Student Clinicians Ceremony 2018
©FSilvestryMD / twitter
In 2018, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania partnered with the Penn Gold Humanism Honor Society to host the school’s first Student Clinicians Ceremony. This was done with the intention of creating a space for students to reflect on their intentions and reasons for pursuing medicine before beginning their clinical year. The second year medical class nominated Penn cardiologist Dr. Frank Silvestry to lead them in a re-citation of the Declaration of Geneva. Additionally, Penn GHHS chapter members Vidya Viswanathan and Alex Azan spoke at the event to provide second year medical students with messages of encouragement and wisdom, having finished their clinical year one year prior. Please refer to the links below to read their speeches.
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Counting the Victories That Matter Most by Vidya Viswanathan
“Acts of kindness, of generosity, of humility in your relationships with patients and their families, these are the victories that are not measured or witnessed—but they are the ones that will stay with you, that will remind you of why you are studying, why you are sleep-deprived, and why you belong here. Whether your patients thank you or not, you will know that your being there has helped them. And helping did not take any superhuman feat of studying. It simply took being human".”
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The Value of Vulnerability, A Letter to Medical Students for the Clinical Year by Alex Azan
“This ability to create spaces of vulnerability—by sharing and believing in our own—is not a skill set that I claim ownership of; it’s a skill that connects and is within us all. So, as you prepare to start a transformative year of learning from your patients, their families, residents, attendings, and fellow students, remember this space within you, which contains your truths and reasons for pursuing medicine.”