LSU Health Shreveport (LSUHS) will host its largest commencement in the institution’s history with 224 students receiving a Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD or Doctorate degree. This 50th commencement milestone began on May 26, 1973, when 31 medical students received the first Doctorate degrees given by then, LSU School of Medicine.
In honor of the School of Medicine’s 50th anniversary of the first graduating class, the Class of 1973 will lead the procession and be recognized at the ceremony. In addition, each of the 50th School of Medicine class graduates will receive a handwritten note from the Class of 1973.
Graduation for all three of LSU Health Shreveport’s professional schools will take place in a combined ceremony held at the Shreveport Convention Center on Saturday, May 20 at 10 a.m. Valencia Sarpy-Jones and Randy Morris will represent the LSU Board of Supervisors assisting in the conferring of degrees.
Twelve students will graduate with a PhD and 6 with a Master’s from the School of Graduate Studies; 63 students will receive a Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctorate degree from the School of Allied Health Professions; and 143 students will graduate from the School of Medicine with their Doctor of Medicine.
“It is an important and noteworthy milestone to have reached the 50th anniversary of the School of Medicine particularly due to the steadfast advocacy and support required to bring this institution to fruition all those years ago. We remain indebted and accountable to all those who paved the way for our growing and vibrant academic medical center which now includes three professional schools along with continually expanding degree programs. We are very excited to have Dr. David Fajgenbaum as our student-selected keynote speaker on this momentous occasion of our 50th commencement ceremony. His impressive and lofty goals and accomplishments will serve as a lasting inspiration to our students and anyone in attendance,” stated Dr. David Guzick, Chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport.
Dr. David Fajgenbaum, a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, co-Founder and President of the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network, and national bestselling author of Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action will give the keynote commencement address. Dr. Fajgenbaum went from being a beast-like college quarterback to receiving his last rites while in medical school and nearly dying four more times battling Castleman disease. To try to save his own life, Dr. Fajgenbaum spearheaded an innovative approach to research through the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and discovered a treatment that is saving his life and others. Since then, he has identified and advanced 11 other treatments for autoimmunity and cancer and recently co-founded Every Cure, a non-profit organization on a mission to unlock the full potential of FDA-approved medicines to treat every disease possible. Dr. Fajgenbaum also serves on the Board of Directors for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA.
One of the youngest ever grant awardees of multiple top NIH and FDA grants, has published scientific papers in high-impact journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation, including a paper selected as one of the top innovations in science and medicine of 2020. He has been profiled by The NY Times, TODAY, GMA, and others and received numerous awards including the 2016 Atlas Award along with then VP Joe Biden and Forbes 30 Under 30. Dr. Fajgenbaum earned a BS from Georgetown University, MSc from the University of Oxford, MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and MBA from The Wharton School.
The LSU Health Shreveport graduation ceremony will stream live online at https://www.youtube.com/@LSUHealthShreveport/streams.
