Academic Societies

2021 May 27

Graduation

(All day)

Location: 

Virtual

Graduation is a day of ceremony and celebration at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. Students are granted the MD and any other advanced degrees they have earned, they are hooded, and they receive their diplomas.

Graduation traditionally consists of two parts: the Commencement Ceremony and Class Day.

Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a virtual event for Harvard University’s 370th Commencement will be held on...

Read more about Graduation
HMS graduating MD students Parisa Fallah and Gavin Ovsak sit together in wedding attire looking at a laptop computer. Image: Khin-Kyemon Aung

Real Vows, Virtual Wedding

May 13, 2020

Graduating HMS students hold marriage ceremony in midst of COVID-19 pandemic.

It was an April wedding unlike anything they had ever imagined. 

Given the dangerous pandemic threatening the world right now, Parisa Fallah and Gavin Ovsak wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim standing side-by-side arms crossed. Image: Hikma Health

Building Software to Screen for Covid-19 Symptoms in Refugee Camps

May 4, 2020
Brothers Hassaan Ebrahim, a student at Harvard Kennedy School, and Senan, a third-year Harvard Medical School student, founded Hikma Health, a nonprofit that builds software for organizations providing health care to refugee populations. ⠀

“Our family is Syrian — our mother immigrated to the U.S. back in the ’70s to go to MIT. The Syrian refugee crisis was very personal for us,” says Hassaan.⠀

Hikma Health’s new software allows patients to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms in refugee camps. Keeping in mind that health care workers using this solution would be in areas with low... Read more about Building Software to Screen for Covid-19 Symptoms in Refugee Camps
HMS student Bliss Chang presenting his scholarly project on a virtual platform.

Unstoppable Science

April 6, 2020

80th Soma Weiss Student Research Day held virtually.

The annual forum, sponsored by the HMS Scholars in Medicine Office, provides students with an opportunity to present their scholarly work and share their findings with faculty and fellow students through poster sessions. Posters and abstracts in the research categories of basic science, clinical/translational, global and community, and health and medicine in society were all made available online this year.

Shyam K. Akula

Promising New American Physician-Scientists

April 14, 2020

Five HMS students receive 2020 Soros Fellowships.

Shyam Kiran Akula was born in Arcadia, California, to Indian parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Kuwait when they were forced to leave due to the Gulf War. Akula majored in neurobiology at Washington University in St. Louis and worked in a pediatric neurology clinic at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, developing a passion for investigating rare diseases and caring for families afflicted with these conditions.

An MD/PhD candidate, Akula received the 2017-2019 Harvard Stem Cell Institute Medical Scientist Training...

Read more about Promising New American Physician-Scientists
Coronavirus in the lungs. Image: selvanegra/iStock/Getty Images

A COVID-19 Curriculum

April 14, 2020

HMS MD students create online curriculum adopted globally.

“It’s spread beyond all our initial dreams and hopes, and it’s amazing to see the impact we’ve been able to make,” said HMS student Michael Kochis who, together with a group of about 25 to 30 fellow HMS students, set about creating a COVID-19 curriculum. It was initially conceived as a resource to be shared with fellow classmates or other local health care providers. 

Kristen Scott holding up her Match Day results while celebrating in Michigan with a friend.

From Envelopes to Emails

March 25, 2020

Virtual Match Day captures joy, purpose for HMS 2020 graduates.

“This is not the Match Day that any of us expected — even a week ago,” said David Clossey to his Harvard Medical School (HMS) classmates who joined more than 300 faculty, staff, family and friends on a March 20 videoconference.

Option to Serve

Option to Serve

March 28, 2020

This year’s graduating Harvard Medical School students will have the option to receive their diplomas early so that, if they choose, they can quickly be deployed into hospitals where regular staff might soon be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Three HMS students singing.

HMS Students Mobilize

March 24, 2020

HMS MD students form COVID-19 rapid response teams to provide support, information.

With more than 50,000 patients admitted annually and millions of outpatient visits each year, Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the nation’s premier hospitals and biomedical research facilities, is an extremely busy place.

Adding the new coronavirus pandemic to the mix is expected to exponentially increase patient demand at the Harvard Medical School affiliate, and officials at Mass General and other HMS affiliated hospitals have been working diligently to prepare for an...

Read more about HMS Students Mobilize
HMS students examine a pediatric patient at Boston Children's Hospital. Image: Gretchen Ertl

'Know Thyself'... and Seek Advising

March 5, 2020

HMS career advising program offers four years of support.

How does a medical student choose a clinical specialty? The ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” is sage advice that may help future doctors find their calling, but it’s only a starting point, some medical educators say.

J.C. Panagides (left) and Mitchell Winkie moving out of Vanderbilt Hall on March 13. Image: Steve Lipofsky

Homeward Bound

March 17, 2020

HMS academic, research community responds to COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Harvard Medical School students, toting large suitcases, waited in the lobby of Vanderbilt Hall for their ride to Logan International Airport. First-year student J.C. Panagides was headed to Sterling, Virginia. Mitchell Winkie, another first-year student, was headed to Pittsburgh.

Pages