3/26 Important Message to the Class of 2020

To:    BUSM MD Class of 2020
From:  Karen Antman, MD, BUMC Provost and BUSM Dean
Re:    Important Message to the Class of 2020
Date:   March 26, 2020

Dear Students,

On Wednesday this week, Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders asked the deans of the four Massachusetts Medical Schools to advance graduation of our fourth-year medical students to a date in April to more rapidly expand the capacity of the medical workforce in the Commonwealth in response to the critical needs of our citizens during this pandemic.

After discussions with our universities, all four Massachusetts medical schools have agreed to graduate our 2020 class in April. The BUSM Student Evaluation and Promotions Committee will review each student status and determine that students have completed all of their requirements for graduation by April 10, 2020. We anticipate that all students who complete their current assignments will have completed their requirements by April 10. We therefore anticipate a virtual graduation date of Friday, April 17, 2020. (The dates of graduation for the remainder of the Universities’ students will not change.)

Graduates will be able to choose whether to apply for a Massachusetts license or to move to the location of their residencies. The Commonwealth is creating a special, expedited licensure process. We know that you will have questions about the licensing, and where and for whom you could potentially work and are working quickly with Secretary Sudders and colleagues at the other medical schools to get more information.

Your class is clearly graduating at one of the most medically challenging times of the last century, and will shortly be an important part of our country’s response to the COVID-19 challenge. We are proud of the physicians that you will soon be, and for the role that you will play in the care of your patients.

On the day of your white coat celebration, the faculty welcomed you to the study of medicine. The faculty at graduation will be pleased to welcome you as valued colleagues to the practice of medicine, although somewhat earlier than expected.

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