Morehouse School of Medicine to Celebrate 25th Commencement
First M.D./Ph.D. Candidate to Graduate
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Atlanta - May 7, 2009 - Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) will celebrate its 25th graduating class during commencement exercises on Saturday, May 16, 2009.
MSM's commencement will be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at 830 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, Ga., beginning at 9 a.m.*
This year the 34-year-old institution will graduate its largest class and with 87 students: 56 will receive the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree; seven will become Doctors of Philosophy, 23 will receive the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree and two will be conferred with the Master of Science in Clinical Research. Additionally, Catherine Lewis will become the first MSM graduate to complete the M.D. and Ph.D. programs simultaneously.
John Ruffin, Ph.D., director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) will serve as this year's commencement speaker. Ruffin oversees the NCMHD budget of nearly $200 million. In addition, he provides leadership for the minority health and health disparities research activities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which constitutes an annual budget of $2.6 billion. He is a well-respected leader and visionary in the field of health disparities. As an academician and a scientist, he has devoted his professional career to improving the health status of racial and ethnic minorities and other medically underserved populations in the United States.
MSM will confer an honorary Doctor of Science degree upon Ruffin. Additionally, Ronnie B. Lancaster, senior vice president for government relations for Assurant Inc. will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Prior to his current position, Lancaster worked for MSM becoming senior vice president and chief operating officer. Before coming to MSM, he served under then-Secretary Louis W. Sullivan at the U.S. Department of Health and Human services in a number of roles including principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation.
What: Morehouse School of Medicine Twenty-Fifth Commencement Exercises
When: 9 a.m., Saturday, May 16, 2009
Where: Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, 830 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30314
MSM Commencement Stories
Bamidele Adesunloye, MD
Bamidele Adesunloye, MD, received an M.D. degree from the University of Ilorin College of Medicine in Nigeria and completed internal medicine residency training at MSM. Adesunloye became an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in 2006 and later enrolled in the Master of Science in Clinical Research (M.S.C.R.) program. During two years in the M.S.C.R. program, he has presented research projects at several local and national conferences. He was elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and received the Mary S. Harper research scholar award. Adesunloye will be joining the National Institutes of Health as a research fellow in July.
Alicia L. Best
Alicia L. Best, a native of Chicago, Ill., graduated Magna Cum Laude from Alabama State University in 2007, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Health Information Management. She will graduate from MSM with a Master of Public Health degree in Health Education and Health Promotion. Alicia served as the 2008-2009 Volunteer Coordinator for the MSM M.P.H. program. Alicia is also working as a regional research assistant trainee in the Institute for Faith-Health Leadership at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Ga. In this capacity, she participates in public health research through a continual collaboration with the ITC, MSM, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her present research involves examining health perceptions among a selected group of black women Christian congregants compared to reported health statistics of black women in the United States. Upon completion of her M.P.H. degree, Best will begin work on her doctorate in public health at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Health Education, Promotion and Behavior.
Nicholas Borm
Nicholas Borm was born in Atlanta, but spent his childhood in Naperville, Ill., living with his German immigrant parents. He grew up loving baseball and wanted to be a professional player until his second year at Indiana University when he was exposed to medicine while on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. He participated in a summer internship with famed MSM alumna Dr. Regina Benjamin at her Bayou Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., in the summer of 2006. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society as a third-year medical student. Borm will graduate Summa Cum Laude from MSM and will begin an emergency medicine residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Christina Douglass-Aldridge
Christina Douglass-Aldridge is from Warner Robbins, Ga., and attended MSM on a full scholarship from the Georgia State Medical Education Board and in exchange will practice primary care medicine in a rural, underserved area of Georgia. She was the president of the MSM Family Medicine Interest Group from 2005-2007 and has been active in HealthSTAT (Health Students Taking Action Together, Inc.) She hopes to someday open her family medicine practice in rural Georgia with her husband who is a nurse and like her also comes from "small town Georgia." Douglass-Aldridge will complete her residency in Family Medicine at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Ga.
Xaviera Estes
Xaviera Estes is the oldest of four girls from Houston, Texas. Her interest in medicine solidified at age 13 when a family friend who worked as a surgical technician took her to work on "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," where she observed activities on the labor and delivery floor. She knew then that she had a passion for obstetrics. Xaviera has excellent leadership skills having served in several roles such as president of the MSM Student Government, chapter president and secretary of the Student National Medical Association and a HealthSTAT board of directors' member. She exemplifies the mission of MSM having participated in the Global Health Organization Medical Mission trip to Tela, Honduras, AID Atlanta and Project Open Hand. She is the recipient of the prestigious American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' John Gibbons Student award in 2008. Estes was accepted in the obstetrics and gynecology residency program at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Ga.
Catherine Lewis
A Richmond, Virginia native, Catherine Lewis was one of only two black students in her magnet program in high school, where she was mentored by her science teacher. Lewis worked in research laboratories every summer in high school. Since she couldn't decide between medicine and research, she pursued both so she could better understand why her patients needed certain treatments and why they were susceptible to certain diseases. Lewis holds a bachelor's degree in biology and Afro-American Studies from the University of Virginia. Lewis wants to pursue a career in surgical oncology and translational research. She conducted research in MSM's Cancer Biology Program in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology under Dr. Veena Rao, where the focus was on the ongoing research on the structural and functional analysis of BRCA1 proteins. Lewis will begin MSM's surgery residency program in July.
Mario D. Ramsey, CHES
Mario Ramsey is a native of Pineville, SC and a 2005 graduate of Clemson University with a bachelor's degree in health science. He holds credentials as a Certified Health Education Specialist, and his professional experience includes work with the Georgia Department of Family and Child Services, the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as MSM's Prostate Cancer Research Program and Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved. He will complete his Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in health administration and policy. His graduate research explores the impact of social and environmental factors on suicidal ideation among young black men. Ramsey's long term goal is to work in the area of health policy; researching and creating effective health policies to adequately address men's health issues on the national level. After graduation, he will begin his career in health policy as a health care policy analyst for the U. S. Government Accountability Office; an organization whose mission is to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.
Sandra Rodriguez
Sandra Rodriguez hails from Marietta, GA and her parents were born in Puerto Rico. Her father is a pediatrician so she was exposed to medicine from a very young age. She has always known she wanted to be a physician. She is very active in community service helping those from less privileged backgrounds. She volunteered for Sight Savers, HealthSTAT, and was the founding president of the National Network of Latino American Medical Students, which helped establish the Dia de la Mujer Latina health fairs. She just returned from a mission trip to India in February. She also has a younger sister, Zahidee, who is a second-year M.D. student at MSM. Following commencement, S. Rodriguez will start her pediatric residency with Orlando Health in Orlando, Fla.
*Media Ops available before, during and following MSM 2009 Commencement |
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM), located in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1975 as the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College. In 1981 Morehouse School of Medicine became an independently chartered institution and the first minority medical school established at a Historically Black College and University in the 20th century. MSM is among the nation's leading educators of primary care physicians. Our faculty and alumni are noted in their fields for excellence in teaching, research and public policy, and are known in the community for exceptional, culturally appropriate patient care. For more information about Morehouse School of Medicine, visit us online at www.msm.edu. |
