tothe service of humanity. Medical school wasalso when I began to understand thatthis profession, united in its goal of serving humanity,often approached that goal from two parallel worlds. Of course, I now know thatthis medical dualism has been recognized for centuriesand the descriptions, of course, have variedacross time and setting. Sometimes, it's called theart and science of medicine. Sometimes, the worldsof mind and body. Sometimes, the power of dataand the power of stories. Increasingly, the biological andsocial determinants of health. In the end, allof these words are seeking to describea fundamental truth-- the truth that both diseaseand circumstance matter, or to paraphraseWilliam Osler, we must both know whatsort of patient has a disease and what sortof a disease a patient has. We know here today, as youstand graduating and becoming a doctor, that thehealth of our patients is driven both by thebehavior of molecules and by the behaviorof humans, driven both by biology and by society. Nothing, of course, couldhave brought that truth home more clearly than theexperience of the last months. While the SARS-CoV-2infection would not exist without theCOVID-19 virus, there is no doubtthat the impact of that virus on ourpatients and our communities has been driven by socialforces, particularly the long-standingstructural inequities across racial andethnic groups in the US. In Boston, ourhardest-hit community Chelsea became a hotspot notbecause of a change in virus biology, but because it isimpossible to self-quarantine when you have nofood and eight people live in a one-room apartment. One of the greatestaccomplishments of the last 70 years has been our ability-- the medicalprofession's ability-- to change fundamentalhuman biology. We now target proteinsto change their function, turn on and offthe immune system, reprogram cells tocreate miniature organs, remove parts of the bodythat are causing disease, and replace them sometimeswith man-made new parts. We have harnessedscientific advances to prevent illness, curedisease, and relieve suffering far beyondanything that I could have imagined whenI stood in your shoes almost 30 years ago. Unfortunately, the same storycannot be told for the other world in which we live. In fact, paradoxically,over the last decades, we have become a profession thatbelieves that we can transform fundamental human biology, butare relatively helpless against social forces, incapable ofchanging the man-made social structures that drive health, aprofession that believes we can edit specific genes and specifictissues to prevent heart disease, but cannot providehigh-quality health care for all, that we can redirectimmune responses to cure metastatic cancer, but cannotensure that our patients can afford their medications, thatwe can grow an organ in a dish, but cannot addressracism in health care, that we can replace heart valvesor even an entire aorta when needed, but cannot not provide mentalhealth care to those in need. Honestly, this hasnever made sense to me. How can we feel so empoweredto take on fundamental biology, but so disempowered when facedwith the human and social processes that weourselves created? At least thosewere the two worlds that we lived in untilthe last several months, until the COVID-19pandemic, until the year of your medicalschool graduation because we have seenover the last months that, in fact, we cantake on these processes. In the matter of weeks, we havetransformed the health care system. We created hospitalsin parking lots and shut down practicesthat we did not need. We turned orthopedicsurgeons, and internists, and primary care nursesinto critical care experts. We brought medicalcare to patients wherever they needed it,using whatever modality that we needed. We train new skillsovernight using Zoom and some well-curated handouts. But perhaps most importantly,we came together. We came togetheracross disciplines, across countries, andacross institutions that have competed for generations. We did it because it wasright, it was needed, and it was what adoctor should do. Although there are many storiesof courage and commitment that will be toldabout the pandemic, none are more inspiring to methan how medical students have risen to this challenge. You and your colleagueshave volunteered to track patients acrosssettings, to staff hotlines and pagers, to develop new toolsto support health care workers, to provide support forvulnerable populations, including food andquarantine supplies. These stories areimportant to me not only because what you havecontributed to the COVID-19 epidemic, but because of what itsays about you, the Graduating Class of 2020. It says that youunderstand that we can do much more than we thought. Yes, we can edit genes. Yes, we can target proteins. Yes, we can turn on andoff the immune system. But you also know thatwe can get patients the care that they need. We can work across a cityto take care of our most vulnerable populations. We can stand uphousing for those who have nowhere else to recover. Yes, we can do what isneeded and what is right. As inspired as I am aboutwhat has been accomplished over the last months, I knowthat this is just a beginning and that the pathahead will not be easy. There have been many, many yearsof believing that such changes were out of our reach. There are deep structuralissues and perverse incentives. The complexity of health care-- comprehensive healthcare for all-- is far greater than even themost complicated response to COVID-19. We have our work cut out for us. Today, you graduate from thenation's first medical school. For well over 250years, the University of PennsylvaniaSchool of Medicine, now called the PerelmanSchool of Medicine, has led this country indefining medical education, defining what itmeans to be a doctor. You should be incredibly proud. It is now your turn totake up this mantle, to build upon what you havelearned over the last years and what you haveseen and accomplished over the last months tolead our country in service to our patients, ourcommunities, and yes, to humanity, using andcreating every tool that is needed because after all,that is what a doctor does. Congratulations and godspeed. Good morning. I'm Horace DeLisser,Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. I would first like tothank Dr. Armstrong for those very inspiringand very timely words. Each year, we recognizeoutstanding teaching here at the PerelmanSchool of Medicine. I am therefore trulyhonored to present the very deserving award-winningfaculty to you now. The Leonard BerwickMemorial Teaching Award for fusing basic science andclinical medicine teaching, Divya Shah, MD, MME. The Blockley-Osler Award,Nadia Bennett, MD, MSEd. The Dean's Award forExcellence in Basic Science Training, Rodney Camire, PhD. The Dean's Award forExcellence in Clinical Teaching at an Affiliated Hospital, C sarBrice o, MD, Michael Hogarty, MD, Kristin Leight, MD,and Victoria Werth, MD. The Dean's Award forExcellence in Clinical Teaching by Housestaff, Albert Yu, MD. The Dean's Award forExcellence in Medical Student Teaching by an Allied HealthProfessional, Jacqueline Hudak, PhD. The Dripps Award for Excellencein Graduate Medical Education, Margaret Baylson, MD, MPH. The Christian R. and Mary F.Lindback Distinguished Teaching Awards, Judy Shea, PhD,and Autumn Fiester, PhD. The Scott Mackler Award forExcellence in Substance Abuse Teaching, David Weiss, MD. The Medical Student GovernmentTeaching Awards, Nadia Bennett, MD for clinical teachingand Robert Doms, MD for basic science teaching. And finally, the Leonard TowHumanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. GoldFoundation, Nahla Khalek, MD. Congratulations to theseoutstanding faculty members. Thank you, Dr. DeLisser. My name is DennisDlugos, and I am the Associate Dean forUME Science and Discovery Curriculum. It is my honor to introducethe 50th-year speaker. The Medical Class of1970 Reunion Committee unanimously agreed to inviteclassmate Dr. Elliott A. Yolles to offer greetings here today. Dr. Yolles is aretired ophthalmologist who practiced in Indianapolis,Indiana for 43 years. Dr. Yolles graduated from thePerelman School of Medicine in 1970, completedhis internship at the Indiana UniversitySchool of Medicine in 1971, and returned to Philadelphiato complete his residency in ophthalmologyat Penn in 1974. Dr. Yolles' work focuseson diabetic eye disease. Dr. Yolles hasserved as a dedicated member of his medicalclass through his role as class agent formore than 10 years and has volunteered with theHOST Program for many years as well. Thank you for being withus today, Dr. Yolles. Dr. Jameson,distinguished faculty, fellow classmates of 1970,medical school Class of 2020, families and friends. To the Class of 2020,congratulations and welcome to membership in the mostnoble and revered profession in the world, especiallynow with COVID-19. There is no better callingthan helping someone deal with their illness andits surrounding fear, treating them andgiving them hope. As representative of themedical Class of 1970, I will venture to saythat we are really no different thanyou, although we had less sophisticated andcruder tools at our disposal. To name a few, the microscope. Do you all evenknow what this is? Each of us in the class of1970 had to buy one of these. And if I rememberright, they were very expensive at around$450 or about $3,000 in today's dollars. I still have mine. We used these to viewour mounted histology and hematologyslides, et cetera. You undoubtedly have allof this on your computers. A Kodak Carousel--lectures were done with these with the useof 35 millimeter slides with this device. Often, the slides wouldjam during a talk. You have your PowerPoint. 