Third-year medical students transition to clinical focus

As 108 second-year medical students promised in unison to always have empathy and respect for their patients, the oath marked the biggest turning point in their four years of medical school – their transition from what has been primarily classroom learning of their second year to more clinical and hospital settings where they will interact with patients in their third year.

Clinicians Ceremony celebrating the transition from academic to clinical education.

The annual Student Clinician Ceremony for Morsani College of Medicine students signifies the next step in their medical education. This year’s event was held May 8 in the USF School of Music Concert Hall. The group of 108 represented a portion of the 175 student in the Class of 2017.

Messages for these new third-year students focused on caring, listening, and learning. Providing the Humanism and Leadership in Medicine address was Stephen Palmieri. The keynote speaker was Steven Specter, PhD, associate dean for MCOM Alumni Relations and Advancement, who offered 10 steps for success for this group to prepare them for “the greatest learning curve of your life.”

And current third-year medical student Casey Nagel provided insight in the year ahead for the group with the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching address.

In addition, several awards were presented, including teaching awards for five resident physicians for their exceptional effort for inspiring students to be more. They are Miriah Gillispie, MD (primary care), Lowell Dawson, MD (internal medicine), Christina Paidas-Teefey, MD (maternal newborn/inpatient pediatrics), Eihab Akary, MD (general surgery), and Kristie Jetter, MD (psychiatry and neurology).

The awards are provided by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which also provides a grant that supports the Clinicians Ceremony.

Students selected their classmate Shelby Register to receive the Student Teacher Award.

Shelby Register earns the Student Teacher Award.

And 27 students were acknowledged for outstanding efforts across their first two years of medical school, exhibiting ‘sustained excellence’ throughout their coursework. While 19 were honored at the ceremony in Tampa, eight students were honored at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, as part of the SELECT program.

The 19 students in Tampa included Kyle Achors, Robert Ackerman, Himanshu Ajrawat, Nigel Arruda, Matthew Beattie, Luis Gonzalez, Michael Hernandez, Michelle Hummel, Brennan Hyler, Edward Keshishian, Thuy-Quynh Le, Mayssan Muftah, Holly O´Brien, Sabrina Prabakaran, George Richard, Shea Taylor, Cady Welch, Matthew Witzel and Yumeng Zhang.

The eight students in Allentown included Steven Baltic, Carly Crowder,Tiana Dalton, Thanhnga Doan, Alexander Guillaume, Matthew Ho, Kathleen McFadden and Andrew Steele.