Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar has added 33 new doctors to its ranks.
The medical students in WCM-Q's Class of 2016 received their Cornell University medical degrees during commencement on May 4 at Hamad Bin Khalifa University Student Center at Education City. The new graduates join 223 other WCM-Q alumni who are currently working at hospitals in Qatar and around the world.
"Graduation is the highlight of the academic year, and it is the culmination and a celebration of everything that we strive for," said Dr. Javaid I. Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q. "It gives everyone at WCM-Q great pleasure to be able to address these young, talented people, as 'doctor' for the very first time."
Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Al Kuwari, minister for public health, with Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, and the 33 graduates from the Class of 2016.
"Everyone at WCM-Q is confident that these new doctors will be wonderful ambassadors for the college and Qatar," Dr. Sheikh added. "They will demonstrate to the wider world that the country's leadership is committed to excellence in education and unlocking human potential."
Student speaker Sally Elgazar addressed her fellow graduates — who will go on to their respective residencies in hospitals in the United States and Qatar, or take up research positions — challenging them to always keep the patient at the center of their work.
"It was Ghandi who said that science without humanity is one of the seven roots of evil," Dr. Elgazar said. "Similarly, medicine without empathy is the most basic reflection of that."
She then told her peers to imagine themselves in their patients' shoes. She said that by placing their parents or children in the situation as a patient, she posed an important question.
"Would we like ourselves, our parents, our children to be treated with the compassion and empathy they deserve, or would we like our physicians to be self-involved, frowning, and glowering at us while performing the most basic service?" Dr. Elgazar said. "If there's anything I can guarantee, it's that we'll all be patients at one point or another. We'll all need that empathy. And we'll all have a myriad of compassionate and alternatively indifferent doctors. So be what you would prefer yourself, your parents, and your children to have."
Qatar's minister for public health, Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Al Kuwari, U.S Ambassador Dana Smith, and Weill Cornell Medicine Dean Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher joined the graduates and their family and friends for commencement. Dr. Glimcher told the students to always focus on their patients and to always strive for new knowledge.
"Whether you end up working at the bedside or in a lab, becoming an ophthalmologist or an orthopedic surgeon," said Dr. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean. "Remember that the patient is always the motivation for your efforts — and your source of inspiration. As you gain specialized skills, technical expertise and a deep base of knowledge, never stop trying new things or asking questions."