UC College of Medicine holds its first virtual Honors Day ceremony

Draped in cap and gown, Vicky Yu stood on the steps of a UC building with a smile that showed her excitement about finishing medical school as it belied her disappointment that the big day comes in the midst of a pandemic.

She and a group of friends wanted a keepsake and posing for graduation photos at the University of Cincinnati’s CARE/Crawley Building was the best memento they could take with them. Yu is one of 159 graduating medical students who would normally receive their degrees during Honors Day, which was scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 23. 

Instead, a virtual ceremony will go live in its place as the university has canceled all large in-person gatherings on the UC campus to help halt the spread of COVID-19. It will be marked with opening and congratulatory remarks from Andrew Filak, MD, dean of the College of Medicine, and UC President Neville Pinto, PhD. 

“It’s definitely weird,” explains Yu. “I don't think any of us spent the last four years thinking that medical school would end this way or we would graduate this way.”

“I am going into emergency medicine, and it’s kind of scary hearing stories about health care providers in heavily affected cities dying because they are on the front lines and realizing I am going to be in that position very soon,” says Yu. “It definitely makes me nervous but I know what I signed up for. I am ready for it when it comes.”

A keynote address during the virtual ceremony will be delivered by Laura Wexler, MD, professor in the UC Department of Internal Medicine and cardiologist at Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Melissa Klein, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at UC and pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's, along with fourth-year medical student Caroline Hensley will be recognized during the virtual ceremony as recipients of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. 

A group of students have been selected to pre-record the reading of the Oath of Professionalism and the Hippocratic oath which will be played during the ceremony. All graduates were given the chance to submit photos for the ceremony and their names will be read by Aurora Bennett, MD, associate dean for student affairs in the College of Medicine.

Yu, who is visiting her family in Los Angeles, will watch online. Medical residencies typically start in July at hospitals around the nation, but Yu will avoid one of the hot spots for COVID-19 and start with Unity Health in Searcy, Arkansas, in emergency medicine. 

“The advantage of being in a smaller rural program for emergency medicine is that you usually get to do a lot more,” says Yu. “There is more improvisation and being forced to be creative because you may have fewer resources, or may not have every subspecialty available for a consult like you typically would at a huge academic center. You are forced to learn how to do things yourself which is why I applied to some programs like this.”

“I used to compete with a team based in San Diego and when I came to medical school I had to leave all that behind,” says Yu. “I missed dancing so during my first year at UC I thought I’d put together a performance for the med school talent show. I rounded up nine of my classmates and choreographed a whole set.”

“My classmates were like, ‘We don’t know how to dance but if you make a routine we will learn what to do,’” says Yu. “The experience definitely tested my abilities as a leader and a teacher but they all did amazing. The set ended up being so ridiculous and so much fun.”

Featured image at top: Vicky Yu shown in her cap and gown in front of the UC College of Medicine. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand.