Called to Service, BUSPH Class of 2010 Pledges to Improve Public Health
Commitment, determination, leadership, and the refusal to buy into a culture of “no” — these were the watchwords bestowed on graduates of Boston University School of Public Health by speakers at yesterday’s 2010 commencement ceremony. Hundreds of family and friends joined the newly minted master’s and doctoral degree recipients at the Boston Convention Center, as they took part in a rousing call to service, pledging to put their skills to work to improve the health of populations around the world.
“Your diplomas won’t change the world,” said BUSPH Dean Robert F. Meenan, “you will change the world with your knowledge, skills and passion.”
“You will face new challenges and new opportunities,” he said, pointing to recent public-health issues posed by the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. “The need for resources and leadership are your challenges to solve with the complex amalgam of skills many of you developed at SPH.”
Commencement speaker Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, had a simple, but compelling message for graduates: Never take no for an answer.
Dr. El-Sadr, who is director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs and director of the Global Health Initiative at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, culled her advice from her decades-long career in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Her work has helped provide lifesaving treatment to millions of individuals in sub-Saharan Africa and at Harlem Hospital Center where she was instrumental in developing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis program.
However, at the outset of her career she recalled the many naysayers who said it would be next to impossible to provide HIV and AIDS treatment in Africa, or to impoverished communities in New York City.
“Remember, whether your path takes you to Harlem or Harare, Zimbabwe, or even if you stay right here in Boston, never succumb to the culture of no,” Dr. El-Sadr advised. “Believe in your own wisdom, and have the personal strength to push forward with your own ideas. You will make a difference!”
Graduate Mobolaji Odewole, a health policy and management concentrator, delivered the student address at the ceremony. He encouraged graduates to go into their careers with hope and dedication.
“We are in a field that embraces humanity with hope and dedication. We must teach those ideals in our daily walk,” Odewole said.
He pointed to the BUSPH Rotaract Club, a student organization he was a member of, which raised $6500 to build homes for orphaned and homeless children in Kenya. “That is what hope and dedication can do,” he said.
During the ceremony, two students and two faculty members were presented with awards in recognition of their accomplishments.
Student Grace Jayong Yang was presented with the Leonard H. Glantz Award for Academic Excellence. The award, which comes with a $1,000 cash prize, honors Leonard Glantz, professor of health law, bioethics and human rights, who served the School as associate dean of Academic Affairs for 30 years.
The award recognizes a student whose academic achievement typifies the high standards set by Professor Glantz. Yang was honored for her exceptional academic performance, creative and critical thinking, and a clear potential for future intellectual and creative contributions to public health.
Whitney Cowell, an environmental health concentrator, was presented with the first annual Dr. William B. Patterson Memorial Prize for Excellence in Environmental and Occupational Health. The honor acknowledges her exemplary academic performance and dedication to research in the field of environmental and occupational health.
The award was established by the Massachusetts Medical Society Foundation with contributions from the friends and family of Dr. William B. Patterson, a faculty member in the Environmental Health Department at BUSPH who passed away in March 2008. The prize will be given annually in memory of Dr. Patterson and his commitment to public health, medicine and education.
Associate Professor of Environmental Health Wendy Heiger-Bernays, PhD, was presented with the Norman A. Scotch Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Scotch Award is presented annually to a faculty member who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to the education program of BUSPH.
Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology Adrienne Cupples, PhD, MA, was presented with the BUSPH Career Award in Research and Scholarship, a new award conferred for the first time this year.
The BUSPH Faculty Career Award in Research and Scholarship recognizes a faculty member for a distinguished body of scholarly or scientific work on a specific topic or within a general area of expertise.
Harold Cox, associate dean for public health practice and professor of community health sciences, closed the ceremony with a Call to Public Service for the graduates.
“It is my honor to say congratulations to my new colleagues,” Cox said. “It’s time for you to join us who work in public health. We need you. We’ve been waiting for you to work as clinicians, policymakers, statisticians…to spread health throughout the whole world.”
“Impress us with your passion and dedication as you work to bring about change in the world,” said Cox.
Submitted by Michelle Salzman