Members of Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s third graduating class were officially welcomed into the medical community at Convocation ceremonies on Saturday, May 4, 2024. The newly minted medical doctors are poised to advance health care in new and challenging positions, bringing an innovator’s mindset to the next phase of their medical training.
In her address to graduates, Dr. Binita Ashar, Director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Surgical and Infection Control Devices in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), commended the spirit of resiliency that saw the class thrive, despite starting school during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ashar challenged members of the Class of 2024 to continue to be leaders, collaborators, and lifelong learners in their approach to medicine and patient-centered care.
CI MED graduates will have an opportunity to impact patients’ lives in 17 different medical specialties in 18 states where they have been chosen to serve as resident physicians starting in July. As a group, the Class of 2024 makes new inroads into complex specialties, including vascular surgery, interventional radiology, and dermatology. Graduates will serve at some of the nation’s top teaching hospitals and centers, including Stanford, UCLA, Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and Loyola University Medical Center.
David Krist, who came to CI MED with a PhD in chemistry, was selected as the 2024 recipient of the King Li, MD, MBA, Physician-Innovator Award, recognizing his work in developing chemotherapeutics for brain cancer and for helping to innovate MenoPatch, a transdermal patch that delivers personalized dosages of hormone replacement therapy to patients experiencing menopausal symptoms.
Mai Nguyen was selected as this year’s recipient of the James C. Leonard Gold-Headed Cane Award, considered the highest honor for a graduating medical student at Carle Illinois. She was honored for her exceptional dedication to patient care and for inspiring her classmates to new levels of excellence in their service to patients.
Members of the Class of 2024 have the option to participate in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s campuswide commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at Memorial Stadium.
Founded in 2015 as a collaboration between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Carle Health, Carle Illinois College of Medicine represents a new concept in the field of medical education. Innovation is the cornerstone of the college’s unique engineering-based curriculum, with an emphasis on human factors, design thinking, medical technologies, and entrepreneurship.
Editor’s note: You can watch the recording of Convocation ceremonies for the Class of 2024 here.