Twenty-six of Prisca Takundwa\u2019s family members traveled worldwide to see her become a physician Friday, an accomplishment a med school adviser called \u201ca credit to her tenacity and pushing herself forward no matter what life threw at her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Takundwa was one of 113 UCF medical students \u2013 poets, engineers, painters and microbiologists — who received their M.D. degrees in the young medical school\u2019s fifth graduation. The Class of 2017 was the UCF College of Medicine\u2019s first class at full enrollment of 120 students and with their commencement, the medical school has now sent 376 Physician Knights into the world.<\/p>\n
One hundred percent of this year\u2019s graduates matched into residencies \u2013 compared to the national average of 94.3 percent. Takundwa will train in pediatrics at Yale. Family members, ranging in age from 3 to 78, traveled from her native Zimbabwe, South Africa, the United Kingdom and New Hampshire to attend her graduation and honor her journey through medical school.<\/p>\n
Her younger sister was injured in a car accident during her first year at the College of Medicine. Her mother died the same year. Her father had perished before that. Takundwa left Zimbabwe to pursue her dreams, did graduate work in England and struggled to afford medical school. \u201cIt\u2019s been a series of hurdles to get over,\u201d she said, \u201cso it\u2019s incredibly special to have my family and friends here. This degree means way more to me because it took me a while to get here. I am especially remembering my parents who couldn\u2019t be here for this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoe Brown-Weissmann, director of student support services, who had remarked on Takundwa\u2019s tenacity, teared up as the two hugged after commencement, calling the young physician \u201ca remarkable human being.\u201d Family members said the College of Medicine\u2019s support had helped Takundwa succeed. \u201cThe school has all kinds of different people and they became her family,\u201d said her aunt and the family matriarch, Siphikelelo Jentimanea. \u201cShe kept going, worked so hard. She just smiled through it. This was the best place for her to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his commencement address, Dr. A. Dale Whittaker, UCF\u2019s provost and executive vice president, talked of UCF\u2019s impact on the individual and the world. \u201cIt\u2019s the ripple effect that includes all the lives touched, and livelihoods we lift, the opportunities we provide and what our graduates go on to accomplish,\u201d he said. \u201cAs one of the nation\u2019s largest public universities, we have the opportunity to lift students of every background and aspiration, their families and the communities where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an example of impact, he noted that the Class of 2017 had helped grow Medical City as a destination for medical education, research and patient care, noting that the community will soon be home to a UCF partnership teaching hospital.<\/p>\n
The students\u2019 impact also included service. During four years of medical school, they cared for impoverished people in the Dominican Republic, provided clinics for local farmworkers, ran the free KNIGHTS Clinic for Orlando\u2019s uninsured, and entertained youngsters at Nemours Children\u2019s Hospital to bring a bit of normalcy to their environment. Two class members are military officers, who were promoted in rank during commencement. Anthony Hawkins will do his emergency medicine residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, WA. Eli Kinberg will serve in the Air Force after doing a civilian residency in otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.<\/p>\n
Kinberg said he didn\u2019t know what to expect from the commencement ceremony. \u201cBut it\u2019s amazing. Everybody\u2019s here in robes. Everybody is getting called doctor and they earned it. They\u2019re going to be great doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faculty speaker, Dr. James Sanders Jr., assistant professor of neurosurgery, told graduates they were entering medicine at a unique time \u2013 when healthcare is changing and the nation is becoming more divided. He urged them to \u201ccarry the light\u201d and \u201cto lead by example, practicing medicine with humility, empathy, love and kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graduate Aryan Sarparast talked about empathy moments after receiving his diploma. He is doing his psychiatry residency in Oregon, where he did his undergraduate work. A published poet and essayist, Sarparast said psychiatry will enable him to give those with mental illnesses a voice. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s always been my destiny,\u201d he said, \u201cmy calling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sami Saikaly didn\u2019t know if UCF was going to be his destiny. The University of Florida\u00a0undergraduate wanted to go to medical school. His father, Bashar, is a cardiologist in St. Augustine, and when his son was considering medical schools, Dr. Saikaly was traveling by plane and found himself sitting next to UCF\u2019s Dr. Abdo Asmar, associate professor of medicine, vice chair of internal medicine, and head of the College of Medicine\u2019s first internal medicine residency program. Dr. Asmar told the physician father that UCF \u201cwas the place to be.\u201d The younger Dr. Saikaly is now going to the University of Florida for his dermatology residency. \u201cIt\u2019s a small world,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad sits next to Dr. Asmar on an airplane. UCF was my destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she closed her remarks to students, Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and founding dean of the College of Medicine, said graduates would spread the reputation of the new medical school as they cared for patients from Florida to California. \u201cTake care of yourselves,\u201d she told them. \u201cTake care of your dreams. UCF COM will always be your medical home and you are forever a UCF Physician Knight.\u201d<\/p>\n