New Generation of Military Healthcare Providers Graduates
USU Celebrates 39th Commencement
By Sarah Marshall
It wasn’t just mortarboards and tassels thrown in the air at the Uniformed Services University’s commencement exercise on Armed Forces Day. Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. James B. Peake, the keynote speaker, threw eggs into the crowd of graduates.
“[These patients] are going to come to you when they are most fragile, when they are ill, when they may be broken … You will use all the tools, and the acumen, and the knowledge, and the empathy that you have developed at this university, and that you will continue to develop in your careers of lifelong learning, to make them well … in some cases to put them back together,” Peake said. He then threw a hardboiled egg into the crowd – a move he said he hoped would make his speech and words of advice, memorable.
While he used the eggs as a metaphor for their future patients, he explained that they could be used as a metaphor for another important piece of their lives – they are also like the organizations and the units they will join and one day lead. They, too, are full of goodness and richness, and full of life and capability, he said. Again, he told the graduates that they will use all of the tools, knowledge, and empathy, and leadership skills developed at USU, while serving in those organizations – and they will make a difference in those units, ensuring they are strong and able to accomplish the mission.
And this goes for the entire class, he said, recognizing all of the graduating physicians, nurses, dentists, as well as civilians who earned doctorates and other advanced degrees.
“You owe the use of those special skills and knowledge to make them better, to lift them up … and it is also an obligation to behave ethically,” Peake added. “Professions by their nature are self-policing, if you will, so you have a responsibility to participate in that aspect in your professions.”
In addition to these obligations, Peake explained the unique opportunities that lie ahead.
“I can’t think of a better time to come into medicine,” Peake said. “What an exciting time.”
He explained that medicine is at a tipping point, moving from the industrial age to the digital age.
During this new age of medicine, there are many advances being made, such as personalized medicine, and new techniques in surgery. Military medicine continues to re-organize and re-shape to try to better understand its mission, he said.
“My advice to you is to seek those opportunities, open those doors, walk through them, whether it’s taking on a new scientific endeavor, taking leadership of a department, or a unique assignment … and as you do, you will develop new networks of friends, new professional colleagues. You will find new cultures to understand, perhaps new countries to visit, and you will continue to grow personally.”
Finally, Peake expressed his gratitude for the graduates and what they will accomplish in the future.
“Thank you for what you will do for our patients, for what you will do for military medicine, what you will do for our nation,” Peake said.
Steeped in tradition, USU’s commencement exercise is one of the most unique graduation ceremonies in the nation. Graduates in uniform are active duty officers in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service. After they cross the stage in academic regalia and receive their diplomas, USU’s graduates exit the stage and change back into their military uniforms. Graduating medical students return to recite their respective service commissioning oath, led individually by each Surgeon General. They are then promoted to their next rank.