On May 16, 2025, Drexel University College of Medicine celebrated its largest graduating class in history at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The ceremony recognized the achievements of future physicians, scientists and health professionals, including the first group of MD program students from the four-year regional medical campus at Tower Health in West Reading, Pa., as well as master’s, PhD and dual degree recipients from the College’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies.

Drexel leadership, family, friends, faculty, alumni, professional staff and special guests gathered to mark the next step in the graduates’ careers. The ceremony was streamed live for those who could not attend in person and is archived online.

Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Charles B. Cairns, MD, addressed the graduates, stating, “You are graduating at a time when our nation, and indeed our world, face unprecedented challenges and obstacles, but also opportunities that I am confident you are equipped to face to make the world a better place.”

Drexel University Provost Paul E. Jensen praised the class’s achievements and wished them future success. “To our graduates — you were called to this path because you understand, in the deepest way, what it means to serve. Whether through direct patient care, pioneering research, medical technology or public health initiatives, your work will touch lives in ways that may not always be immediately visible, but will always be deeply meaningful,” Jensen said.

Graduates and attendees heard an address from honorary degree recipient Carl H. June, MD, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. “Class of 2025, who knows how your careers and your life trajectories have been modified by recent events and the pandemic? You have to embrace change, risk and uncertainty,” said June. “Your unplanned forks in the road here at Drexel will prove useful to you throughout your careers.”

Student speaker Julianna Kinsolving, MD ’25, said to her fellow graduates, “It is not our titles or degrees, nor education, that reveal the true nature of our character. It is our actions. Use your voice and the privilege of your education to uplift those around you. Protect what is right. And know that the future holds hope, so long as we choose it.”

 
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