Brown Logo

The News Service
38 Brown Street / Box R
Providence RI 02912

401 863-2476
Fax 863-9595

Distributed May 20, 2004
Contact Mark Nickel



News
The 236th Commencement
Jonathan Doris, M.D., ‘Scrubs’ advisor, to address M.D. graduating class

Jonathan Doris, M.D., former resident in internal medicine at Brown and current technical consultant to the NBC sitcom “Scrubs,” will address the medical graduating class at 8:45 a.m. Monday, May 31, 2004, in the First Unitarian Church. George Goslow Jr., professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will deliver the faculty address, and Kerri Nottage, a candidate for the M.D. degree, will deliver the student address. (The text of Doris’s address is available online.)


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jonathan Doris, a former resident in internal medicine at Brown Medical School (1998-2001), will deliver the Commencement address at the Medical School Commencement Ceremony, 8:45 a.m. Monday, May 31, 2004, in the First Unitarian Church. Doris, now a cardiology fellow at Kaiser Permanente Hospital (UCLA), currently serves as a medical advisor for the NBC sitcom “Scrubs” and provides inspiration for the lead character John Dorian (JD). He will deliver an address titled “My Residency Is a Re-run.”

The M.D. Class of 2004 will also hear an address from George E. (Ted) Goslow Jr., titled “Never Run from a Cheetah.” Goslow, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown, is an authority on animal locomotion and the evolution of bird flight. He was one of the first lecturers the graduates encountered during their first year of medical school, and he made a lasting impression: The M.D. Class of 2004 has selected Goslow to receive its Senior Citation, the most prestigious award a faculty member can receive from the M.D. graduating class. The citation will be presented during the Commencement ceremony.

Kerri Nottage, a Rhode Island native and member of the M.D. Class of 2004, will address her classmates on the theme “Reflections from a Suitcase.” Nottage, who was a Class of 2004 advocate in the Medical Student Senate, received the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award this year. She will begin the Brown Medical School’s combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Rhode Island Hospital.

Following the Commencement addresses, Interim Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Richard W. Besdine, M.D., will administer the Physician’s Oath. The wording was created by the M.D. Class of 1975, the first class to graduate from Brown Medical School. It has been used in Commencements ever since.

Senior Citation

The M.D. Class of 2004 will present its Senior Citation to George E. (Ted) Goslow Jr. , professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, during the Medical School Commencement ceremony. The graduates express their thanks in the citation text:

We honor you today for the dedication that you showed to this class. During our first lecture in medical school, you established a foundation of mutual respect, treating us as your colleagues by telling us to address you by your first name, as you addressed us. The sentiment in this single gesture was borne out in all of your interactions with us. We looked to you as a model for how to professionally interact with our peers. Your commitment to education was clear. You inserted EMG needles in your biceps, stayed late in the night to teach the class, and devoted individual time to each student. Your gentle guidance displayed the depth of your concern for our education, and it instilled in us confidence in our knowledge. We can only hope to begin to match your devotion, enthusiasm, and professionalism. Having introduced us to medical school, it is only fitting that you are now seeing us off on our next journey. This award recognizes our appreciation of your dedication to teaching, and it acknowledges your enrichment of our medical education.

######


News Service Home  |  Top of File  |  e-Subscribe  |  Brown Home Page