By Susan Green
On a beautiful Saturday morning, with family and friends gathered to celebrate the Class of 2023 at the Geisel School of Medicine’s MD program Class Day ceremony, guest speaker Chidi Chike Achebe MED ’96, MPH, MBA, described Dartmouth as a “magical place” and expressed gratitude for the medical school faculty whose guidance and support influenced his life. He told Geisel’s new class of physicians that medicine provides one of the best opportunities for servant leaders, whose humility, charity, gratitude, empathy, kindness, and direct engagement build trust and help create a conducive environment for innovation and excellence.
“Many of you graduating today will achieve positions of leadership. In clinical practice, the physician-leader relies on the expertise of members of the clinical team to care for patients and appreciates and validates the contributions of all members of this team,” Achebe said. “At no other time in the history of medicine are servant leaders more needed than today.”
Touching on four problems within healthcare—the
system itself, the need for first-rate primary care physicians, the burnout and
mental illness rate among healthcare providers, and the cost of racism—he urged
the new physicians to maintain a disposition of selfless gratitude to all who
have and will continue to care for, teach, and help them remain resilient
throughout their lives and to heed the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
He also encouraged them to be crusaders of social
justice, fight discrimination, and be beacons of light for equity and fairness;
in parting, he quoted actor Denzel Washington, “Don’t just aspire to make a
living, aspire to make a difference.”
Duane Compton, PhD, dean of the medical school, congratulated the 74 members of the Class of ’23 and welcomed everyone to the Class Day ceremony featuring guest speaker Achebe, founder, and CEO of the Boston-based, African Integrated Development Enterprise that provides integrated, patient-centered, cost-effective, and sustainable healthcare services, and student-speaker Gus Hendrick MED ’23. Geisel Alumni Council President John Houde MED ’92 expressed pride in the graduates’ accomplishments and welcomed the new physicians to their supportive alumni family.
Hendrick’s address, a mix of humor, memories, and
appreciation, said, “Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed faculty, and my fellow
graduates, it is an honor to stand before you today as we celebrate the
culmination of our time in medical school.
“Alright, I am going to be honest here, ChatGPT
generated that sentence, and it does not sound like me at all. So, I’m going
off script.
“In all seriousness, medical school has been a challenging
four years—a new curriculum, a world-wide pandemic, and an increasingly complex
healthcare climate have made the road to helping others and furthering science
more arduous. But despite those obstacles, our class somehow maintained a
strong sense of community and supported one another through it all.
“When I look out across this crowd, the chairs are
filled with doctors who truly care about others, who fight for what’s right,
and do so with effortless grace and humility,” he said.
Hendrick also expressed appreciation for faculty
and administrators who “gave us the knowledge to succeed as physicians and the
skills to adapt to new situations and overcome adversity.
“Let’s go out there and make the world a healthier
and happier place!”
Dean Compton presented Tanya Sorensen MED ’23 with
The William Mellen Chamberlain Memorial Prize and Dean’s Medal—given each year
to a member of the graduating class who, in the opinion of the faculty, has the
best overall record of achievement during their four years of study at Geisel.
Selected by members of their class as someone who
best exemplifies the personal and intangible qualities of the good
physician—caring and empathy—Arvind Suresh MED ’23 received The Good Physician
Award.
In his closing remarks, Compton took a nostalgic
turn recalling his first meeting with the Class of 2023 before turning to their
numerous accomplishments. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “In a gentle way
you can shape the world,” Compton told the graduates that despite the
challenges of the pandemic during their early years, he was impressed by their
commitment to the medical school’s community, and their gentle way of shaping
the world through their innate altruism, intention, and resolve to make the
medical school stronger and to improve the lives of those in the Upper Valley
community.
“I have been lucky to witness the impact you have
made, and I am astonished by your intention,” he said.
During the previous evening’s annual Student and
Faculty Awards ceremony, Alison V. Holmes, MD, MPH, associate dean for student
affairs, recognized students, faculty, and residents for their achievements.
Michaela O’Connor MED ’23 received the John and
Sophia Zaslow Prize, which is awarded to the graduating student that best
exemplifies the qualities of spirit, mind, and heart shown by Dr. Zaslow, a
“compassionate healer, an astute diagnostician, and a practical therapist of
body and soul.”
Among the other awards conferred: Katherine Hefcart
MED ’23 received The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by The
Arnold P. Gold Foundation to a graduating medical student who consistently
demonstrates compassion and empathy in the delivery of healthcare; Vijay
Thadani, MD, PhD, was the faculty recipient. Arvind Suresh MED ’23 received the
Dean’s Leadership Award. Gus Hendrick MED ’23 and Eric Jayne MED ’23 received
the Kyle Janeczek Memorial Award. Arvind Suresh received the Rolf C. Syvertsen
Fellow Award, and Aya Bashi MED ’23, Kennedy Jensen MED ’23, Colin McLeish MED
’23, Linda Morris MED ’23, and Isabelle Tersio MED ’23 were named Rolf C.
Syvertsen Scholars.
If you missed the Class Day 2023 ceremony, watch
the video here:
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