33 and 1/3 records-- we listened to these tolearn our heart murmurs. How do you do this now? The PDR-- the numberof hours we used this thick, yearly-updatedbook to look up side effects and match patients' pills to thecolored pictures were endless. Now, you just Googleor ask Siri or Alexa. You graduate well-prepared by awonderful, outstanding faculty. Our class also wasfortunate to be taught by illuminates, such as Peter Nowell-- pathology,the Philadelphia Chromosome, Stanley Dudrick--hyperalimentation, Celso-Ram n Garc a, oneof my faculty advisors-- co-investigator of the pill, Harold Scheie, ophthalmology,who was my Chief, just to name a few. I'm sure I left out othersthat my classmates would love to add. I have no doubt thatyou will experience revolutionary and amazingadvances in medicine and techniques as did I. Someof you in the Class of 2020 will be inventorsof these changes. Others will be goodat applying them. Others will do both. To give one examplefrom my own specialty, ophthalmology, when I justfinished residency in 1974, cataract surgery wasa two-hour operation. Patients were hospitalized overhere at the Scheie Institute for 10 days, and afterthree months of healing, were finally given Coke-bottleglasses or hard contact lenses, which they haddifficulty handling, just to be able to see. Now, cataract surgerytakes less than 20 minutes and is done as an outpatientwith a two-hour stay. Thanks to thismiraculous implant, the patients see quitewell almost immediately. You will have up days anddown days in medicine. One day, you'll savea patient's life by diagnosing a brain tumorfrom simple clinical findings in the office. You will go home that nightfeeling like a million bucks. The next day in theoffice, you will find that one of yourglaucoma patients unfortunately has lostmore vision because the eye pressure was not low enough. You will diagnose a melanomaearly and save a life. One day, you'll be successfulat a difficult delivery, but the next day, ababy will be stillborn. But because of your wonderfultraining and dedication, I can guarantee you thatyou'll have many, many more highs than lows, and you willfind that a grateful patient is the best high of all. Also, don't forget thateach patient is unique. Despite all the educationyou've had here at Penn and will obtain elsewhere anddespite all your extra reading and research, thepatient's body and mind will do unexplainable things. Emboli will still be throwndespite proper anticoagulation or you'll be facedwith a situation that will let you not anticoagulatebecause the patient has another condition. Then what do you do? Or you will do everythingright, and still, the patient will go downhill. Or you will inadvertentlymake a mistake and the patient willmiraculously recover. You will haveongoing challenges, but don't ever losethe idealism and quest for learning thatyou have today. I can predict that 50 yearsfrom now, your representative from the Class of2020 will be giving a similar speech to theGraduating Class of 2070. They will also say that wewent through the dark ages of medicine, but we helped alot of people along the way. I hope you enjoy the roadahead as much as I did. Go forth into yourwonderful profession. Thank you so much, Dr. Yolles. Benjamin Franklin, the foundingfather of the University of Pennsylvania, is knownfor many famous quotes. He has said, "withoutcontinual growth and progress, such words as improvement,achievement, and success have no meaning." Today, we take note ofthis moment in time, even as you plan forcontinued growth and progress, to recognize and celebrateyour achievement and success. This is the moment youhave been waiting for. We can affirm that eachof you, graduates of 2020, have completed all of thenecessary requirements to receive your Doctorof Medicine degree from the Raymond and RuthPerelman School of Medicine at the Universityof Pennsylvania. So it is now our greatpleasure to call each of you by name to recognize youroutstanding accomplishments. Dr. Jon Morris, AssociateDean for Student Affairs, will recognize each graduate. As your name is called,we will pause for a moment to celebrate you,view your picture, and your plans for the futurewith our very best wishes of congratulations. And now, we celebratethe achievements of each member ofthe Class of 2020. You will notice in the programthat many of these students have already been honored withnumerous additional accolades. We have students who are inour combined MD-PhD program, have already receivedtheir PhD degree, and other studentswho are graduating with additionalcertifications or degrees. We would also like toacknowledge those students who have been elected to theAlpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and the Arnold P.Gold Humanism Honor Society. I now present to youthe Class of 2020. Dr. Andrew Mark Acker. Dr. Acker would have been hoodedby his father, Dr. Michael Acker, Professor ofSurgery and Chief of the Division ofCardiovascular Surgery. Dr. Alexandra Adegoke. Dr. Adegoke is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhDin bioengineering. Dr. Prateek Agarwal. Dr. Anjali Agarwalla. Dr. Teja Alapati. Dr. Liz Albert. Dr. Priyanka Anand. Dr. Bryan James Auvil. Dr. Steven Baldassano. Dr. Baldassano is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhDin bioengineering. He would have been hooded by hisfather, Dr. Robert Baldassano, Professor of Pediatrics in theDivision of Gastroenterology at the Children'sHospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Vivek Behera. Dr. Behera is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Nadir Sinan Bilici. Dr. Hannah Bogen. Dr. Kelly Boylan. Dr. Remy Bremner. Dr. Ming Cai. Dr. Richard Campbell. Dr. Julia Carney. Dr. Angeliz Caro Monroig. Dr. Alejandro Cazzulino. Dr. Cazzulino would have beenhooded by his mother, Dr. Maria Oquendo, Professor and Chair ofthe Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Beda Cha. Dr. Madeline Crystal Chandra. Dr. Gina Chang. Dr. Megan Chenworth. Dr. Daniel Child. Dr. Child is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Amanda Li-Ming Chin. Dr. Steve Sungwon Cho. Dr. Caroline W. Chung. Dr. Chung would have been hoodedby her father, Dr. Chun-Hsi Chung, Director of thePostdoctoral Orthodontic Program at the Schoolof Dental Medicine. Dr. Zachariah Cole. Dr. Victor Richard Cotton. Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Cullen. Dr. Nicole Romano Curnes. Dr. Sonya Davey. Dr. Lauren Davis Rivera. Dr. Yang Ding. Dr. Alexandra Doms. Dr. Doms would have been hoodedby her father, Dr. Robert Doms, Professor andPathologist-in-Chief at the Children'sHospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Alexandra Dreyfuss. Dr. Claire Drolen. Dr. Elizabeth Duckworth. Dr. Hanna Elmongy. Dr. Elshaddai Ephrem. Dr. Christine Farrell. Dr. Christopher Gajewski. Dr. Ivana Ganihong. Dr. Nicholas Jay Goel. Dr. Drew William Goldberg. Dr. Goldberg wouldhave been hooded by his father, Dr. RichardShlansky-Goldberg, Professor of Radiology. Dr. Meghana Golla. Dr. Sofia Gomez. Dr. Jan Gong. Dr. Austin Lewis Good. Dr. Good is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Kendall Lyn Goodyear. Dr. Justin Edward Grenet. Dr. Jeremy Grevet. Dr. Grevet is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Emily Jeanne Gup. Dr. Naomi Gutkind. Dr. Jessica Guzman. Dr. Mitchell James Hallman. Dr. Nicholas Henry Hampilos. Dr. Kirlos Nader Haroun. Dr. Elaine Hong Hatch. Dr. Jorge Andres Hernandez. Dr. Mary Ann Hernando. Dr. Sutton Elizabeth Higgins. Dr. Krystal Hill. Dr. Shawn Hines. Dr. Zachary Michael Hostetler. Dr. Hostetler is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Andrew Huang. Dr. Catherine ElizabethTraina Hutchison. Dr. Jasmine Hwang. Dr. Arvin Jadoo. Dr. Olivia Simone Jew. Dr. Couger Jaramillo. Dr. Lauren Lee Johnson. Dr. Yong Hoon Kim. Dr. Kim is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Lohith Ganesh Kini. Dr. Kini is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhDin bioengineering. Dr. Rebecca Kotcher. Dr. Kevin Kulshrestha. Dr. John Lankalis. Dr. Scott Michael LaValva. Dr. Harrison Ty-Sen Lee. Dr. Jae Won Lee. Dr. Lee is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in immunology. Dr. Julian Lijbman. Dr. John Li. Dr. Mischa Li. Dr. Li is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Allyson Lieberman. Dr. Lieberman is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Jessica Fang Liu. Dr. Liu is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhDin bioengineering. Dr. Jason Liu. Dr. Liu