UA College of Medicine – Tucson and UA Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health Celebrate 2015 Convocations

Release Date: 
May 13, 2015

DATES/TIMES:       WEDNESDAY, MAY 13:

  • 6 p.m., Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs and College of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Convocation

THURSDAY, MAY 14:

  • 2 p.m., UA College of Nursing Convocation
  • 6 p.m., UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation: Doctors of Medicine

FRIDAY, MAY 15:

  • 9 a.m., UA College of Pharmacy Convocation
  • Noon, UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation (undergraduates): Department of Physiology, Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in physiology

SATURDAY, MAY 16:

  • 9 a.m., UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health Convocation

LOCATIONS:           (SEE BELOW)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13:

  • Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs and College of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Convocation
  • 6 p.m. (reception follows at about 7:30 p.m. on the plaza outside the hospital)
  • Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, DuVal Auditorium
  • 1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson

This 10th annual ceremony honors 2014-2015 graduates receiving doctoral and master’s degrees from graduate programs in the biological and biomedical sciences offered by the UA Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDP) and the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.

The invited speaker is Andrew Comrie, PhD, UA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Students receive a traditional “hooding” to mark the years of extraordinary effort and determination in pursuit of their graduate degrees.

The graduate programs of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson Departments of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Immunobiology and Pharmacology will participate.

The GIDPs participating in this year’s convocation are Applied Biosciences, Arid Lands Resource Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Cancer Biology, Entomology and Insect Science, Genetics, Neuroscience, Physiological Sciences and Statistics.

The GIDPs transcend departmental boundaries by facilitating interdisciplinary research and education, allowing the fusion of ideas, techniques and expertise from the traditional academic fields that provide for the evolution of modern and imaginative methods of research, and the creation of new fields of endeavor.

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THURSDAY, MAY 14:

  • UA College of Nursing Convocation
  • 2 to 4 p.m.
  • Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.
  • UA Main Campus, Tucson

Media contact: Janelle Drumwright, 520-626-2742.

Graduates will receive baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees in nursing, and faculty awards will be presented. The College will award 50 baccalaureate (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), 33 graduate (Master of Science, Nursing Clinical Systems Leadership), two PhD (Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing) and 12 DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) degrees.

Established in 1957, the UA College of Nursing ranks among the top 15 percent of graduate nursing programs in the United States. The College is recognized for excellence in educating entry and advanced practice nurse leaders to deliver comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate health care; shape health policy for individuals, families, communities and care systems; and advance nursing science through innovative research, technology and collaboration.

Inspiring 2015 UA College of Nursing graduates include Laura Bassi (Bachelor of Science in Nursing Honors Student); her profile is available on the AHSC Office of Public Affairs website, http://opa.ahsc.arizona.edu

  • UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation: Doctors of Medicine
  • 6 to 8 p.m. (light reception follows on the plaza in front of Centennial Hall)
  • Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.
  • UA Main Campus, Tucson

This event also will be broadcast live and archived on the Internet at http://streaming.biocom.arizona.edu

The ceremony includes, in order: Procession of graduates into Centennial Hall; welcome remarks by Charles Cairns, MD, interim dean; greeting by Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, MD, UA senior vice president for health sciences; remarks by Susan Baumann, MD (Class of 1985); remarks by Kevin Moynahan, MD, in remembrance of student Derek Neal; class speaker address; keynote address; hooding; recitation of the Hippocratic Oath; closing; recessional; light reception.

Media contact: Jean Spinelli, 520-626-2531.

The UA College of Medicine – Tucson Class of 2015 includes 116 graduates: 56 women and 60 men. Two graduates will receive dual MD-MPH degrees (the five-year MD-MPH Program is offered jointly by the College and the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health). Nearly half of the graduates will pursue residencies in Arizona. Nearly half will go into primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics).

