Proud family and friends will gather to honor members of the Class of 2012 during the commencement ceremony for Drexel University College of Medicine on Friday, May 18 at 9 a.m. at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall), 260 South Broad Street. A total of 454 students will receive MD, PhD and various master's degrees.

Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president emeritus of the Association of American Medical Colleges, will deliver the keynote address and receive an Honorary Doctor of Science degree for his exemplary service to and innovation on behalf of medical education. Cohen is currently chairman of the board of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation for Humanism in Medicine, and a professor of medicine and public health at George Washington University. As president and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges from 1994 to 2006, Cohen expanded and modernized the association's services for medical students, applicants, residents, and constituents; strengthened the association's communications and advocacy efforts; and established many initiatives for improving medical education and clinical care.

Also receiving an honorary degree is entrepreneur and philanthropist Raymond G. Perelman. Perelman will be presented with an Honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of his spirit of philanthropy which has greatly benefited academic medicine. Perelman, a Philadelphia native, built one of the nation's premier portfolios of financial, manufacturing and mining companies, and used that success to create a legacy of educational and cultural philanthropy that will impact his hometown for generations to come.

In total, 454 students will receive degrees, including 243 Doctor of Medicine (MD) students. Drexel has one of the largest medical student enrollments of any private medical school, educating one in every 73 medical students in the United States.

Included among the 243 graduating MD students are:

• 3 joint MD/PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)
• 1 joint MD/MBA (Master of Business Administration)
• 1 joint MD/MPH (Master of Public Health)

The following degrees will also be given:

• 22 PhD degrees
• 189 master's degrees