Baylor College of Medicine held its 2025 commencement ceremony at Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land on Tuesday. The School of Medicine graduated 191 students, while 80 graduates received diplomas from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and nine graduated from the Genetic Counseling Program in the School of Health Professions.
Dr. Paul Klotman, president, CEO and executive dean of Baylor, remarked on the challenging times facing graduates. He stressed the importance of science and medicine in improving human health, and he encouraged graduates to advocate for their profession.
"There is a global undercurrent of anti-science," Klotman said. "You are entering the profession of medicine, and our profession needs help. Through advocacy, sound science, medicine and facts… we're counting on you to represent Baylor in all you do."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Dr. Sally Kornbluth received an honorary Doctor of Letters in Medicine degree and delivered the commencement address. Kornbluth previously was a faculty member, vice dean and provost of Duke University. She has a Ph.D. in molecular oncology and has published extensively on cell proliferation and programmed cell death. In her speech, she encouraged graduates to be open to change and to avoid getting tied to a specific map of their career journey. She also warned that there is no perfect equilibrium between work and personal life, but the trick is to spend time on things you find meaningful.
"The happiest people I know are the ones who found important work, where they could use their skills in service to others, who pushed themselves to do it very, very well, and who never forgot the value of their friends and family," Kornbluth said.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, senior fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also received an honorary Doctor of Letters in Medicine degree. Charles Hall, senior tax practitioner at Norton Rose Fulbright and board member of the M.D. Anderson Foundation, received an honorary Doctor of Humanities in Medicine degree.
See photos and watch the full commencement ceremony.
Baylor's Military Commissioning Ceremony, held Tuesday morning, honored two School of Medicine graduates. Capt. Madeline Chaput, M.D., and Capt. Levi Peppel, M.D., were commissioned into the U.S. Air Force. See photos from the ceremony.
