Members of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences gathered in Lisner Auditorium Sunday afternoon for a hooding ceremony celebrating the end of medical school training for the graduating Class of 2017.

Graduates were praised by a variety of speakers at the celebration for their years of dedication to medicine. They were also reminded to thank their family members for the support as they pursued a medical degree.

Here are some highlights from the celebration:

Speakers told graduates to always remember to be honest both with patients and in their research.

Dean of SMHS Jeffrey Akman described the thin line that many medical professionals walk on in both delivering and receiving important information from their patients.

“Our patients expect their physicians to tell them the truth,” he said.

Akman told the graduates that being honest was even more important now that we are living in a “post-truth” world. He referenced “alternative facts,” like false connections drawn between vaccines and autism or abortions and breast cancer.

“Despite what you see and hear in this post-truth world, you are nothing without your integrity and honor,” he said. “Truth is the foundation of all that we do and science is the foundation for modern medicine and biomedical research.”

Several speakers made note of the importance of friends and family in the graduates’ journeys to obtain their degrees. Akman took a moment to thank family members for their contributions to the education of the students.

“We should take a moment to reflect on those who were very much part of our graduate’s lives through the years but who were unable to be here,” he said.

Graduate Fatima Daoud also recognized the importance of family members in the achievements of the graduating class.

“Our victories are never truly just our own,” she said. “There are families here today continuing the beautiful tradition of adding another physician. Others are welcoming their first physician in the family. There are those who left behind everything they knew and loved to come to this country so that their children could be afforded the opportunity that they were not.”

In her keynote address, Lieutenant General Nadja West said that graduates must rise to meet the expectations of what doctors stand for all over the world. She said that means being a leader and upholding the values of loyalty, respect, selfless service, integrity and personal courage.

“What a great and noble profession that this is: that of a healer, a comforter and a universal symbol of hope,” she said. “It’s a profession that should not be taken lightly and that must be treasured and nurtured throughout one’s entire life.”

West said that graduates need to keep in mind what truly matters as they interact with patients all over the world.

“You get to share in the most intimate details of another human being’s life in order to help them. You get to literally relieve suffering. You get to give hope to individuals who believe that you can help them,” she said. “You get to make a difference in something that truly matters.”

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