Class of 2025 donned with academic hoods at annual ceremony

The Class of 2025 receives their academic hoods. 

By Lindsay Hughes

Hippocrates once said, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love for humanity.” 

The theme of humanity – and remembering why they chose medicine as a vocation – was a common thread at the Whiddon College of Medicine Class of 2025’s Academic Hooding Ceremony. The event was held Thursday, May 8, at the USA Mitchell Center.    

T.J. Hundley Jr., M.D.

Sixty-eight graduating medical students were hooded by special people in their lives before taking the Hippocratic Oath. Two graduating students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program were awarded doctoral hoods by their major professors.  

The Class of 2025 selected T.J. Hundley Jr., M.D., as the faculty member to address the class. Hundley, an alumnus of the Whiddon College of Medicine, is associate dean for medical education and an associate professor of internal medicine. 

“On July 26, 2021, you began medical school with one goal … the desire to help others and make a difference,” Hundley said. He reminded the class that amid the everyday stress of being physicians not to forget why they started down this path.  

“Paperwork, tasks in the electronic record, changing rules and regulations, stressful environments, long hours, are just a few of the things that will tug at you every day,” he said. “Do not let them detract you from spending an extra moment with your patients and families in their time of need. A moment to listen, a simple word of encouragement, or a kind touch can mean the difference between healing and just working.”  

Naden Kreitz

Naden Kreitz was chosen to represent the Class of 2025 at the ceremony. As a medical student, he was actively involved in the Gold Humanism Honor Society, Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, and the Research with Honors Program.  

Currently a captain in the U.S. Air Force, he will begin residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.  

Kreitz encouraged his classmates to embrace three concepts as they start their residencies: Show themselves and others abundant grace; remain thankful; and remember their purpose and passion for people.  

“We have been called to one of the most incredible professions in the world, and we have the privilege of serving our communities with humility and dignity,” he said. “May we never forget that every patient is important and is deeply loved by others.”   

Aishwarya Prakash, Ph.D.

Aishwarya Prakash, Ph.D., an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and pharmacology, shared personal experiences that shaped her life and career as a cancer researcher.  

Her story began on the other side of the world in Bangalore, India, where she and her mother cared for her grandfather, who had multiple myeloma.  

“I did not have the language for science yet, but I had all the questions,” said Prakash, who joined the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute as a researcher in 2016. “I wanted to understand cancer, to unravel its complexity, and to do something – anything – that might spare another family that kind of pain.”   

Jerry Andrews

For Prakash, hooding her very first graduating Ph.D. student – Marlo Thomas – at the ceremony was a “full-circle experience, a reminder of where I began.”

She urged the soon-to-be graduates to stay true to their authentic selves and to always choose being kind over being right.  

“As you leave here and take your next steps as physicians, scientists, caregivers and leaders, I urge you to lead with compassion,” she said. “Because while your degrees reflect your intelligence, it is your kindness that will define your legacy.”  

Jerry Andrews, who served as president of the Class of 2025, presented the following faculty awards: 

• Best Pre-Clerkship Module: Respiratory (Troy Stevens, Ph.D., and Brian Fouty, M.D.) 
• Best Pre-Clerkship Educator: Brian Fouty, M.D. 
• Best M3 Clerkship: Internal Medicine (Anna Foust, M.D., and Katherine Glosemeyer, M.D.) 
• Best Clerkship Educator: Nicolette Holliday, M.D. 

View more photos from the Academic Hooding Ceremony on Flickr.  

Watch the recorded livestream on YouTube.