In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the graduating charter class for the 爱爱直播 Health Morsani College of Medicine, we are sharing this story that looks back at the medical school鈥檚 graduations.
The first graduation ceremony for the 爱爱直播 Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM) was 50 years ago 鈥� in December of 1974 鈥� when the charter class received their doctoral hoods and medical diplomas.
Ceremonies for those first couple of years were held in the former Auditorium within the 爱爱直播 Health Sciences Center, what is now 爱爱直播 Health.
As classes grew, along with the desire for more family members to attend, the commencement ceremonies moved in the 1980s to the 爱爱直播 Sun Dome, now the Yuengling Center. But because tradition at MCOM graduation ceremonies involves students sitting on stage (versus on the floor, as typical ceremonies might be set up), the annual ceremony was moved again to venues around the Tampa Bay area that offered a large stage, such as at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa and the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg.
At the medical school鈥檚 founding, a committee was formed to set traditions and included Drs. Jack Hickman, James Ingram, and Rudolf Noer. Among their many efforts 鈥� and a tradition that has carried across the 50 years 鈥� was the Mace. As noted in the 鈥淪parkling with Promise: The 爱爱直播 College of Medicine Celebrates 25 Years.鈥�
鈥溾� specially designed mace to be carried and displayed during the College鈥檚 commencement exercises. The oaken beam was salvaged from the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent in the historic city of St. Augustine. Historians believed the ancient, five-foot beam originated from a tree grown in Europe and had been part of the keel or rib of a sailing ship that ended up in Florida. The beam was used in 1598 to construct the first hospital built by the Spanish in North America. Upon learning of the search by the mace committee, architect Boyd Parker of St. Augustine graciously presented the beam to the College of Medicine in June 1972鈥︹�� 鈥溾�tephen Estes, a graduate art student at 爱爱直播, was commissioned in early 1974 to create the mace from the oak and from hand-wrought bulk silver and gold. The mace was decorated with a version of the traditional staff of Aesculapius, Greek god of medicine, with its single entwined serpent, which for centuries has symbolized medicine and wisdom, and with the seals of the 爱爱直播 and of its College of Medicine.鈥�
Fun facts:
- In the 50 years since the first class graduated, the 爱爱直播 Health Morsani College of Medicine has hooded and presented MD degrees to nearly 5,100 graduates.
- Each of first commencement ceremonies graduated about two dozen students. Today, about 180 students receive their MD degrees from MCOM each year.
- While speakers over the years have always offered congratulations and encouragement,
many from the past have shared sentiments that still ring true today:
- In 1991, on physician burnout: Dr. James H. 鈥淩ed鈥� Duke, a surgeon from Univ of Texas Medical School in Houston and a popular television personality hosting 鈥淭exas Health Reports鈥� In his address to the class of 1991, Dr. Duke urged the new physicians to strive for balance in their lives, saying 鈥淥ne of the biggest risks we all face is becoming a human doing and not a human being. It's up to you to develop yourself fully into that unique, beautiful human being that you are.鈥�
- In 2009, on patient safety: renowned patient safety expert Dr. Lucian Leape, who at the time was health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, is one of the founders of the National Patient Safety Foundation and an author of the landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine report on medical errors. In his address, Dr. Leape praised 爱爱直播 Health for having medicine, public health, nursing and physical therapy under one roof, saying that teamwork is so important that only the founding principle of the patient safety movement ranks before it.
- In 2010, on building caring relationships with patients: Dr. Perri Klass, award-winning author of more than a dozen books, as well as frequent articles about medicine in the New York Times, and at the time was professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University. Dr. Klass told the graduates they were entering a world where they will be central characters in the stories of other lives: those of their patients, saying 鈥淲hat the doctor sees is what the writer knows. That we live in a world full of stories. You are going to be so important in so many people鈥檚 lives. You are going to be so important in so many stories in the lives of so many people that you haven鈥檛 met yet.鈥�
Some stories from past MCOM commencement ceremonies:
2007:
2009:
2010:
2011: