Dean Leads
Rites of Fall
09.22.03
Robert Foothorap
From
UCSF Today
First Appeared 9.11.03
On his first day on the job, David Kessler, dean of the UCSF School
of Medicine and vice chancellor for medical affairs, welcomed first-year
students and challenged them to "make a difference in people's
lives."
"We start together on what has to be one of the most exciting phases
in our lives," Kessler told the Class of 2007.
Though his bags had not yet been unpacked from his life in New Haven,
Conn., where he last served as dean of the Yale School of Medicine,
Kessler made it a point to attend the Sept. 5 white coat ceremony, the
students' formal induction into the medical school. "This is a
big deal," he said. "You are my first class. We will go through
the next four years together."
He told the 141 students, who were selected from among 4,000 applicants
to the top-ranked medical school, that he doesn't care about grades,
exams or memorization skills. "I want something else from you.
I want you to make a difference in people's lives. Make discoveries.
I don't care if it's at the bedside or at the bench."
Kessler, who earned his MD degree from Harvard in 1979, told the new
medical students that their experiences would be far different than
his.
"There is no more exciting time to be a doctor than now. The advances
you will see over the next decade will make everything I've seen over
the past 25 years pale in comparison."
Upon introducing him to the students and their families and friends
in the audience, David Irby, vice dean of education in the School of
Medicine, praised Kessler for his "deep and abiding commitment
to medical education" before describing his accomplishments as
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration advocating for food
nutrition labels and taking on the tobacco industry.
In his closing remarks to the class, Kessler issued a call to action
to the students as they prepare for the "unparalleled responsibility"
of becoming physicians.
"I want you to take on big, important problems in your careers.
I want you to become leaders in American medicine and I want you to
love it here at UCSF."
Source: Lisa Cisneros
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