P&S 2014 Graduation Roundup

­­The 2014 College of Physicians and Surgeons graduation ceremony was captured in photos taken by Amelia Panico.

Facts and Figures about the Class of 2014:

155 MD degrees and 57 PhD degrees were conferred.

Seven faculty members received teaching and research awards presented by Dean Lee Goldman, MD, and University Trustee Kenneth Forde, MD’59:

• P&S Distinguished Service Awards were presented to Charles S.H. Young, PhD, professor emeritus of microbiology, and John M. Driscoll Jr., MD, the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics.
• Charles W. Bohmfalk Awards were presented to Henry M. Spotnitz, MD, the George H. Humphreys II Professor of Surgery (for teaching in the preclinical years), and David L. Diuguid, MD, the Hope Sheridan Associate Professor of Hematology (in Medicine) at CUMC (for teaching in the clinical years).
• The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation was given to Rita Charon, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at CUMC.
• The Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Research Award in basic sciences was given to Raul Rabadan, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical informatics and systems biology. David J. Lederer, MD, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology in pediatrics, received the Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Research Award in clinical sciences.

Michael Devlin, MD’82, professor of clinical psychiatry, was presented the Distinguished Teacher Award by the Class of 2014. (He earned the same honor from last year’s graduating class.)

David Blumenthal, MD, president of the Commonwealth Fund, was featured speaker and said:

Medicine today – despite all the turmoil that surrounds it – remains unsurpassed for the gratification it offers the professionals who seriously pursue it. Some other careers offer greater financial rewards; many offer shorter working hours. But none offer the magic that transpires between patient and physician in those healing moments when you will bring to the bedside, the examining table, the operating room – or perhaps the telechat – that unique combination of caring, clinical experience and scientific knowledge that alters a life for the better.

Among the 155 newly minted MDs, four now have MD and MPH degrees, four have MD and MBA degrees, and two have MD and DDS degrees in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

The class included the first eight graduates of the innovative Columbia-Bassett Program. Read more about the program and the first graduates here.

24 MD students took extra time for research.

The class included 10 MD/PhD students.

21 percent of the P&S Class of 2014 went abroad for MD scholarly projects or research.

19 percent of MDs in the Class of 2014 matched at Columbia for all or part of residency.

4 babies were born to class members, 20 students married during medical school, and 21 marathons and similar competitions were completed by members of the class.

37 percent of the MDs in the Class of 2014 will remain in New York State for residency.