The UA College of Medicine – Tucson was one of the few medical schools in the country evaluating the use of tablets in medical student education when it initiated the “ArizonaMed iPad Pilot Project” with first-year medical students in the Class of 2015. Today, iPads are issued to every student who matriculates into the College of Medicine – Tucson, allowing for a virtually paper-free curriculum and ensuring that students have all the information they need – school and personal schedules, curricular materials, emails, text messages, evidenced-based databases to research clinical questions in real time – consolidated on one easily portable device.

Keynote speaker will be Bruce L. Gewertz, MD, surgeon-in-chief, chair of the Department of Surgery, vice-dean for academic affairs and vice-president for interventional services at Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles. Dr. Gewertz’ address is titled, “Leadership is the Best Medicine.”

Dr. Gewertz previously was on the faculty at the University of Chicago for 25 years, serving as the Dallas B. Phemister Professor and chair of the Department of Surgery from 1992 until 2006. He was educated at Pennsylvania State University and Jefferson Medical College in the combined BS-MD five year program. He trained in general and vascular surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Gewertz is the author of more than 250 original articles, book chapters and books including the just-released “The Best Medicine.” He has received numerous awards for his basic investigations and teaching. A large number of invited and named lectureships have addressed a broad range of topics in vascular disease and human factors research as well as the challenges facing academic medicine.

Nicole LaHoodClass speaker will be medical student Nicole LaHood, who will pursue a residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. 

Charles Cairns, MD, FACEP, FAHA, interim dean of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson and assistant vice president for clinical research and clinical trials at the Arizona Health Sciences Center, will lead the graduating students in reciting the Hippocratic Oath.

Inspiring 2015 UA College of Medicine – Tucson graduates include Sarah Lau Braunhut (pediatrics), Rachel Baumann Manzo (pediatrics) and Pablo Amador Sanchez (internal medicine); their profiles are available on the AHSC Office of Public Affairs website, http://opa.ahsc.arizona.edu

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FRIDAY, MAY 15:

  • UA College of Pharmacy Convocation
  • 9 a.m. (reception follows at about 11 a.m. on the plaza in front of Centennial Hall)
  • Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.
  • UA Main Campus, Tucson

This event also will be broadcast live and archived on the Internet at http://streaming.biocom.arizona.edu

Media contact: Ginny Geib, 520-626-3389.

PharmD and PhD graduates of the College – currently rated as one of the top in the nation among colleges of pharmacy in America’s Best Graduate Schools compiled by U.S. News and World Report – will be hooded.

Inspiring 2015 UA College of Pharmacy graduates include Amanda Condon (PharmD); her profile is available on the AHSC Office of Public Affairs website, http://opa.ahsc.arizona.edu

  • UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation (undergraduates): Department of Physiology, Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in physiology
  • Noon to 2 p.m. (reception follows)
  • UA Student Union Memorial Center, Grand Ballroom, 1303 E. University Blvd.
  • UA Main Campus, Tucson

Media contact: Jean Spinelli, 520-626-2531.

Graduating seniors receiving the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in physiology will be recognized. Various awards will be presented. Reception follows.

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SATURDAY, MAY 16:

Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.

UA Main Campus, Tucson

Media contact: Gerri Kelly, 520-626-9669, cell phone 312-437-7007.

The College will award 173 Bachelor of Science degrees with a major in public health; 71 Master of Public Health degrees; two Master of Science in Biostatistics; one Doctor of Public Health degree with a concentration in policy and management; and one doctorate in epidemiology. Five students will receive dual MD-MPH degrees: two UA College of Medicine – Tucson and three UA College of Medicine – Phoenix graduates. The five-year MD-MPH Program is offered jointly by the UA Colleges of Medicine and Public Health.

Inspiring 2015 UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health graduates include Gary Vaughn Leslie (BS, Public Health), a member of the Hopi tribe; his profile is available on the AHSC Office of Public Affairs website, http://opa.ahsc.arizona.edu