UA Health Sciences Colleges 2019 Convocations
Details about the ceremonies.
PLEASE NOTE: Media are welcome to cover these events, which are open to graduates and their families and friends only, not the general public. Media are asked to remain in the audience area. To make arrangements to cover these events, please contact the appropriate media contacts listed below.
MONDAY, MAY 6
UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Commencement
3:30 to 5 p.m.
Orpheum Theatre
203 W. Adams St., Phoenix
(Procession from the Phoenix Convention Center to the Orpheum Theatre begins at 3 p.m., led by the Phoenix Bagpipe Band; UA President Robert C. Robbins, MD, will participate in the procession and will offer remarks during commencement. The commencement address will be delivered by Banner Health President and CEO Peter Fine.)
MEDIA CONTACT: For credentials, Marian Frank, 602-827-2022, marianlfrank@email.arizona.edu
The UA College of Medicine – Phoenix Class of 2019 includes 67 graduates. Fifty percent will pursue primary care fields and more than a third will stay in Arizona for their residency training.
Banner Health President and CEO Peter Fine will deliver the commencement speech. Fine has led Banner through a significant transformation since he was named to lead Arizona’s largest health-care system in 2000. Under Fine’s direction, Banner negotiated a 30-year academic affiliation agreement with the University of Arizona. The agreement included a $1.2 billion investment in capital projects and support for clinical enterprises at the University of Arizona Health Sciences.
Graduating senior Aishan Shi, who will pursue a residency in internal medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, will deliver the student address.
Inspirational 2019 UA College of Medicine – Phoenix graduates include:
Luce Kassi: phoenixmed.arizona.edu/about/news/match-day-student-profile-luce-kassi
Jamil Jaber: phoenixmed.arizona.edu/about/news/match-day-student-profile-jamil-jaber
Omar Hussain: phoenixmed.arizona.edu/about/news/match-day-student-profile-omar-mohammad-hussain
Roshan Panchanathan: phoenixmed.arizona.edu/about/news/match-day-student-profile-roshan-panchanathan
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8
UA Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs and UA College of Medicine – Tucson Biomedical Sciences Convocation
6 to 7:30 p.m.
Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, DuVal Auditorium
1501 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson
(Reception follows at about 7:30 p.m. on the plaza outside the hospital.)
MEDIA CONTACT: Jean Spinelli, 520-626-2531, cell phone 520-465-4193, jspinell@email.arizona.edu
This 14th annual ceremony honors 2018-2019 graduates receiving doctoral and master’s degrees from graduate programs in the biological and biomedical sciences offered by the UA Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDP) and the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
Steven D. Schwartz, PhD
The invited speaker is Steven D. Schwartz, PhD, UA Regents’ Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Department of Applied Mathematics.
Students receive a traditional “hooding” to mark the years of extraordinary effort and determination in pursuit of their graduate degrees.
The graduate programs of the UA College of Medicine – Tucson Departments of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology and Clinical Translational Sciences will participate.
UA GIDPs participating in this year’s convocation are Applied Biosciences, Arid Lands Resource Sciences, Cancer Biology, Entomology and Insect Science, Neuroscience and Physiological Sciences.
The GIDPs transcend departmental boundaries by facilitating interdisciplinary research and education, allowing the fusion of ideas, techniques and expertise from the traditional academic fields that provide for the evolution of modern and imaginative methods of research, and the creation of new fields of endeavor.
THURSDAY, MAY 9
UA College of Nursing Convocation
2 to 3:30 p.m.
Centennial Hall
1020 E. University Blvd.
UA Main Campus, Tucson
MEDIA CONTACT: Will Holst, 520-626-2512, cell phone 520-822-6650, wholst@email.arizona.edu
Graduates will receive baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees in nursing, and faculty awards will be presented. The College will award 51 baccalaureate (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), 31 graduate (Master of Science in Nursing Clinical Systems Leadership Systems), six PhD (Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing) and 22 DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) degrees.
Established in 1957, the UA College of Nursing is among the nation’s top nursing schools. The College is recognized for excellence in educating entry and advanced practice nurse leaders to deliver comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate health care; shape health policy for individuals, families, communities and care systems; and advance nursing science through innovative research, technology and collaboration.
Inspirational 2019 UA College of Nursing graduates include Angelina Nguyen (PhD in Nursing); her profile is available on the UAHS Office of Public Affairs website at UA Health Sciences Convocations 2019: Meet Some of the Graduates.
THURSDAY, MAY 9
UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation: Doctors of Medicine
7 to 8:30 p.m.
Centennial Hall
1020 E. University Blvd.
UA Main Campus, Tucson
(The commencement address will be delivered by UA President Robert C. Robbins, MD. Light reception follows at approximately 8:30 p.m. on the lawn of the Arizona State Museum, across from Centennial Hall.)
This event also will be livestreamed beginning at 7 p.m. on the college’s Facebook page, http://facebook.com/UACOMTucson
MEDIA CONTACT: Nadia Whitehead, 915-276-6803, nwhitehead@email.arizona.edu
The ceremony includes, in order:
Procession of graduates into Centennial Hall
Welcome remarks
Remarks by 2018 Alumnus of the Year
Class speaker address
Keynote address
Hooding
Recitation of the Hippocratic Oath
Closing
Recessional
Reception
The UA College of Medicine – Tucson Class of 2019 includes 102 graduates: 52 women and 50 men, ranging in age from 26 to 42.
