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| Medical and doctoral students received their hoods at the Academic Hooding Ceremony. |
Seventy-six medical students took the Hippocratic Oath and were hooded by a person or persons of their choosing. Those with a military affiliation took the military oath of office and received their new rank. Two graduating doctoral students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program were awarded doctoral hoods by their major professors.
Susan LeDoux, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the USA College of Medicine, was chosen to give the faculty address to the graduates. She recalled telling them during freshman orientation that their journey would be a marathon and not a sprint. “None of us could have anticipated the obstacles you were going to face,” said LeDoux, who retired in 2019 as associate dean of medical education and student affairs.
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| Class president Zachary Aggen addresses his classmates. |
During the COVID-19 pandemic, classes were moved online, and students across the nation faced difficulty scheduling their Step 1 exams. In addition, social distancing requirements limited small-group meetings and restricted patient interaction during third-year clerkships. “You overcame all of those obstacles,” LeDoux told them.
Class president Zachary Aggen, who soon will begin residency training in emergency medicine at USA Health, encouraged his classmates to continue learning and to seek peace and happiness in their personal lives. “Travel, have a family and do things outside of medicine,” Aggen said.
Married couple Anna Robinson Wright and Griffin Wright both received hoods – she as an M.D. and he as a Ph.D. “We feel so proud of each other and of everything we’ve accomplished over the past four years,” Anna Wright said. “It’s hard to believe we’re already finished, but we are incredibly excited to begin our next chapter.”
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Married couple Anna Robinson Wright and Griffin Wright hug during the ceremony. |
He completed his doctoral degree in basic medical science, cancer biology track, in under four years in order to finish with his spouse. “Without the support of Anna and my incredible mentor, Dr. Natalie Gassman, it would not have been possible,” Griffin Wright said. “I took advantage of Anna being so busy by focusing on lab and course work whenever she had to study or go to clinicals. It was exhausting at times, but now that I’m finished, I’m very glad that I pushed myself that hard.”
Anna Wright received the Dr. Robert A. Kreisberg Endowed Award of Excellence, awarded to a graduating medical student in the top 25% of the class who is distinguished in both the clinical and basic sciences. “The biggest help was this past year in a time filled with anxiety over interviews and matching; Griffin always helped me relax, have fun and see the value in what I was doing,” she said. “Difficult days were never really that bad because I knew I would come home to him to lift my spirits.”
Fellow graduate Gisella Ward, M.P.H., who will be the first physician in her family, said she is looking forward to building upon her medical school knowledge as she begins a residency in family medicine at USA Health. “I will have the opportunity to work in an amazing academic medical institution in a patient-centered medical home with faculty who emphasize population health and addressing the social determinants of health that I experienced first-hand growing up,” said the Mobile native.
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| Gisella Ward, M.P.H., is hooded by her husband and mother. |
“I feel like I’m donning this hood as a representative for every minority who aspires to enter this field, every patient who wants a healthcare provider to reflect them and understand their struggle, and every person who supported me in my journey to get here,” she said.
The graduates will receive their degrees at USA’s Spring Commencement set for 2 p.m. on Friday, May 6, at the Mitchell Center. This year’s medical school class is the 47th class to receive medical degrees from the USA College of Medicine, bringing the total number of physicians to graduate since the medical school’s opening to 2,981.
Several faculty awards also were announced at the Academic Hooding Ceremony. They are:
- Best Pre-Clerkship Module: Respiratory
- Best Pre-Clerkship Educator: Abu-Bakr AL-Mehdi, M.D., Ph.D.
- Best M3 Clerkship: Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Best Clerkship Educator: Nicolette Holliday, M.D.
