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U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel speaks at the College of Medicine’s Honors Convocation and Hooding Ceremony on Thursday. |
The new doctors will join a generation of health care professionals that faces unprecedented challenges as society’s focus becomes more global, Hagel said.
And because physicians and other health care professionals provide a service to mankind that is second in necessity only to the bare essentials of food, water and oxygen, Hagel said the health care professionals are in a special position to help shape the world.
Making quality health care affordable and accessible to all will be among the major challenges the new generation of physicians face, Hagel said.
This will be particularly difficult in poverty stricken countries, Hagel said, but he believes the new generation of physicians will be up to the challenge.
Also during the convocation, Lloyd Holm, D.O., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology; and Jay Moore, M.D., professor of rheumatology in the department of internal medicine; each received a Hirschmann Prize for Teaching Excellence.
The Hirschmann Prize for Teaching Excellence is awarded annually to two outstanding College of Medicine faculty members — one clinical and one pre-clinical — who demonstrate a devotion to teaching.
The Hirschmann Prize was created through the generosity of College of Medicine alumni Dr. Jerome Hirschmann, Class of 1941, a retired cardiologist, and his son, Dr. Richard Hirschmann, Class of 1973, a pediatric anesthesiologist.