One member of the class will receive a dual MD-MBA degree, a program offered in partnership with the UA Eller College of Management. Another will receive a dual MD-MPH degree through the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
The Class of 2019 also includes the first cohort of graduates—six students—from the UA Pre-Medical Admissions Pathway (P-MAP) program. Established in 2014, the P-MAP program introduces highly qualified, underrepresented students to the pursuit of medical education. Upon completion of P-MAP, students earn a master’s degree in cellular and molecular medicine from the UA and automatically are accepted into the College of Medicine – Tucson.
Thirty-six graduates will go into primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics). Forty percent of the class will pursue residencies in Arizona.
Irving Kron, MD, interim dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson and UA Health Sciences senior associate vice president, will deliver the welcome remarks and lead the graduating students in reciting the Hippocratic Oath.
Additional remarks will be delivered by the 2018 Alumnus of the Year Kevin Moynahan, MD, who currently serves as the college’s deputy dean for education.
UA President Robert C. Robbins
Medical student Brady Laughlin will serve as the class speaker; he will pursue residency training in radiation oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
Keynote speaker will be UA President Robert C. Robbins, MD. Dr. Robbins is an internationally recognized cardiac surgeon who has focused his clinical efforts on acquired cardiac diseases with a special expertise in the surgical treatment of congestive heart failure and cardiothoracic transplantation.
Inspirational 2019 UA College of Medicine – Tucson graduates include Nathan Sherman (orthopaedic surgery residency), Marisela Mariscal (family medicine residency) and Julie Tomkins (psychiatry); their profiles are available on the UAHS Office of Public Affairs website at UA Health Sciences Convocations 2019: Meet Some of the Graduates.
FRIDAY, MAY 10
UA College of Pharmacy Convocation
9 to 10:30 a.m.
Centennial Hall
1020 E. University Blvd.
UA Main Campus, Tucson
(Reception follows at about 10:30 a.m. on the lawn of the Arizona State Museum, across from Centennial Hall.)
This event also will be broadcast live and archived on the Internet at Facebook.com/UACollegeofPharmacy and bit.ly/copconvo2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Alli Benjamin, 520-626-3389, cell phone 509-230-3520, abenjamin@pharmacy.arizona.edu
PharmD, MS and PhD graduates of the College—currently rated as the 16th in the nation among colleges of pharmacy in America’s Best Graduate Schools compiled by U.S. News and World Report and 10th in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding—will be hooded. Nearly 120 PharmD students and eight graduate students will take part in the ceremony.
The PharmD Class of 2019 is comprised of 59 women and 57 men, ranging in age from 22 to 42. Forty-nine percent of the graduates identify as an underrepresented ethnicity.
The college’s graduate programs will confer eight degrees: three doctorates (PhDs) in pharmacology and toxicology, four PhDs in pharmaceutical sciences and one Master of Science in pharmaceutical sciences.
The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy is the premier pharmacy college in the Southwest, and one of the top in the nation, focused on drug discovery, toxicology, pharmaceutics, outcomes sciences, pharmaceutical education and research through interprofessional training and collaborative public/private partnerships. Preparing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in undergraduate, professional, graduate and post-doctoral programs, the college embraces an entrepreneurial spirit, providing tailored educational opportunities to broaden students’ experiences. As the first health sciences college at the University, the college has a long history of improving science and health both in Arizona and around the world. For more information, visit pharmacy.arizona.edu
FRIDAY, MAY 10
UA College of Medicine – Tucson Convocation: undergraduates, Department of Physiology, Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in physiology
2 to 4 p.m.
UA Student Union Memorial Center, Grand Ballroom
1303 E. University Blvd.
UA Main Campus, Tucson
(Reception follows at approximately 4 p.m.)
MEDIA CONTACT: Jean Spinelli, 520-626-2531, cell phone 520-465-4193, jspinell@email.arizona.edu
Graduating seniors receiving the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree with a major in physiology will be recognized. Various awards will be presented.
SATURDAY, MAY 11
UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health Convocation
9 to 11 a.m.
Centennial Hall
1020 E. University Blvd.
UA Main Campus, Tucson
(Reception for graduates, family and friends follows at the Women’s Plaza Walkway.)
This event will be broadcast on Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/UAPublicHealth
MEDIA CONTACT: Gerri Kelly, 520-626-9669, cell phone 312-437-7007, gkelly@email.arizona.edu
The college will award 191 Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees with a major in public health; seven Online BS degrees with a major in public health; 69 Master of Public Health (MPH) degrees, of which seven students received dual MD-MPH degrees offered jointly by the UA Colleges of Medicine in Tucson and Phoenix and the Zuckerman College of Public Health; 17 Online MPH degrees; seven Master of Science (MS) degrees in biostatistics; one MS degree in environmental health sciences; one MS degree in epidemiology; two Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) degrees in public health policy and management; three PhD degrees in biostatistics; one PhD degree in epidemiology; and two PhD degrees in health behavior health promotion.
Established in 2000, the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health is the first nationally accredited college of public health in the Southwest. Today the college remains the only accredited college of public health in Arizona with campuses in Tucson and Phoenix. The college enrolls more than 1,100 students per year across degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. Through research, education and community engagement, the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health continues to find solutions to public health problems in Arizona, the Southwest and globally.
Inspirational 2019 UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health graduates include Linda McCallister, Omar Contreras, Priscila Ruedas and Magdiel Habila; their profiles are available on the UAHS Office of Public Affairs website at “UA Health Sciences Convocations 2019: Meet Some of the Graduates.”