Graduation Ceremony for the Class of 2012

WELL WISHES SENIORS!

Commencement

Graduation Date:	Friday, June 22nd 2012
Place:	River Room Saint Paul's Church, Downtown Augusta, Georgia

 

Summary: The class of 2012 was the 49th commencement for the Department of Ophthalmology.

Traditionally, this meeting is held in conjunction with the Resident Alumni Meeting, but that portion of the meeting was joined to the Vision Discovery Institute's (VDI) annual scientific meeting which occurred in March of 2012.

We moved to an historic location this year in the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church of downtown Augusta. St. Paul's was started in 1750 by the Church of England and has been active since that time. The current building is the 5th for this church and was built after the fourth was destroyed in the Great Augusta Fire of 1916. It is located along the Savannah River riverwalk near 5th street.

In typical fashion a reception was held for the family and friends of the graduates. This was very pleasant and much engaging was had all around. We have not had operating room staff too typically, but they, along with a number of the ophthalmic techs and front desk staff were on hand to see those whom we had all worked with for three years formally complete their term with us.

Dr. McGregor Lott, Alumni President, spoke for a few minutes. He summarized the proceedings and goals of the Alumni Association and welcomed the three graduates of the Class of 2011 who also were on hand for the evening. Typically, there are research awards given for the top talks, but as the resident talks were delivered during the VDI meeting the alumni were not able to judge the talks. These will likely commence again in the following academic year.

Dr. Nussbaum took the podium after Dr. Lott drew to a close and gave thanks to the many people who made the education possible for the residents as well as to those who set up this meeting. He then delivered his well assembled encouragement for life and living that he is well known for.

The three seniors each gave a short talk of thanks to the department for their lessons learned in their time with us. This as usual was a meaningful and sometimes tearful event. Dr. Walsh mentioned one of the patients she had grown to know at the VA. She had actually invited him to the ceremony. Her comments about this gentleman and the impact he had had upon her embody what it means to be a physician. Dr. Prosser spoke of the times she had had and that she was looking forward to joining the department while her husband completes his ENT residency. Dr. Fatteh was the only senior who drew close to a roast. The thing that stood out most was how the chairman's parking spot is used. Dr. Fatteh drew attention to the infrequency with which he actually sees Dr. Nussbaum's car there and did so by showing in a bar graph form how Dr. Ulrich's car may be seen there and in general how much more often Dr. Goei's car sits there! This was fairly humorous and well received by all involved.

Dr. Ulrich closed out the evening by giving a short summary of the style of each of the residents. Dr. Fatteh he commented as being a hard worker, making an impact, and having great integrity. He was also noted for having top notch presentations and graduating only 13 years after his father completed his residency with us in 1999. Dr. Walsh was mentioned to be most notable for her character. She was very gracious, did not complain, was genuine and had a most evident camaraderie with her colleagues. Dr. Prosser was noted for working well under pressure, being accurate with diagnoses, efficient and as chief resident was felt to be approachable by her peers. Dr. Fatteh will be in fellowship at Ann Arbor. Dr. Walsh is heading to a pediatrics fellowship at Albert Einstein and Dr. Prosser will join our faculty for a year.

While we did not have resident talks Dr. John Hovanesian came to us from Harvard Eye Associates in Laguna Beach, California. He gave three talks to our department. The first two were very insightful talks on advances in cataract and pterygium surgery. The final talk was very germane to residency as it dealt with contracting and transitioning to post-residency ophthalmology. We have not had this type of talk during the graduation/alumni weekend type events in the recent past. It was done in an interactive style and was quite useful.