is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Nancy Liu. Dr. Carissa Elaine Livingston. Dr. Meghan Lockwood. Dr. Dorothy Elizabeth Loy. Dr. Loy is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhD in celland molecular biology. Dr. Esteban Luna. Dr. Luna is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in neuroscience. Dr. Ethan Andrew Mack. Dr. Mack is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in immunology. Dr. Katherine Magoon. Dr. George Maliha. Dr. Loren Mead. Dr. Blake Mergler. Dr. Aryeh Metzger. Dr. Blake Collins Meza. Dr. Gabrielle Mezochow. Dr. Mezochow wouldhave been hooded by her mother, Dr. EmilyBlumberg, Professor of Medicine in Radiation Oncology. Dr. Katharine Freeman Michel. Dr. Alexandra Smith Miller. Dr. Nicholas Lawrence Moore. Dr. Jennifer Morganroth. Dr. Morganroth wouldhave been hooded by her mother, Dr. GailMorrison, Professor of Medicine. Dr. Heardley Moses Murdock. Dr. Sneha Narasimhan. Dr. Narasimhan is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhD in neuroscience. Dr. Natalie Neale. Dr. Ilana Nelson-Greenberg. Dr. Bianca Nfonoyim. Dr. Joy Ebunoluwa Obayemi. Dr. Oladayo Osuntokun. Dr. Mariah Owusu-Agyei. Dr. Ethan Pani. Dr. Alomi Parikh. Dr. James Clayton Parker. Dr. Jonathan Peterson. Dr. William Piwnica-Worms. Dr. Mark Pyfer. Dr. Bo Qin. Dr. Abhinay Ramachandran. Dr. Lauren Reed-Guy. Dr. Danielle Corriveau Reny. Dr. Leah Rethy. Dr. Emily Rider-Longmaid. Dr. David Roberts. Dr. Maxwell Rogoski. Dr. Rogoski is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in historyand sociology of science. Dr. Jaclyn Rosenthal. Dr. Andrew Ruff. Dr. Anik Saha. Dr. Mohima Sanyal. Dr. Daniel Saris. Dr. Saris would have beenhooded by his mother, Dr. Ann Honebrink, Associate Professorof Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Steven Scarfone. Dr. Hannah Lauren Schultz. Dr. Mika Schwartz. Dr. Natty Sergay. Dr. Juan Serna. Dr. Preya Shah. Dr. Shah is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning her PhDin bioengineering. Dr. Daniel Sierra-Vazquez. Dr. Kara Silberthau. Dr. Silberthau would have beenhooded by her mother, Dr. Susan Mandel, Professor ofMedicine and Chief of the Division ofEndocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. Dr. Meliha Skaljic. Dr. Jillian Louise Smith. Dr. Scott David Symonds. Dr. Adedolapo DollyOmohafe Taiw . Dr. Alan Tang. Dr. Tang is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in pharmacology. Dr. Rebecca Tang. Dr. Sheng Tang. Dr. Tang is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhD in neuroscience. Dr. Elizabeth S. Tepler. Dr. Estifanos Tilahun. Dr. Solymar Torres Maldonado. Dr. Erin Elizabeth Tully. Dr. Ezinnem Ugoji. Dr. Leo Wang. Dr. Wang is a graduateof the MD-PhD program, earning his PhDin bioengineering. Dr. Yixin Ally Wang. Dr. Eric Ward. Dr. Jenny Wei. Dr. DJ Wendler. Dr. Philip Williams. Dr. Christine Willinger. Dr. Vivien Wong. Dr. Ryan Zahalka. Dr. Leah Zuroff. In your graduationprogram, please note these individuals who havereceived prizes and awards. I would like to highlightjust three of these awards. The Leonard Tow Humanismin Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P.Gold Foundation is awarded to ourgraduate who displays the highest standards ofhumanism and professionalism. This year's recipient is Dr. Alexandra Smith Miller. The Nathan andPauline Pincus Prize is awarded each year foroutstanding achievement as a clinician. Please join me in acknowledgingthis year's recipients, Dr. Alexandra Domsand Dr. John Li. As your program notes, theDr. Spencer Morris Prize is awarded each yearto the medical student in the graduatingclass who scores the highest on anoral examination given to selected studentsbased on academic and clinical achievement. It is, without question,the highest academic honor a graduate from the PerelmanSchool of Medicine can receive. I'm delighted thisyear to present the Dr. Spencer Morris Prize to Dr. Prateek Agarwal. On behalf of the Officeof Student Affairs, I would like totake the opportunity to personally congratulate eachmember of the Class of 2020. This is a remarkableachievement. It's been a privilege andpleasure to work with you, and we wish youcontinued success and all of life's greatest blessings. Congratulations ona job well done. Now, please welcomeDr. Jennifer Kogan, Associate Dean for StudentSuccess and Professionalism, who will introduce thisyear's student speaker. Thank you, Dr. Morris,and congratulations to the Class of2020 on achieving this tremendous milestone. We are so proud of eachand every one of you. It has