The class of 2024 celebrated Commencement at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on May 9. The traditional ceremony recognized a graduating class in which nearly half of its students entered the College of Medicine under nontraditional circumstances: remotely and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
An audience of family, friends, Drexel leadership, special guests, faculty, alumni and professional staff gathered to mark the next step in the careers of 528 MD, MS, PhD and dual degree program graduates.
Before the students received their degrees and donned their hoods, Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Charles B. Cairns, MD, addressed the graduates. “The College of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies have done their best to prepare you with knowledge, but also with the skills you’ll need to succeed as innovators, seekers and healers: curiosity, humility, adaptability and open-mindedness,” Cairns said. “We are seeing you off today confident that you are equipped to make the world a better place.”
Drexel University President John Fry praised graduates’ achievements and wished them future success. “Drexel graduates: Whether you’re treating patients directly, shaping health policies, conducting research, or educating future innovators and healers, I hope you will always uphold the highest standards of your profession,” Fry said. “Always seek to be a force for good in the lives of all you meet and treat. And in your most rewarding yet grueling of pursuits, please remember to be good to yourselves.”
Graduates and Commencement attendees heard an address from honorary degree recipient Vicki L. Chandler, PhD, one of the foremost geneticists in the world and chief academic officer and provost at Minerva University. Her pioneering research on the control of gene expression in plants and animals has garnered numerous awards.
“Your career struggles will be easier if you are guided by a dream and a passion for what you are driven to accomplish,” Chandler advised.
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