Gov. Maura Healey delivers the Commencement address during Sunday’s ceremony.
Under a sunny sky, UMass Chan Medical School welcomed family, friends, alumni and faculty on Sunday, June 2, to its 51st Commencement, celebrating the Classes of 2024 from the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the T.H. Chan School of Medicine.
The ceremony was celebrated on the campus green, now in the shadow of the 350,000-square-foot, new education and research building, which sits between the Lazare Research Building and the Albert Sherman Center and will open on June 7.
Gov. Maura Healey was presented with a Chancellor’s Medal and delivered the Commencement address. Healey, the 73rd governor of Massachusetts, was elected in 2022 and is the first woman and first LGBTQ+ person to be elected to the position.
Healey spoke to the graduates about the challenges they will likely face in their professions moving forward, including financial challenges faced by hospitals and health centers; high vacancy rates for physicians, nurses, clinical supervisors and licensed clinicians; and mental stress and burnout. Despite the challenges, Healey said the graduates inspire optimism for Massachusetts residents and people all over the world.
“We need you now more than ever. This is a critical time for graduates and for the future of health care. It’s a moment of great challenges, but it’s also a moment of great hope,” Healey said. “It’s not an easy time to enter the health care field, but it is a time when you can make a real and lasting difference.”
Graduating members of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine listen to a presentation during the ceremony.
“I want you all to be the ones whose ideas will be heard and to bring the energy for change. Opportunities abound and we need your skilled hands, your caring hearts, your brilliant minds and your growing leadership,” Healey continued.
Honorary degrees were awarded to Ann Kurth, PhD, RN, MPH, president of the New York Academy of Medicine, and Frederick “Rick” Sontag, MS, MBA, co-founder and president of the Sontag Foundation, the Spring-Bay Companies and the Brain Tumor Network.
Chancellor Michael F. Collins presided over the ceremony, presenting 167 Doctor of Medicine degrees, eight MD/PhD degrees, 29 Doctor of Philosophy degrees and five Master of Science in Clinical Investigation degrees, 56 Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees, five Master of Science in nursing and interprofessional leadership, three PhD in Nursing degrees, and three postgraduate certificates.
Chancellor Collins said, “I am confident that this group of graduates shall be the bright hope for professions that are saddled with complexity, bureaucracy and resource inadequacies, all of which are daunting the promise of tomorrow.”
Jennifer Costa, PhD, RN; Julie Hugunin, MD, PhD; and Jesse Sardell, MD, served as class speakers for the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, respectively.
Graduate Christian Keenan, MD, will be starting his residency in emergency medicine at Brown University. Dr. Keenan expressed his excitement for the future and reflected on how UMass Chan prepared him for the challenges of balancing work and personal life.
From L to R: Melissa Brown, RN; Han Zhang, PhD; and Christian Keenan, MD, each received their degrees at Sunday’s Commencement ceremony.
“UMass Chan has done an amazing job focusing on us medical students as people, encouraging each of us to develop as a person, and making sure we have that resilience and understanding to be prepared for all of the challenges ahead of us and the emotional toll our careers may take on us,” he said. “They’ve equipped us with the skill to keep learning.”
It’s been a life-changing academic year for Han Zhang, PhD, who earned her degree on Sunday from the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
In September, Dr. Zhang gave birth to her daughter. Six months later, Zhang earned her PhD in biological and biomedical sciences. On Sunday, she participated in her first-ever graduation ceremony, having missed her high school graduation in 2011 due to illness and her medical school graduation in 2016 because she was at UMass Chan as a visiting student.
“This is my only graduation ceremony, and I think it will be my last one,” Zhang said, expressing both relief and laughter.
Zhang works in the lab of Erik Sontheimer, PhD, the Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of RNA therapeutics, researching CRISPR-based genome editing.
Melissa Brown, RN, is a case manager at Boston Children’s Hospital and is one of the first five graduates of the Master of Science in nursing and interprofessional leadership in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.
Brown said she will miss her close-knit community of classmates and her professors, and the camaraderie, motivation and inspiration they provided. She said the Master of Science program has given her the skills and self confidence to be a nursing leader.
Jazzlyn Bennett, DNP, receives her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.
“I’ve always tried to be a leader in whatever I’ve done, but now that I have a master’s degree in interprofessional leadership, I feel that I now really have the skills, tools and resources. It’s provided a big opportunity for me and given me hope and possibility for the future,” Brown said.
Highlights of the week’s events can be found on the UMass Chan news website. Photos and videos are posted on Facebook and Instagram. The full Commencement ceremony can be viewed on the UMass Chan YouTube page.
Read Chancellor Collins’ full remarks.
Related media coverage:
Worcester Telegram & Gazette:
High hope: UMass Chan Medical School graduates largest class in its history Sunday
