UMHS honored its graduates at the Seventh Annual Commencement Ceremony at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on Friday, June 8, 2018. The “next generation of physicians” was celebrated and venerated with 10 candidates for Honors, 18 for High Honors and 19 for Highest Honors.
Graduates for June 30, 2017; July 31, 2017; October 31, 2017; November 30, 2017; December 31, 2017; January 31, 2018; February 28, 2018; March 31, 2018; April 30, 2018; and June 1, 2018 were listed in the official program.
The UMHS Endeavour looks at this special day for UMHS graduates, their friends and families.
As is now tradition, the West Village Quartet performed “Pomp and Circumstance.”
The Welcome Address was given by Jerry W. Thornton, Ph.D., followed by President Warren Ross, JD.
Geoffrey Tabin, MD was the keynote speaker. Dr. Tabin is cofounder of the Himalayan Cataract Project and Fairweather Foundation, and Professor of Ophthalmology and Global Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Tabin spoke about his work in Tibet, Nepal and the developing world to help eradicate blindness and implementing a model for sustainable ophthalmic care. In 2009, he was named an “unsung hero” by the Dalai Lama. Dr. Tabin talked about being the fourth person to climb the Seven Summits, the highest points in the world, and also about his work as a doctor in this part of the world.
Dr. Tabin, who specializes in cornea, cataract and refractive surgery, earned an MA in philosophy at Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, followed by an MD at Harvard Medical School. He spends a large amount of time working abroad throughout the Himalayas and Sub-Saharan Africa to help people with eye problems. Dr. Tabin's speech encouraged graduates to achieve their personal and professional goals in medicine.
Valedictorian Dr. Obteene Azimi-Ghomi speaks to the Class of 2018. Photo: Island Photography
President Warren Ross and Prakash Mungli, MD, MBBS awarded the degrees to graduates. Dr. Mungli is Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Chairman of Molecular Sciences and Course Director and Professor of Biochemistry at UMHS.
Prakash Mungli, MD, MBBS awarded degrees to graduates. Dr. Mungli is Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Chairman of Molecular Sciences & Course Director & Professor of Biochemistry at UMHS. Photo: Island Photography
Obteene Azimi-Ghomi, MD, this year’s valedictorian, was the Graduate Honors Speaker. Dr. Azimi-Ghomi and George H. Shade, Jr., MD, FACOG, FACPE, along with the graduating class, all recited the Hippocratic Oath.
Congratulations to all UMHS Class of 2018 graduates. We salute the gifted young men and women who are continuing on to prestigious residencies after successfully completing their medical education at UMHS St. Kitts and matching at great hospitals.
President Warren Ross (far left) with UMHS VP of Enrollment Management Michelle Peres & popular UMHS professor Dr. Prakash Mungli at graduation on June 8, 2018 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City. Photo: Island Photography
CANDIDATES FOR HIGHEST HONORS
- Obteene Azimi-Ghomi (click for blog interview)
- Leanne Stephanie Brown
- Kenneth Brian Brownell, Jr.
- Melissa M. Burman
- Roger Gerard Elliott
- April Janine Frater (click for blog interview)
- Ga-ram Han
- Alicia Rocio Liendo
- Pujyitha Mandiga
- Elio Paul Monsour
- Steven Nguyen
- Aamir Patel
- Alfredo Jose Rafucci Velazquez
- Jazmine Alexandra Ramsey
- Devyn Leila Rohlfs Rivera
- Joshuam A. Ruiz Vega
- Christine Anjarette Sipple
- Michael V. Sorrenti
- Jenna L. Ulrich (click for blog interview)
CANDIDATES FOR HIGH HONORS
- Ruben Cabrera
- Fernando Javier Del Valle Morales
- Chirstian Hiraldo-Infante
- Sara Khan
- Han Lam
- Ashar Mahmood
- Andrew Geoff Mirocke
- Kalina Yeh Nedeff
- Vibruti Patel
- Sonia Abirmai Sugumar
About UMHS:
Built in the tradition of the best US universities, the University of Medicine and Health Sciences focuses on individual student attention, maintaining small class sizes and recruiting high-quality faculty. We call this unique approach, “personalized medical education,” and it’s what has led to our unprecedented 96% student retention rate, and outstanding residency placements across the US and Canada. UMHS is challenging everything you thought you knew about Caribbean medical schools.
Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
