Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2011

WELL WISHES SENIORS!

COMMENCEMENT

Graduation Date:	Friday, June 17th 2011
Place:	Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites, Downtown Augusta, Georgia

 

Summary: Commencement was held together with the 35th Annual Resident-Alumni Meeting at the The Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites in Augusta, Georgia.

The evening's activities began around 6:30 pm with our groups gradually moving to toward the banquet & festivities sometime thereafter. Drs. Nussbaum and Goei hosted the guest speakers and the graduates each sat with their families as groups. Many of the techs came to see the residents draw their education to a close as well.

After the dinner finished up Dr. Ulrich made his way to the podium and said a few words of thanks and congratulations. Drs. Khalifa and Sugar were presented with a small token of appreciation. One can figure that Dr. Khalifa did not imagine coming again to receive something from Dr. Ulrich after his 2008 graduation (McCormick, South Carolina). It was excellent to have him among us again for these two days.

During each alumni meeting awards are given for the top 3 (or 4) resident research presentations. The president of the alumni association gives these and this role was long been filled by Dr. Mac McLeod. He was unable to last year because of his bout with cancer. Most unfortunately Dr. McLeod passed away on January 20th, 2011 and we are sad to have lost this great member of and participant in our community. In light of this Dr. McGregor Lott assumed the presidency last year and has agreed to carrying on in this capacity. (Thanks, McGregor!) Dr. Nadeem Fatteh was awarded first place. Drs. Andrea Prosser & Emory Patterson tied for second and Dr. Alex Mammen took third.

Dr. Nussbaum gave his annual soliloquy to the residents. The topic was humility as the character of the 3 departing residents. These three were lauded for their humility but underlying strength. Dr. Ulrich called it reservered but opinionated in his portion of the evening. These well received lessons were good for us all.

The seniors did give their perspectives as well. They (Dr. Mammen especially) tried very hard to have the last word, but Dr. Ulrich was still able to overrule them (at least for a couple of more weeks!) and they had to do their talks before Dr. Ulrich's last word! Dr. Patterson spoke in a Q&A style. He asked, "Who is the most likely to wear green pants in clinic?" Dr. Brinkso was the answer. "Who is the least likely to own an iPhone?" Dr. Riffle. There were a lot of these exchanges and humor is clearly a great way to interact. Dr. Mammen came up next and spoke some words on each of the faculty. He said of Dr. Ulrich that there were a lot of phrases that he will not forget, e.g. calling all manner of things "puppies." The interchange was very respectful and well thought out. Dr. Mammen thanked many people from the department and said a number of especially kind things about the role of his parents in his life. Dr. Hershberger finished up and true to form went over things in a much more abbreviated but as always pleasant manner (she was the resident the techs cheered for).

The evening was very pleasant and we wish these residents well as they head off to private practice, fellowship and their careers!

The meeting began on Friday morning. There were 6 resident talks before the first half of the morning was completed (they say anxiety will make you speak quickly and these residents moved very quickly through their research). Dr. Sugar presented a summary of how we came to our current ethical stance in clinical research in his delivery of the 10th Annual David S. Hull Lectureship. The last of the resident presenters gave their talks in the early afternoon. Stem cell deficiency management and the corneal donor study were the topics brought to us by our guests after the break. It should be noted that this was our first resident-alumni day meeting with an alumnus (Dr. Yousuf Khalifa--Class of 2008) as an invitee. On Saturday morning Dr. Khalifa gave two talks and Dr. Sugar his final session. Herpes virus keratitis, uveitis and endothelial keratoplasty rounded out these subject matters.