our class

i was googling a classmate's name and it brought me to these comments by one of our deans just before we began medical school. i just want to post it here so that i'll always remember. iusm will always have a special place in my heart.


WHITE COAT CEREMONY - AUGUST 'O5
Dr. Stephen Leapman's Closing Comments

Ladies and Gentlemen, you may have noted the music that accompanied our entrance into this beautiful auditorium. What you probably don't know is that the composer of this piece is sitting in the audience. He is Benjamin Lippincott and is one of very talented matriculants in the Class of 2009. Thank you Benjamin.

One of greatest joys and privileges I have as chair of the admissions committee is access to the stories that our students tell us regarding their reasons for choosing medicine and sharing their plans for the future. All medical school applicants are required to write personal statements and comments that will convince us why we should admit them to medical school. This past year there were 2,760 such stories shared with us, an increase of 25% over last year. Medical school applications are certainly on the rise.

The stories of the 280 students we matriculated are poignant, contemporary, and in many instances bring tears to my eyes. I see in them, the generous hearts and souls of the physicians of tomorrow, I see bright scientists and humanitarians, inspired by the past but armed with the technology of the future. I see a new physician emerging, one that will be a master over an ever expanding knowledge base but satisfied only if the humanistic approach to medicine is part and parcel of his or her practice.

With your permission I would like to share a few of these stories largely because I think they are representative of this Class of 2009. You have some remarkable people in your class, not just because of their scholastic aptitude but because they are just nice men and woman. Take Elizabeth Hay, a recent graduate from Northwestern University who is an ethicist, a physicist (and guys she understands auto mechanics better than most of us), and was a varsity member of the NW crew team, practicing on the Chicago river or in the basement of some dark forgotten gym before 5:30 every morning for 4 years. She relates the following story about the human touch of medicine:

The summer before my senior year of high school, my step father was diagnosed with a lung cancer. He had less than a year to live, even with the most aggressive treatments. My mother became his primary caregiver, and I gave what support I could. Mostly I just listened. She would often talk about how his doctors actually treated them like human beings with brains, or how some doctors just wanted to hustle them around like children while never explaining what was happening. I listened and I learned something quite unexpected. Above any other consideration that my parents held was that the doctors who gave them straight answers and compassion were the ones they most admired. It was more than ability; it was the ability to take the time and give my stepfather some control over his life and death. I came to understand that doctors are meant to do more than repair broken bodies, they are meant to comfort. My stepfather's death didn't cause me to make some grandiose plans about finding a cure for cancer. I'm not that naïve. What I took away from that hellish year was quieter and more personal. I took away a new resolve that I would be more than a good, competent doctor. I would be a doctor who listened and trusted with mutual respect. Elizabeth Hay will be at our Muncie campus.

Now let me tell you about Daniel Greene. Daniel is a non-traditional student; he's a graduate of Notre Dame University who served with our armed forces in Kuwait during the First Gulf war and later in Bosnia (and we thank you for your unselfish service to this country). He is a licensed EMT and found his way to medicine through the following poignant story. He writes:

I visited a mass grave near Srebrenica, Bosnia. The site was being excavated by the UN and guarded by US forces. The UN archeologist was an Australian professor, who warned us that what we were about to see was not for the faint of heart. Sgt. Alten, our driver, decided to wait in the Hummer. The forest gave way to a large clearing sectioned off with a white tape to make a grid over a large gray hole in the ground. The stench was horrible and stayed with me for weeks. The hole was filled with skeletons of women and children. They had been part of a mass execution during the conflict between the Muslims and the Serbs. In the days following that experience I realized I wanted to devote my life to healing, not destroying; not to tearing apart, but to making whole. Daniel will be at our Indianapolis Campus.

There are other stories that moved me and inspired me; like all the students who are trilingual or bilingual. We have students that are fluent in over 25 languages including Spanish and French, Korean, Ertu, Chinese, Swahili, Hebrew, Russian, Farsi, and one student, Jamin Yoder, who speaks fluent Pennsylvania Dutch. And we have Vera Vavinskiy, who came to the United States only three years ago from Belarus, speaking fluent Russian but no English. In three years she learned English, majored in Computer Science with an almost perfect GPA from IUPUI, applied to and was accepted into the Indiana University School of Medicine. Who says this isn't the land of opportunity and we don't have incredible students.

Take Allison Mayer, perfect GPA from Purdue, a Howard Hughes Scholar who has been pursuing her interests in molecular biology while exploring the effects of different cytokines on the level of BATH, an AP-1 transcription factor in t-lymphocytes. Allison, what does all that mean??

And not every one of you always knew they wanted to be physician. Some of you found this calling but only after looking at many other professions and jobs. Take Samuel Oyer, a very bright young man who started his college career at Washington University in St. Louis but wasn't sure which direction he wanted to head. He took some time off after his freshman year, worked in a cabinet factory learning to relate to people that were not the same as he; then he switched jobs to become an assistant for some moguls in an investment banking and advising firm, people who were really different than he. Realizing he wanted a career requiring plenty of thought and problem solving, but one that resulted in benefit to others, he chose medicine. He speaks fluent computerize.

Our students are incredibly talented, like John Krol, a music major who felt his original calling was to be an operatic singer but soon learned he had different talents as a nursing assistant and chose a path that led him to medicine. We have ball room dancers, flute, trumpet, violin, organ and piano players. This is a widely diverse class; there are African American, Hispanics, Asian, Native Americans, and Caucasians. We have small people and tall people, even a former IU basketball star in the class. Our age range goes from 17 to 44 (in fact, we have 3 matriculants over 40 in the Class of 2009 and an additional 10 who are over 30 something). 56% of you are men and 44% are women. Of the 92 counties in Indiana, 53 are represented in the Class of 2009. Fifteen percent of the Class comes from 18 states across this great nation of ours.

You are incredibly bright with overall GPA's of 3.68 and an average cumulative MCAT of over 29. More importantly, you are all nice, caring, warm people. Stay that way. Medicine needs you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if medicine is the profession of the heart and the soul of providing service, then this Class rightfully belongs in our profession.

Students: Please rise and face your relatives and friends.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I present to you the Indiana University School of Medicine Class of 2009.

Thank you for joining us today. Please remain seated while the class recesses and then join us for refreshments in the lobby.