Gratitude and Joy at the Master’s Commencement
From left: Dennis S. Charney, MD; Commencement speaker Debrework Zewdie, PhD, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree; Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, Director of The Arnhold Institute for Global Health; and Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs.
Graduates in the Biomedical Sciences master’s program, from left: Emmy Sakakibara, Arielle Strasser, and Serife Uzun.
Marta Filizola, PhD, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Professor of Pharmacological Sciences
Chukwuemeka Iloegbu, MPH, received his hood from Nils Hennig, MD, PhD, MPH, Director of the Graduate Program in Public Health.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai held the 2018 Master’s Commencement on Friday, June 22, in a ceremony that celebrated the graduates’ achievements and looked ahead to their fulfilling and varied careers.
“While some of you will continue on to careers in academia, others will consider the pharmaceutical or biotech industries, community-based public health, health care administration, epidemiology, or global health. Some of you may even start your own companies,” said Marta Filizola, PhD, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Professor of Pharmacological Sciences. “Whatever career path you take, we hope you will remain in touch with the Icahn School of Medicine—a home you can always come back to for mentoring, career advice, respect, and appreciation.”
In total, 165 students were conferred master’s degrees, including 93 in Public Health, 25 in Biomedical Sciences, 19 in Health Care Delivery Leadership, 11 in Clinical Research, 10 in Genetic Counseling, 5 in Biostatistics, and 2 in Biomedical Informatics. At the MD/PhD Commencement in May, an additional 7 MD/Master of Public Health degrees and 5 MD/Master of Science in Clinical Research degrees were conferred.
The master’s ceremony often returned to the theme of gratitude. Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System, asked the graduates to thank the “parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, and friends” present, saying, “I know that you helped set the path for each of these students to achieve their greatest potential.”
The graduates were challenged to “tackle the hard issues, the seemingly intractable ones,” by Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, and Director of The Friedman Brain Institute. One such problem is the epidemic of opioid addiction, he said, which costs the nation $80 billion a year and kills 115 Americans a day. “We need you to confront these difficult questions of our time, knowing that there are few simple solutions and that success will require your bold imagination and working across many disciplines to improve our nation’s public health,” Dr. Nestler said.
The commencement speaker, Debrework Zewdie, PhD, former Director of the World Bank Global HIV/AIDS Program, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree for her distinguished career in public health. She spent two decades at the World Bank, where she said she often felt like “a mouse in a lion’s den” as she tried to raise awareness and increase funding for the group’s fight against AIDS. By 2000, the level had reached $1 billion, funding programs that have saved millions of lives, she said.
As she stood at the podium, Dr. Zewdie first acknowledged the outside world: “Let us all take a moment to think about the thousands of children who are separated from their families at the border,” she said.
Dr. Zewdie began and ended her address with a focus on children who are “born in the ‘wrong’ part of the world” with limited access to education and health care. She told story of a 5-year-old girl in Ethiopia who was blinded by the measles for 15 days, recovered, then contracted dysentery a few months later. As one of four children of a single mother, growing up on a struggling farm, the girl faced tough odds. But she grew stronger, drinking fortified milk provided by UNICEF and becoming a voracious reader with encouragement from her older brother.
The little girl is now “standing in front of you,” Dr. Zewdie said, pausing as the audience realized it was her. And in the crowd was a slim man with white hair. It was her brother, Girma Moguss, who had supported her journey from a village school to the University of London and Harvard University. She asked him to stand, and the crowd applauded loudly, a show of gratitude that moved her and many others to tears.
“Dear graduates, if I—the 5-year-old from a very humble background— could not only beat the measles and dysentery but could also do well enough to be recognized today, then for you the sky is the limit,” Dr. Zewdie said. “Go and make the world a better place.”