been an honorto get to know you and to work with many ofyou over the past few years. It is customary each year for amember of the graduating class to address the audience onthis momentous occasion. It is my great pleasureto introduce Dr. Ilana Nelson-Greenberg, a member ofthe Class of 2020 and someone I've been fortunate to get toknow over the past year, who was selected for this honor. Be well. Thank you, Dr. Kogan, for thevery gracious introduction. Class of 2020, we made it! I'm really excited and gratefulto be speaking to you today. And first and foremost, I wantto thank all of Suite 100. For our families andfriends, Suite 100 is code for theadministrative superheroes because they havemoved the world for us. Throughout all of medicalschool and especially over these past few extremelystrange and uncertain months, you have been our rocks. In particular, I thinkwe're the luckiest class in the world becausewe're graduating with Helene Weinberg, whois retiring this spring. She's accompaniedus, steadied us, and led us throughthe myriad of mazes that medical school requires. It's not an exaggeration to saythat we and many, many doctors before us wouldn't havemade it without you or at least we wouldhave hit a lot more dead ends along the way. Thank you, Helene. Critically, I wantto say thank you to the parents, the extendedfamilies and friends, and to the found families whohave supported and sacrificed for us not just during medicalschool, but on the roads to and from wherever wehave been and we will go. Thank you to everyonewho's packed our brains with knowledge over the years-- to the pre-clinical scientists,attendings, residents, pharmacists. I promise this will onlytake an hour and a half, so bear with me here. To the AV techwizards, to everyone in the Department of Diversityand Inclusion, to the nurses. Okay, my point here isthat we're not alone as we stand hereor sit here today. We're here because ofevery person in the school and in our own lives who havesupported us and gotten us to this point. So to all of you-- thankyou, thank you, thank you. On a personal note,I also want to thank all of you, my classmates,who have so graciously adopted me and so many othersinto the Class of 2020. I want to congratulateus all on actually having made the decisionand on arriving at the moment of graduation. Though in reality, the exactmoment for me is mid-April and I am recordingthis in a JMEC studio. So I'm going tostate the obvious. These are trulyextraordinary times. We're all trying to makesense of what's going on and how we fit into them. It's hard not to feelhelpless, and I've certainly been feeling that way. What's been giving me comfortis remembering that no big thing happens through one big action. Small acts amountto major things, particularly so inthe face of enormity. Two examples of this standout to me, one for medicine and one a little more personal. To start with the morepersonal, anyone who knows me knows that I am anextraordinarily big fan of the Apollo 13 lunar attempt. And as I speak, it's almost50 years ago to the day that the missionto walk on the moon was aborted by anexplosion that threatened the lives of theastronauts on board. Those three astronauts--Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert-- returned home safely becauseliterally hundreds and hundreds of people tookthousands and thousands of small steps withjust slide rulers as their tools tobring three men home. In an examplecloser to medicine, we get to rememberthat we're part of a long, longlegacy of people who have done small daily actsin the face of enormity. A generation ago,our predecessors entered internships in the 1980sduring the early AIDS epidemic. It was a time whenthey called it GRID-- Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. They didn't know whatit was and they didn't know how it was transmitted. And they watched peopletheir age die really awful and lonely deaths. The people dying weredisproportionately gay men and IV drug users-- extremely stigmatized andvulnerable populations. Working with clinicalproviders, community organizers like ACT UP did thedaily acts to catalyze policy and treatment changesthat transformed AIDS into the treatable chronicdisease it is today. We already see theextraordinary disparities in this modern-dayCOVID-19 pandemic. The people mostaffected by it are still the most vulnerableand racism, poverty, and other structural forcesexacerbate its devastation much further than thebiological factor would alone. In the midst of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the