PHILADELPHIA — The Perelman School of Medicine’s impact in global and community health will be well represented this Sunday at graduation, when 160 students take the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as new doctors. Among the group is a host of students who reached far and wide—and as close as West Philadelphia—to help the underserved. Tanya Keenan journeyed to The Gambia to bring solar energy to hospitals; Naomi Rosenberg coordinated efforts to get Haitian earthquake victims to Penn for life-saving treatments; and Christopher Sha immersed himself into the Sayre Health Center to bring better health and education to students.
| WHERE: |
Kimmel Center for Performing Arts
260 South Broad Street on the Avenue of the Arts
Philadelphia, PA 19102
NOTE: Reporters and Photographers must sign in with Steve Graff and pick up a ticket to gain admittance. |
WHEN: |
Sunday, May 12, 2013 (9 am to 12:30 pm)
9:10 am — Opening remarks given by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
9:15 am — Commencement address given by Penn Alumna and Health and Human Services Official Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH
9:40 am — Robert M. Suskind, MD, a member of the Class of 1963, to present remarks
9:45 am — Presentation of diplomas and hoods
10:45 am — Recitation of the Hippocratic Oath
10:55 am — Recessional |
WHO: |
- J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pennsylvania alumna Nicole Lurie, MD, MSPH (B.A. ‘75, M.D.’79), Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she serves as the Secretary’s principal advisor on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies
- Penn Medicine alumnus Robert M. Suskind, MD, (’63), an international expert in children malnutrition and obesity who served as Peace Corps physician in Senegal, West Africa and Director of the ICDDRB in Bangladesh
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When the earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, Rosenberg decided to leave school for a year to help coordinate the transfer of critical care patients to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and to see that care through. “What if it was my sister who had lost her legs in an instant and was suddenly evacuated by herself to a different country? Wouldn't I hope that someone would make a significant effort to help her?” said Rosenberg, who is headed to Temple University for an Emergency Medicine residency. Today, many of those refugees live in a group home in Germantown, Pa.—which Rosenberg helped start—to rehabilitate and get them back on their feet.
For Keenan, being a part of Power Up Gambia was incredibly powerful. That organization, started by Penn alumni Kathryn Cunningham Hall, helps bring reliable energy to hospitals throughout the African country. “One of the most memorable patients was a six-month old child named Aminata, who suffered from pneumonia and would not have survived the night without the oxygen supplied by a solar-powered oxygen concentrator,” said Keenan, who served as Board Chair her last year and is going to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for an Internal Medicine residency. “This experience taught me the importance of persistence, patience, respect, and, above all else, on-the-ground allies.”
Sha’s search for community health projects led him to Penn and eventually to the Sayre Health Center in West Philly, where he served as community medicine fellow and education programs director. “This experience reconfirmed my passions in life, and I ended up applying to the University of California, San Francisco’s Internal Medicine Primary Care residency program that has a focus on underserved populations,” said Sha.
The Sayre program provides quality medical care to underserved individuals while at the same time, offering an educational and mentoring program that encourages students to pursue health care careers. Sha helped develop a two-year curriculum leading to a medical assistant certification, and next year, the first class graduates.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.