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Vital Signs

Advice? Check. Award? Check. Must be Class Day!

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Reveling in this year's Class Day festivities were M.P.H. grads Isaac Maro, left, and Leila Boubshait.

By Amos Esty

Dr. Donald Ingber, the keynote speaker at DMS's 2009 Class Day ceremony, never took an engineering course but heads the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. He never trained in surgery or pathology but holds an endowed chair at Harvard in both departments. "So," he asked the graduates, "how did I get here?"

Path: As Ingber explained his own career path, he reminded listeners not to be so focused on a single route that they lose sight of other opportunities. "A straight line doesn't always get you to where you want to be," he said. Over the years, his penchant for veering in new directions has led to a number of unexpected findings, such as helping uncover the possibility of using antiangiogenesis treatments to target cancer.

The Ph.D. student speaker, Samuel Bakhoum, shares Ingber's enthusiasm for research. "To me, the Ph.D. training is simply a way of nurturing one of our most basic and fundamental instincts as human beings: curiosity," Bakhoum said. Curiosity, he noted, has led to many important advances in medicine.

Wordles of wisdom

Check out a different way to analyze the Class Day speeches.
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Interns: M.D. grad Narath Carlile told his classmates that, even as interns, they will have a lot to contribute. "With the way we treat our patients and our medical students, we can immediately start becoming the change we would like to see," he said.

When the speeches ended, several students and faculty were recognized. Mara Rendi received the Dean's Medal, which goes to the top M.D. graduate; Peter Belenky received the Strohbehn Medal for his achievements in the Ph.D. program; and Daniel Kaser received the Good Physician Award.

Dr. Roshini Pinto-Powell, a general internist, received the class's Clinical Science Teaching Award; Dr. Harold Manning, a pulmonologist, the Basic Science Teaching Award; and Dr. David Hughes, a resident in surgery, the Thomas P. Almy Housestaff Teaching Award.

Degrees: In all, 157 graduates walked across the stage: 63 M.D.'s; 34 Ph.D.'s (12 in biochemistry, three in genetics, five in microbiology and immunology, six in pharmacology and toxicology, three in physiology, and five in health policy and clinical practice); 47 M.P.H.'s; and 13 M.S.'s (two in genetics, two in pharmacology and toxicology, and nine in health policy and clinical practice).

"A straight line doesn't always get you to where you want to be."

After Dartmouth language professor John Rassias led the new M.D.'s in reciting the Hippocratic oath, all the degree recipients took their first steps as DMS graduates, perhaps recalling Ingber's parting advice. "Let me remind you that the future is not something that you confront," he said. "It's something that you can craft and sculpt, if you set your mind to it."


Class of 2009 Prizes and Awards

Dean's Medal

Mara Rendi

Good Physician Award

Daniel Kaser

John W. Strohbehn Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research

Peter Belenky

Frederic P. Lord Award in Anatomy

Mara Rendi

Department of Anesthesiology Award

Peter Burrage

C. Everett Koop, M.D., Courage Award

Vivianne Tawfik

John F. Radebaugh Community Service Award

J. Kristofer Sherwood, Christal Costello Yuo

Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award

Narath Carlile

Julian and Melba Jarrett Memorial Prize

Narath Carlile

Saul Blatman Award for Excellence in Maternal and Child Health

Gabriel Civiello

Payson-Hampers M.D.-M.B.A. Scholars Award

Natalia Berry, William Cronin

Department of Medicine Award

Narath Carlile

Merck Manual Awards

William Cronin, Laura Erickson-Schroth, Kristen Yurkerwich

American Academy of Neurology Prize

Carolyn Bevan

Barry D. Smith, M.D., Award for Excellence in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Daniel Kaser

Dr. Freddie Fu Orthopaedic Surgery Award

Der-Chen Huang

E. Elizabeth French Award in Pathology

Mara Rendi

Department of Psychiatry Award

Katherine Shea

Harte C. Crow Award in Radiology

Sword Cambron

Hitchcock Foundation Student Research Prize

Daniel Kaser, Benjamin Northrup

Douglas P. Zipes, M.D., Research Prize in Medicine

Andrea Russo

Arthur Naitove Surgical Scholar Award

Courtney Warner

American Medical Women's Association Glasgow-Rubin Achievement Citation

Mara Rendi, Kara Detwiller, Jennifer Talmadge, Vasilena Zheleva

John and Sophia Zaslow Prize

Heather Anderson

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