UPDATES
SPRING COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES SIGNAL “RETURN TO NORMAL” On May 24, at the Mann Center in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, and on May 27, at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, Georgia, PCOM and PCOM Georgia graduated 270 and 130 DOs, respectively, in the College’s 130th Commencement. The ceremonies were once again held as in-person events after moving to virtual programs in the midst of the pandemic last year. These graduates will go on to join the more than 100,000 osteopathic physicians currently in practice in the United States. At the same time, PCOM Georgia held a combined Commencement ceremony for 83 Doctor of Pharmacy graduates and 33 Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates. The DPT Class of 2021 is the first class to graduate from PCOM’s physical therapy program. In Philadelphia, the graduates were addressed by Commencement keynote speaker and honorary degree recipient Daniel R. Taylor, DO ’97, FAAP, FACOP, associate professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and general pediatrician at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Burton T. Mark, DO, FACN; Theodore Paul Mauer, DO ’62, FAOCOO–HNS; and Abraham Zellis, DO ’56, were honored as professors emeriti. Also included in the program was a recognition of the generous $1 million bequest from David A. Bitonte, DO ’80, MBA, MPH, FAOCA, to establish the annual Commencement Speaker Series. Funds generated from the endowment go toward supporting the cost of a distinguished speaker at the College’s DO Commencement ceremony in Philadelphia. At PCOM Georgia, Commencement speakers, who all were awarded honorary degrees, included Richard H. Jadick, DO, who is considered the Iraq War’s most decorated physician. Christy M. Norman, PharmD, MS, BCPS, president-elect of the Georgia Society of Health-System Pharmacists, also spoke to the graduates. Addressing the inaugural physical therapy graduating class was Phillip B. Palmer, PT, PhD, the founding program chair, who retired at the end of the academic year. Mary P. Owen, JD, MS, PhD, was honored as professor emerita. “You were—and will continue to be—on the front lines: treating and caring for patients in the holistic manner that is part of your osteopathic heritage,” said Jay S. Feldstein, DO ’81, president and chief executive officer, in his address to the graduates. “Your dedication to healing will ensure that our healthcare system, as we begin to move into a post-pandemic world, will deliver on the unmet health and wellness needs of our society as a whole.” The events were also livestreamed on the College’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
2
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
