College of Medicine Sends Off Class of 2014 at Honors Day

The College of Medicine welcomed family, friends, faculty and alumni to the annual Honors Day celebration Sunday, May 25, to bid farewell to the Class of 2014.

In his remarks to the graduating class, College of Medicine Dean Thomas Boat, MD, pronounced the class "ready to take your place in the world of medicine." 

"I would like to share with your families and friends that it has been an honor and privilege for our faculty to work with each of you," he added, "and to witness your transformation into knowledgeable, empathetic and caring doctors of medicine."

To the students, Boat urged them to consider the new environment of accelerating change, in both the medical knowledge base and in health care delivery.

"Be a contributor to change and to improving health outcomes—for everyone," he said. "Be an agent for health promotion as well as individual patient care. Be a model for health promotion, by taking care of yourselves."

In his opening remarks, UC President Santa Ono, PhD, reminded graduates of the college's long history within the University of Cincinnati and emphasized the need for "grit" in their future careers.

Student Chris Freese served as the class speaker. After joking that his years of medical school had made him nerdy, forgetful and with thousands of dollars in debt, he closed with the true meaning of his medical degree.

"In no other job can you laugh and cry with your patients, or bring new life into the world," he says. "This is why we sacrifice for four years, for that one day that we can help someone when they need it the most." 

The Honors Day address, "Revolutionary Change and Enduring Traditions in Medicine and Healthcare," was presented by alumnus Scott Rauch, MD, president and psychiatrist in chief at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Rauch, a 1987 College of Medicine graduate, received the John Shaw Billings MD, Alumni Leadership Award after his address.

The College also recognized winners of the 2014 Daniel Drake Medal, the college's highest honor, at the ceremony:

• John O’Shea Jr., MD, ’78, director of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
• Richard Steketee, MD, ’76, current science director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, a Seattle-based not-for-profit public health organization.
• Arnold Strauss, MD, who is completing his term as Rachford Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at UC and director of the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation and chief medical officer of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

›› Read more about this year's Drake awardees.

The graduating class recognized several of their professors for teaching excellence at their ceremony: David Fischer, MD, chief of general surgery, received the Golden Apple teaching award for the eighth consecutive year.

Bradley Mathis, MD, associate professor of medicine, and John Quinlan, MD, professor of neurology and rehabilitation medicine, received Silver Apples. This is the third time Mathis has received the Silver Apple, and the seventh award for Quinlan.

›› See the full list of student awards presented at Honors Day.