accompanyinghelplessness that we all feel has been amplified. But in some ways, we,graduating today, are lucky. We have a role. We have our day-to-day. Small acts aretransformative when we ground them in large values,but what then are those values? Thinking back over mytime in medical school, I realized mypatients had already started teaching me theanswer to that question. Taking my cue from a resident,partway through my rotations, I started asking all of mypatients the same question. If you could giveadvice to a young doctor starting out in her training,what would you tell her? I got so many more answers thanI'd expect that I swear to God had to do with givingpatients hoagies. But universally, the theme thatpermeated most of the responses centered around kindness. The people in their livesthat made the most difference didn't always know theanswers, nor did they spend inordinatetime with patients. Rather, they wereunfailingly kind. What a powerful wayto create meaning. I know we know this. We know about kindness. We've had it drilledinto us forever, but that doesn'tmake it a mushy, or an unimportant, or perhapsmost critically, an easy way to live. It's a theme that GeorgeSaunders, the American author, famously discusses in yetanother graduation speech. Saunders says, "I'vespent much of my life in a cloud of thingsthat have tended to push 'being kind' to the periphery. Things like: Anxiety. Fear. Insecurity. Ambition. The mistaken belief that enoughaccomplishment will rid me of all of that... Kindness, sure-- but firstlet me finish this semester, this degree... let me succeed at this job.... And it's a cyclethat can go on... well, forever." And Saunders warns us-- because we, as eternaltrainees, are extremely vulnerable to the cycle. We're chock-full of anxiety,fear, insecurity, and ambition. And in this context, kindnesstakes immense energy. As trainees, one thing we don'toften have is immense energy. Because real kindnessrequires vulnerability, to be able to stay strongwhen others question us, and much more commonly,when we question ourselves. It requires that when Saunders'cycle inevitably comes calling, we don't give in to meanness, orlean on credentials and titles, or shut others down inorder to look more powerful. In a divided, frantic, andobjectively scary world, we have to get active and rootourselves in day-to-day acts of kindness to everyone-- to our patients and colleagues,to our new co-residents and old medical schoolclassmates, and to those people we don't know at all. I think we have to pay specialattention to those closest to us, who we maysometimes overlook, correctly believing that they'llbe forgiving of our neglect. But in order to do this, weneed to learn first and foremost to be kind to ourselves. And that requires real work. It requires us to becomfortable with who we are because the moreconfidence we have, the less likely we are to proveour worth by bullying others. So for myself and for allof us graduating today, I hope we use our energytowards this goal. Oftentimes, that maybe as simple as leading with curiosity. Curiosity means we're notwriting other people's stories for them. And so with betterunderstanding, we may open up ratherthan wall ourselves off. I hope, in turn, thiscuriosity fuels generosity, both towards thosewe think are more vulnerable than us, andalso towards the people who remind us of ourselvesand sometimes feel like they threaten us even more. I hope we remember how smart andconfident we are at our cores, even if it doesn't alwaysfeel that way outwardly, and that we don't lash outagainst others when confidence fails. I hope we've beenkind in knowing that there aretimes when we have and when we will fail, whenwe'll be too tired to ask for clarification and we'll missthe nuance of what someone is telling us, when we'llsnap at colleagues hoping to trick people around us intothinking a mistake was not our own. And yet, I hope weknow that doing so does not actuallymake us look stronger and that we staybrave in deciding to embrace all of who we are,as opposed to rejecting others as a shield. I'm going to end with aquote from one of my favorite authors, AnneMichaels, who says, "It's a mistake to think it'sthe small things we control and not the large... We can't stop thesmall accident, the tiny detail thatconspires into fate... But we can assertthe largest order, the large human values daily,the only order large enough to see." I love this quote becauseas Michaels reminds us, it is large choices that we makeas we live our day-to-day that will determine who we areand what kinds of doctors we will be. Deciding to cometo medical school, understanding thatwe have willingly entered the painof others, erring in the direction ofkindness; choosing to be decent and empathicwill keep us grounded and control what really isin our hands to control. I feel extraordinarily lucky tohave you all as my colleagues as we leave thisunbelievable institution and start our medical careers. Thank you all, and here'sagain to our Class of 2020. Thank you, Dr. Nelson-Greenberg,for your inspirational words. I am very pleased to announceDr. Nadia Bennett, Associate Dean for Undergraduate MedicalEducation, Clinical and Health System Sciences Curriculum, asthe recipient of the Medical Student GovernmentClinical Teaching Award. Dr. Bennett has beenhonored with this award from our graduating students. Dr. Bennett will nowlead the Class of 2020 in the recitation ofthe physician's pledge, the Declaration ofGeneva, a modern version of the Hippocratic Oath. At this time, Ihave the privilege of leading theDeclaration of Geneva. I ask the Class of 2020 toplease rise wherever you are. According to ourtradition, I also invite all physicianspresent at this ceremony to rise to renew theircommitments with these newest members of our profession. Wherever you may be,please speak loudly and join me in arecitation of the oath. Let us now readthis oath together. As a member of themedical profession, I solemnly pledgeto dedicate my life to the service of humanity. The health andwell-being of my patient will be my first consideration. I will respect the autonomyand dignity of my patient. I will maintain the utmostrespect for human life. I will not permit considerationsof age, disease or disability, creed, ethnic origin,gender, nationality, political affiliation,race, sexual orientation, social standing,or any other factor to intervene betweenmy duty and my patient. I will respect the secretsthat are confided in me, even after the patient has died. I will practise my professionwith conscience and dignity and in accordance withgood medical practice. I will foster the honour andnoble traditions of the medical profession. I will give to my teachers,colleagues, and students the respect and gratitudethat is their due. I will share mymedical knowledge for the benefit of thepatient and the advancement of healthcare. I will attend to my own health,well-being, and abilities in order to provide careof the highest standard. I will not use mymedical knowledge to violate human rightsand civil liberties, even under threat. I make these promises solemnly,freely, and upon my honour. Thank you. To the Graduating Classof 2020, as our ceremony comes to a close, I wouldlike to take this opportunity on behalf of all thefaculty who have been your teachers, mentors,and friends to express what a privilege it has beento have accompanied you on this journey. We are excited for youand we share in your joy. We are so proud ofyour achievements and accomplishments andwish you continued success in whatever careerpath you choose as you begin your next stepin your professional careers. To all of your parents,relatives, significant others, and friends, we extend oursincerest congratulations on this very specialday for all of you. We acknowledge that these areunprecedented and precarious times, but please knowthat we feel reassured to know that you arethe future of medicine and the scholars, clinicians,and healers that will lead us forward to better times. A thank you to the WatsonHighlanders Bagpipe Ensemble for providing the musicand to Dr. Katrina Armstrong, our inspirational graduationspeaker, Dr. Elliott Yolles, our alumni speaker, and to Dr.Nelson-Greenberg, our student speaker. Our sincere gratitude isextended to the individuals in our Office of AcademicPrograms, who coordinated today's events, especiallyCarrie Renner and Jessica Marcus in the Officeof Student Affairs, our registrar, Helene Weinberg-- Helene, we all wish you wellin your next endeavors-- and our Chief OperatingOfficer, Anna Delaney, and all of the staffin Academic Programs. As we conclude today'sgraduation ceremony, I personally hope that eachof you in the Class of 2020 find supreme satisfaction andjoy in your medical careers, and that you will always regardthe Perelman School of Medicine as your launching padand home, and that you stay connected with yourfriends, classmates, teachers, and mentors. Congratulations to all of you. This concludes ourcommencement exercises celebrating the Class of 2020. [bagpipe music]
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