Commencement 2024: A Day of Achievement and Celebration
By Office of the President | May 23, 2024
SUNY Downstate graduates excel in leadership roles that transcend classroom and clinical preparation, making significant impacts in diverse fields. One notable alumna has served as Director of Human and Health Services Region Two, where she championed health equity in reproductive care, mental health, and opioid misuse treatment.
I was delighted to present Dara Kass, M.D., our distinguished keynote speaker, with the Ailanthus Award. A proud 2003 graduate of medicine, Dr. Kass exemplifies the persistent characteristics of the ailanthus altissima plant that grows in sidewalk cracks, on rooftops, near rocks, or anywhere where it gains a foothold.
As a vocal advocate for those most affected by the disparities and inequities of healthcare policies, Dr. Kass embodies these traits at the nexus of policy, politics, and people. Even while fighting COVID herself, she focused on her staff and patients, highlighting the challenges that healthcare workers faced, including the shortage of protective gear and the gut-wrenching decisions of who could best be saved under dire circumstances.
In addition to supporting public health issues such as gun violence and access to reproductive healthcare, she was also her son’s living liver donor when he was diagnosed with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Dr. Kass is also a firm believer in reforming organ donation policies and increased access to life-saving transplants and an equally strong advocate for gender equality in emergency medicine and the nationwide fight against sexual harassment in healthcare.
I was also humbled to confer two honorary Doctor of Science degrees. The first was conferred upon Samuel Waxman, M.D., founder and CEO of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, a 1963 Downstate graduate.
Dr. Waxman is globally recognized for pioneering effective cancer therapies and advancing our understanding of how cancer cells grow, develop, and metastasize. Thanks to his groundbreaking work, the survival rate for acute promyelocytic leukemia, once considered 100 percent fatal, has soared to 95 percent through the development of effective treatments for this rare cancer.
Dr. Samuel Waxman, a brilliant scientist and generous philanthropist, is the founder of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, which bridges the gap between the bench and the bedside. Dr. Waxman’s philanthropic efforts have engendered more than $100M for cancer research, supporting the work of more than 200 scientists globally.
The second honorary Doctorate of Science was conferred upon M. Roy Wilson, M.D. M.S., President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
A distinguished leader in higher academic medicine and ophthalmology, Dr. Wilson ensured educational opportunities for minority and disadvantaged students, resulting in the tripling of graduation rates of Black students, engaged students in civic and community engagement, and governmental leadership. As Deputy Director for Strategic Scientific Planning and Program Coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health, he coordinated equity and health disparities research. As an Ophthalmology expert, Dr. Wilson has conducted research on glaucoma and blindness in West Africa, the Caribbean, and underserved communities in the United States.
In a nod to Dr. Wilson’s upbringing, in his book, “The Plum Tree Blossoms Even in Winter,” he shares his experiences of trauma and adversity growing up in a bi-racial, economically disadvantaged family in Japan before moving to the United States.
Equally crucial to the day of celebration is an excellent word of thanks and gratitude to the faculty, staff, family, friends, and loved ones of our graduates. Your support and encouragement were vital as they worked through the last four years in the uncertainty of a pandemic no one could have foreseen.
I am incredibly grateful to you all and to all of the other supporting cast members at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University who helped make the classroom and clinical learning experiences possible for the next generation of healthcare leaders.
