Columbia University Medical Center Celebrates 2006 Commencement

NEW YORK, NY (May 17, 2006) - The Classes of 2006 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Mailman School of Public Health, College of Dental Medicine and School of Nursing – the four schools that comprise Columbia University Medical Center – graduate this week and move on to become leaders in their medical fields.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) graduation commencement speaker will be Atul Gawande, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, and a frequent contributor to the New Yorker magazine, where he has been a staff writer since 1998. Dr. Gawande is also a gastrointestinal surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He has published influential research studies in areas ranging from surgical technique to U.S. military care for the wounded to error and performance in medicine. His bestselling book “Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002 and is published in more than a hundred countries.

At the P&S commencement, the president of the graduating class, Rebekah Hofstra, will present the P&S Teacher of the Year Award. This year the honor will be awarded posthumously to Steven Z. Miller, M.D. and will be accepted by his wife, Dodi Meyer, M.D. Marc L. Dickstein, M.D., associate professor of clinical anesthesiology at P&S, has been awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, a Columbia University award.

Helene D. Gayle, MD, MPH, president of CARE, USA, will speak at the Mailman School of Public Health commencement. Dr. Gayle will receive the Mailman School of Public Health's 2006 Dean's Distinguished Service Award, in recognition of her overall leadership, management and direction of one of the world's premier international relief and development organizations. As president of CARE USA, Dr. Gayle works to advance positive, enduring social change, as well as help millions of people recover from natural disasters and other acute emergencies, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and gain access to healthcare, education, safe water, and improved sanitation.

Nobel Prize-winning writer Wole Soyinka, Ph.D., will speak at the commencement for the College of Dental Medicine. A native of Nigeria, Dr. Soyinka is the author of plays, novels, poetry, essays and a memoir, and became the first African to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

The School of Nursing will award the Second Century Award for Excellence in Health Care to Karen G. Davenport, EdD, RN, associate in nursing education for the New York State Education Department, and to Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, FAAN, FAANP, dean and professor emerita, University of Rochester School of Nursing.

2006 Columbia University Medical Center Graduates

Thirty of the 164 graduating students from the College of Physicians and Surgeons took a year off during medical school to pursue medical research projects. Forty-five percent of graduates are women. Thirteen are graduating with dual M.D./Ph.D. degrees; 5 with dual M.D./MPH; 3 with dual M.D./M.B.A. and 1 with dual M.D./D.D.S. degrees. Almost 40 percent will remain in New York City.

Based on the graduating classes of 2004 and 2005, approximately 50 percent of the 174 student members of Mailman School Class of 2006 are expected to find work with public health agencies. A quarter is expected to find employment in academic and research institutions. The remaining quarter is expected to find jobs either with not-for-profit institutions or with consulting, pharmaceuticals, and other for-profit institutions.

Of the 89 students graduating from the College of Dental Medicine, 81 of them are continuing on to residency programs, far more than any other dental school in the country. Residencies are not required to be a practicing dentist, but allow students to become highly trained specialists. Five graduates of the school will join the uniformed services.

The School of Nursing will graduate 130 nurse practitioners in 11 different nursing specialties, as well as nine research-focused doctoral students from the Doctor in Nursing Science program and five from the doctor of nursing practice program. Many of the doctoral students are going on to academia, research positions and postdoctoral positions, and some have been recruited to stay at Columbia.

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Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders in health care and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Mailman School of Public Health, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. www.cumc.columbia.edu

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Dental Medicine, Mailman School, MPH, Nobel Prize, RN