Dear Editor, Our daughter Michelle graduated from the University
of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine with an MD in
pediatrics on May 16.
Dear Editor,
Our daughter Michelle graduated from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine with an MD in pediatrics on May 16. What a great and proud day for our whole clan. She is a third generation of female physicians in our family. My mother-in-law Klara Prec – Oxford (England, not Mississippi), pediatrics, 1943, and my sister Miriam Yost – University of Southern California, psychiatry, 1968.
A lot happened during the ceremony but a few things stood out. When the class came out on stage, not unlike a herd of cats, my wife and I remarked, “They’re too young to be doctors.” The fact is, the youngest of this group was born in 1980 – Jimmy Carter was president, and Ronald Reagan was elected president. The original Star Wars was already a year old. Dr. Kildare or Ben Casey, MD, meant nothing to them but they were all “Scrubs” fans. Over a third of the class completed other advanced degrees while attending medical school including PhDs or masters of public health. A fourth of the class were parents.
Their first day of school was Sept. 10, 2001.
This is no ordinary medical school. Of the 5,500 students who were allowed to apply only 140 made it. Ranked number two in the nation behind Johns Hopkins, it is thus the highest rated public medical school in the country, perhaps the world. This school does not produce future medical millionaires, but is a core of the world’s source for innovative medical technology and research.
Slightly over half the class were women and slightly more than half of the faculty on stage were men.
The most honored student was inducted into the Gold-Headed Cane Society that originated in England in 1689. The Cane is meant to be passed on from recipient to recipient over the years and the tradition continued on this day. Upon closer inspection the Cane looked remarkably like a very fine putter. The announcement of the Gold-Headed Cane winner was made at a previous ceremony presided over by the current U.S. Surgeon General and Cane Society member, Dr. Richard Carmona, UCSF, 1980.
The convocation speaker was John C. McGinley, MFA (Masters of Fine Arts – my wife is a MFA) star of that most popular of TV shows, “Scrubs.” He spoke of untalkative dreams and how his knees were knocking being in a room with all these “real” doctors.
The dean of the school of medicine delivered the real messages of the day: 1) Keep politics out of the operating room, and 2) your life investment in medicine is non-refundable.
Although not explicitly stated, but certainly implied, was how would people like it if your surgeon wasn’t one of “your” people and performed accordingly?
Lastly, it was not the Oath of Hypocrites, but (I’m not making this up) the Oath of Louis Lasagna that was administered. It deals with the altruism of being a physician and treating the whole human, not the disease.
Alex Kennett, Morgan Hill
