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2025 College of Medicine COM commencement Image by Johnpaul Jones

UAMS College of Medicine Graduates 168

May 28, 2025 | The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) conferred degrees on 168 graduates of the College of Medicine on May 16 during a ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock.

The formal transition from fourth-year medical students to physicians began with Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA, conferring medical degrees on students just before they walked across the stage to have their doctoral hoods placed over their heads. It ended with Steven Webber, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and UAMS executive vice chancellor, leading the newly hooded students in unison in the recitation of the Hippocratic Oath.

Thunderous applause from friends, family members, university leaders and other well-wishers put the final touches on the evening just before university leaders in full regalia led the line of new doctors, all wearing green-trimmed robes and caps with tassels, out of the auditorium.

Earlier, James Graham, M.D., executive associate dean for academic affairs, opened the ceremony by welcoming the graduates and asking their parents, spouses and grandparents to stand. Then Patterson and Webber took center stage to speak to the Class of 2025, seated directly in front of them.

“Tonight, we gather not only to celebrate a milestone but to witness the transition of a remarkable group of individuals into the next chapter of their lives as physicians, researchers and leaders in health care,” Patterson said. “To the Class of 2025, congratulations. You’ve earned this moment, and I hope you enjoy it.”

“The journey to this day has demanded an uncommon degree of discipline, resilience and compassion,” he said. “You’ve spent countless hours in classrooms, labs and clinical settings. You’ve studied human anatomy and disease, listened to the stories of patients and stood at the intersection of science and service. You’ve learned that medicine is more than a profession. It is a calling, and you answered that call in one of the most challenging times in modern medicine.”

Patterson noted that many in the class began medical school during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“As physicians, your impact will not only come from the treatment you prescribe, but from the compassion you show, the trust you build and the hope you inspire,” he said.

“Medicine is constantly evolving,” Patterson said, mentioning new technologies and therapies, “but part of it remains unchanged. It’s about listening, caring and being present.”

Webber told them, “Some of you will be relocating, and all of you starting new jobs. These are the big life changes. And there is no doubt that medicine is a demanding profession, but it’s also a profoundly fulfilling one.”

Seventy-four seniors will soon begin residencies in Arkansas, while the others will complete their training in 29 other states and the District of Columbia.

“I’m certain it seems like you’ve learned an almost infinite number of facts in the last four years,” Webber said, “but remember, there’s far more that we don’t know today than we actually do know, and many of today’s apparent facts will simply become fiction tomorrow, as that knowledge grows.”

He wrapped up his talk by saying, “On behalf of the College of Medicine, my warmest congratulations to all of you. We couldn’t be more excited for you and your journey ahead.”

The presentation also included words of congratulations from Jay B. Silveria, president of the University of Arkansas System, and a final address to the class by Alan Diekman, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Silveria urged the students to recognize those who helped them become doctors — “the faculty, the mentors, the family, the siblings, the friends, the neighbors, all of them who helped you.”

“UAMS is an integral and unique piece of the University of Arkansas system,” Silveria said. “It comprises 21 campuses, divisions and units that touch every county in this great state. We’re governed by a 10-member University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, and the UA system graduates between 15,000 and 20,000 graduates each year. So, while you are celebrating what you have accomplished here at UAMS, there are thousands of others doing the same thing at each of our campuses across the state. The point is, don’t forget that you are part of something bigger — a system that truly makes a statewide and regional impact.”

Diekman, chosen by the class to give the “faculty charge,” told the students that while they will now continue their training through their residencies, “you owe it to your future patients and to yourselves to be a lifelong student, a lifelong learner of medicine.”

He told them, “You can expect to see paradigm shifting and dogma challenging changes during your career,” and urged them “to keep an open but a discerning mind.”

Diekman told a story about two Australian physician-scientists who were scoffed at in the 1980s after declaring that most gastric ulcers are caused by an infection, not stomach acid, and could be cured with antibiotics. He said their findings weren’t widely accepted for decades, but in 2005 they received the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

“It will be your responsibility to stay current and informed about new developments in health care, and it will be your job and your responsibility to impart this knowledge to others,” he said.

“It will behoove you,” said Diekman, using his trademark phrase, “to always keep learning, stay curious and inquisitive. You owe it your patients and yourselves. I have faith in you. You’ve got this. Congratulations to you all.”

Emily Fields, 2025 class president, gave the students’ response to the faculty charge, giving examples of how classmates taught her important lessons about being empathetic, consulting others, extending a hand and listening.

“The past four years have been exhausting and stressful and hard, but they have been so, so fun as we have had countless engagements, weddings, babies, late night study sessions, class parties, memes in the group feed and memories made,” she said.

In previous years, the College of Medicine awarded degrees at a campus-wide commencement ceremony the day after students received their doctoral hoods and recited the Hippocratic Oath. This year, the college combined both ceremonies, as each UAMS college held its own commencement ceremony.