The Class of 2016 celebrates. Image: Steve Lipofsky
Under sunny skies in Cambridge and amid gentle breezes beneath a large tent on the Quad in Boston, members of the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine Class of 2016 paused and took a breath.
Today was their day to celebrate their achievements and express gratitude to those who helped them on their way to the bright futures that await them.
On the Quad before Class Day events began, Hisham Yousif savored the warmth of family members gathered around him, some of whom had traveled from California and the Southwest to Boston for the first time to celebrate his graduation from HMS.
He thanked them and those who taught him over his five years in Boston.
“For me, it’s a culmination of lessons learned from our patients and mentors, in empathy and humility, and in the transience of life,” said Yousif, who spent a year studying health systems in the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University.
Graduate Deborah Orosz watched her 10-month-old son exploring the grass near her family’s table under the tent as she explained her dedication to family medicine.
“I’m passionate about primary care and health policy and how we can reshape our nation’s policy,” she said. “I’m passionate about how we serve our most vulnerable people and also how to think of patients at the center of what we do.”
Orosz said she came to HMS to pursue her MD after 10 years of working on civil rights initiatives. She called her 10-month-old and her 4-year-old sons her primary accomplishments: Both were born during her years as a student at HMS. She will pursue a residency in family medicine next year.
Harvard Yard
Earlier in the day, in Cambridge, more than 7,700 degree candidates from 13 schools and Harvard College waited for morning exercises to begin in the outdoor Tercentenary Theatre, adjacent to Harvard Yard.
Bagpipers led the way down Quincy Street for students about to receive their graduate degrees in medicine, law, public health, education, design and other disciplines. The black-robed candidates formed a line that wrapped around the corner on Massachusetts Avenue.
Nancy Oriol, HMS dean for students, and Fidencio Saldaña, HMS faculty assistant dean for student affairs in the Office of Recruitment and Multicultural Affairs, handed out red stethoscopes to more than 200 medical students queued up on Quincy Street.
Waiting for the signal to enter the gate, Arabella Simpkin and her classmates in the Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education program weren’t sure why they were at the head of the HMS line, but they knew why they were walking together.
“We are the inaugural class of six and we formed strong bonds,” said Simpkin, who will be working at Massachusetts General Hospital after graduation.
She came to HMS and the program with a mission.
“I’ve been a pediatrician for 10 years in the UK, and I felt the world needed to be more rigorous in training the next generation of physicians,” Simpkin said.
Farther down Quincy Street, Vinayak Muralidhar said he was excited to receive his MD after five years of training.
“I took an extra year off for research on prostate cancer, so this is not my official class, but it still feels like my class,” he said.
Many classmates took similar routes to their medical degrees, Muralidhar said.
“Especially in the third year, you work really closely in the trenches, in the hospital,” he said. “You do form bonds.”
Matthew Leon honored his late grandmother and godmother by writing their names on the top of his mortarboard. He studied immunology in the Master of Medical Sciences program and hopes to continue his education in medical school as an MD-PhD candidate.
“This is for them,” he said, pointing to the words “Nanny” and “Mina.”
Back on the Quad after lunch, the students assembled on the steps of Gordon Hall for a class photo. They then listened to speeches from faculty and fellow students before receiving their diplomas and pledging to uphold the principles of their vocation, inspired by the Hippocratic Oath and the traditions of their respective schools.
This year HMS conferred 226 degrees: 10 master of bioethics, 53 master of medical sciences and 163 doctor of medicine degrees. In the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 61 students earned degrees: 13 master of medical sciences, 12 doctor of medical sciences and 36 doctor of dental medicine degrees.
