Boisterous cheers, squeals and applause filled the Charles E. Smith Center on May 16 during the Milken Institute School of Public Health’s 2019 commencement ceremony.
Family, friends and faculty came to celebrate over 580 graduates who received bachelor, master and doctorate degrees in various public health concentrations.
Dean Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, provided welcoming remarks to the graduates and their loved ones, calling the graduates’ achievement “extraordinary” and their enthusiasm for public health “infectious.” Dean Goldman also noted the school’s research released over the academic year, including the 2018 report estimating excess mortality in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria.
“Our report had widespread impact and was covered in hundreds of national and international media outlets,” Dean Goldman said.
Student speaker Taiba Zahir, who graduated with a Master of Public Health in Global Health Epidemiology and Disease Control, encouraged her peers to “be revolutionaries” in their work.
“I challenge you to be unapologetically on the side of justice every day in your practice,” said Zahir, who will be working with the World Health Organization in Pakistan. “I challenge you to always bring an extra seat with you to the table for the voices of the marginalized.”
Keynote speaker LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, MD, MPH, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, spoke to graduates about her path in public health and the need to improve health outcomes for all, especially in vulnerable communities. Among the examples she discussed; working with healthcare professionals to improve maternal health, finding ways to help parents with newborns improve infant health and working with local school leaders to improve food access in D.C.
She encouraged graduates to be passionate, purposeful and to pursue excellence in their future endeavors.
“Our commitment to public health requires us to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, even when the choices seem difficult or unpopular,” Nesbitt said.
After Nesbitt’s speech, graduates walked across the stage and accepted their diplomas to roaring applause and cheers. A celebration held at Milken Institute SPH immediately followed the commencement ceremony.
Graduates could also attend the university-wide commencement ceremony, held on the National Mall on May 19. The commencement speaker was Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC’s Today morning news show.