Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addresses graduating MD and PhD students, their guests, faculty, and staff at the BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine MD and PhD convocation ceremony May 18 at the Track & Tennis Center.

Commencement 2023

Class of 2023 Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Grads Urged to Use Their Time and Voice for Purpose

Convocation ceremonies for PhD/MD students and Graduate Medical Sciences students who are the first class to graduate from newly renamed school

Speakers on Thursday lauded the Class of 2023 graduates of BU’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine receiving their MD, PhD, and Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) master’s degrees for their success in overcoming the educational and personal impacts of a pandemic and urged them to use their knowledge and experience to help those who are less fortunate.

“I ask you to use your voice to end the practice of marginalizing people, clinically and professionally, based on their identity,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the convocation speaker for the MD and PhD ceremony.

“I ask you to use your voice to eliminate the structural barriers to opportunity for everyone in this country. And I ask you to use your voice and the power of your research and your data to drive equity in policy change,” said Walensky.

By necessity, this year’s graduating class of MDs and PhDs had to be creative, flexible, and resilient, as COVID-19 upended their lives and their graduate education and revealed disparities within the healthcare system. Wars and tensions around the world have escalated again with growing numbers of refugees, many of them in our own patient populations, said Karen Antman, dean of the medical school and provost of the Medical Campus, in addressing the MD and PhD convocation gathered at the Track & Tennis Center Thursday afternoon.

“In addition to science and medicine, you learned flexibility, adaptability, and creativity—important skills in both science and medicine—as well as disaster management up close and personal. I’m pretty sure your generation of physicians and scientists will be distinctive,” Antman told the graduates.

The school of medicine Class of 2023 includes 29 PhDs, 149 MDs, 9 MD/PhDs, 3 MD/MBAs, and 3 MD/MPH degree students. 

One of many medical students who stepped up to help during the pandemic, graduating MD student speaker Divya Satishchandra (CAMED’23), will complete her residency at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the BU’s primary teaching hospital. She worked with her peers to start a call center for BMC patients, connecting them with community resources.

“There will always be more to do, more to learn, more to innovate, more to fix. The field of medicine is ever-expanding and infinite,” she said.

Chosen to represent the graduating PhD students, speaker Michael Breen (CAMED’23) told students that “we are all bound by a common cause: the health and well-being of humankind.”

“The world, potentially now more than ever, needs caring and compassionate doctors and researchers,” said Breen, who received his PhD in microbiology with a focus on immunology and infectious diseases.

He advised graduates that as they thank those who helped them along the way, they also give themselves credit. “There is no being here without your hard work, tenacity, and sacrifices,” said Breen.

Walensky worked on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and studied vaccine delivery and strategies to reach underserved communities prior to being appointed CDC director. She spoke about the need to listen to those who largely go unheard and unheeded.

“Barriers may stand in the way of those we work with and care for, like poverty, poor housing, and unsafe or unhealthy environments, as well as lack of access to good jobs, quality education, and comprehensive, high-quality healthcare,” she said.

“With your newly minted degrees, you have knowledge, you have wisdom, you have stature and you have privilege,” said Walensky. “And, I would argue, you now have a responsibility to not just use your voice for your own advocacy, but to use it for those who cannot otherwise advocate for themselves.”

Walensky said the choice to listen and to speak up requires the sacrifice of one of a physician’s or scientist’s most precious commodities—time.

“It will mean that when someone conveys an uncomfortable professional interaction that is so easy to gloss over, you will instead ask to hear more, unpack the details, sit with your colleague through their tears—even when you are overbooked with experiments and meetings,” she continued.

Walensky advised graduates to be intentional about how they use their time and voice, and to use them for a purpose and for good.

“Never in our history have our voices been so mightily important. You and I are so fortunate to be living in such an exciting time where great work and meaningful change for people of all communities and all backgrounds can happen not by accident, but because of your devotion, because you used your voice, and it rings clear.

“Keep your voice strong. Consistent. Compassionate. Be courageous and never give up,” she said.

In a separate convocation ceremony for GMS students held Thursday morning at the same venue, C. James McKnight, associate provost and dean of GMS told graduates they must “continue to make a difference in the world, in your families and your communities. Be involved, take care of the world, be engaged, and speak out with your opinions,” he said. GMS awarded 40 Master of Arts and 467 Master of Science degrees this year. McKnight urged the graduates to use their education and training to continue to make a difference in the world.

“Your hard work has prepared you and we are confident that you have the will, the courage, and the tools that are necessary to make a difference to all of our futures,” he said.

The first of three master’s program student speakers, Darilyn Mahoney (CAMED’23), hopes to combine her love of working with children and her love of genetics as a pediatric genetic counselor at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. She told her classmates to push through their fears.

“From me to you, I say embrace discomfort, push for progress, and strive to support those whose voices need uplifting,” said Mahoney, who is the first Black student to graduate from the master’s in genetic counseling program.

Born in Ethiopia, Eaba Beyene (CAMED’23), moved to Canada when he was seven, and then to Boston and Boston University for a master’s degree in oral health sciences. He has been accepted into BU’s Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine.

Beyene urged classmates to take risks, to not fear failure, to be courageous. “I warn you that there is no fun in a life that is risk-free and boring.”

Erika Minetti (CAS’19, CAMED’23) traveled from her home in Milan, Italy, to attend BU as an undergraduate, before enrolling in the Medical Sciences program. Their journey, she said, has only just begun.

“Today, we are crossing the finish line, but it doesn’t end here. As individuals aspiring to become leaders in medicine and in the medical sciences, the marathon has really just begun,” she said. “I have no doubt in my mind when I say that we will use everything we learned to fuel our future, no matter where we will be or who we will become.”

Doug Fraser is a Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine public relations associate; he can be reached at fraserd@bu.edu.