FSU’ s M. D. Class of 2025 will have an opportunity to enrich those lives in many ways, matching in no fewer than 14 different residency specialties, with 51 % of the class committing to a primary care specialty – family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics or obstetrics-gynecology. Those specialties cover the full cycle of life and were central to the college’ s creation when it was signed into law June 15, 2000.
Dr. Joedrecka Brown Speights, chair of the college’ s Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, took a deep look beyond the opening line of the Physician’ s Oath in her commencement address.
First, I will do no harm.
She walked the students down a memory lane of big moments along the way to the day ' s event – MCATs, medical school interviews, board examinations, rotations and Match Day.
“ Beyond all of that, and doing no harm, is making sure that at any moment we are with a patient, we are fully present, listening for underlying concerns, motives and fears; remembering their humanity,” she said.“ And that our most transformative patient care is an act of love … Beyond doing no harm is love.”
Brown Speights’ self-titled address“ Through the lens of Love” seemed to resonate throughout a day of celebration among students, families and friends at various locations.
“ My grandfather [ Carson Peacock ] was a 26-year military veteran, command sergeant major,” said Ryan Peacock, who is following the Army path laid before him. " My father [ Roman Peacock ] did the reserves after doing ROTC at Virginia Tech.
“ When I was doing my gap years, in between undergraduate and medical school, I decided if I didn’ t get in [ to medical school ], I was probably going to try out for Ranger team or something military-related to continue that trend. But I got in that year and said,‘ let’ s go ahead and combine the two.’”
An FSU undergraduate from the inaugural class of Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences students, Peacock matched in emergency medicine and will begin residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals.
Erika Balazs, one of three physicians from the class who chose the Air Force, joining Mike Llerena and Nathan Steineck, has a very special family connection as well.
“ My dad was my inspiration,” Balazs said.“ He was in the military for 22 years and I was raised in a military community. I liked the camaraderie that I saw, and I always wanted to serve.”
George Balazs was a master sergeant in the Air Force. Erika grew up in Crestview, Florida, and graduated from Niceville High School, right down the road from Eglin AFB where she was born.
• In the rehearsal hall, one floor below the Ruby Diamond stage, where students became reacquainted after two years apart at six regional campuses while completing clinical studies;
• On the north steps of Westcott Hall, where each of the regional campus classes gathered before graduation for regalia photos, and afterward;
• On the grounds surrounding the Westcott Fountain, where graduates and families reunited for photos to commemorate the day.
Early Saturday morning, in a corner of the Ruby Diamond stage, Dean Emeritus John P. Fogarty, M. D., hosted the four military graduates from the class and their families in a pinning ceremony he instituted shortly after beginning his 14-year run as the College of Medicine dean. Fogarty is a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and spent 20 years as an Army physician.
“ I decided I wanted to do medicine in middle school and actually shadowed general surgeons back at Eglin in high school,” said Balazs, who will be in general surgery residency at Keesler Medical Center Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
From left, Ryan Peacock, Erika Balazs, Mike Llerena amd Nathan Steineck
18 FSUMED | MED. FSU. EDU