UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Holds Eighth Graduation

Eighty-one medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix received their Doctor of Medicine degrees Monday, and will continue their training to become physicians at residency programs in Arizona and 19 other states.

A bagpipe and drum corps led the eighth graduating class of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix from the downtown Phoenix Biomedical Campus to Phoenix Symphony Hall.

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, MD, who was attending his first commencement as UA president, asked the students to remember that “this is about helping people one person at a time. It’s a very special bond with each and every one of your patients."

“Physical, biological and digital sciences are converging, and things are changing very rapidly,” he said. “We’ve only had the iPhone a little over a decade. We only sequenced the human genome a decade ago. You are going to be practicing medicine using genomic information on your iPhone. Embrace it. Go with it.”

UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Dean Guy Reed, MD, MS, advised the students to dream big.

“Each one of you should find a way to move the field of medicine forward, and never give up on your efforts to make our world a better place.”

He also challenged them to make compassion, inspiration and distinction the hallmarks of their careers. “Remember to focus on the well-being of the whole patient, just as you seek to cure disease and restore health.”

A hooding ceremony and recitation of the oath were part of the festivities, which included a keynote address by Susan Pepin, MD, president and CEO of the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust.

Dr. Pepin offered three simple yet powerful points: Take time to reflect on the debt owed to your teachers. Never compromise your integrity. Work to maintain your humility and your humanity.

Before conferring the degrees, Dr. Reed presented a special award to Leigh Neumayer, MD, interim vice president of UA Health Sciences, who helped the college prepare for the last phase of its successful accreditation.

David Beyda, MD, received the Stuart D. Flynn, MD, Master Educator teaching excellence award, which recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in all aspects of education over all four years of medical school. He is chair and professor of the college’s Department of Bioethics and Medical Humanism.

Graduating senior Tiana Blank, MD, who will begin a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles this summer, delivered the student address.

She told fellow students ”today, we are privileged to be called physicians. Privileged by our education, by our standing in society, the influence and weight our title holds, but above all, we are privileged by our patients’ vulnerability. People we’ve never met before who live very different backgrounds, often different from our own, will come to us in their most vulnerable moments and share their stories, values, struggles and their greatest joys."

“It’s important to remember that whomever you interact with may be fighting their biggest battle at that very moment and your kindness, your hand to hold, your ear to listen, might make all the difference in that person’s life,” she said.

One third of this year’s class of 81 plan to pursue primary care fields, the most critical shortage facing Arizona, and 29 will train in Phoenix or Tucson. Overall, the students will continue their studies at programs in 20 states.

Kateland Townley, who will continue her training as a resident in emergency medicine at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, shared her medical school journey with her younger sister, Kelsey Morgosh. “I can’t imagine doing medical school without Kelsey. Just having her support and having our two families together during this wild ride in the desert has been amazing.”

Morgosh will train in family medicine at the University of Montana.

Alyssa Thomas, who will spend her emergency medicine residency at Carolinas Medical Center in North Carolina, said the day was bittersweet. “It’s exciting that we are finally going to become doctors, but at the same time, it’s sad because we built all of these relationships and have become such great friends.”

Matthew DiLizia, who matched at Georgetown University Hospital in surgery and urology, said it’s “awesome to see the hard work that we all put in together paying off for us collectively.”

In 2007, the college opened its doors in what was the largest city in the nation without an allopathic (MD-granting) medical school. Over the last eight years, the school has graduated 435 medical students, including the Class of 2018, to help address the critical shortage of physicians in Arizona.

Class of 2018 Multimedia

• Video – Class of 2018 Commencement (full ceremony).
• Video – Class of 2018 "We Are Family".
• Class of 2018 Commencement Program (PDF).
• Photo Galleries:
  • ​Class of 2018 Commencement.
  • Senior Celebration.
  • Faculty Teaching Awards.

News

• Class of 2018 Student Profiles.
• Class of 2018 Celebrated at Awards Luncheon.
• Faculty Honored with Teaching Excellence Awards.
• The Arizona Republic – University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix Graduates More Than 80 New Doctors.
• The Arizona Republic – First Bioscience High Alum Graduating from UA College of Medicine (PDF).
• The Arizona Republic – Higher Degrees (PDF).