EVA’S EXCERPT, MAY 2026
This is a season of extraordinary achievement. As we gather to celebrate the Class of 2026, we do so with profound gratitude, immense pride, and great optimism for the future of human health.
TO OUR GRADUATES:
Your journey to this milestone has been marked by dedication, sacrifice, intellectual courage, and an unwavering commitment to the betterment of others and the world. This month, we honor you.
The graduating class of WashU Medicine represents the full breadth of what it means to improve human health. Our Doctor of Medicine (MD) graduates enter a profession built on trust, where their clinical judgment and compassionate care will shape the lives of patients and families for decades to come. Our Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy graduates will restore function, independence, and quality of life, meeting patients where they are and helping them reach beyond what they imagined possible.
Our graduates in Audiology and Communication Sciences will give people the gift of connection—the ability to hear a loved one’s voice, to communicate, to participate fully in the world around them. Our Genetic Counselors will stand at the frontier of personalized medicine, guiding individuals and families through some of the most profound and complex decisions they will ever face with both scientific rigor and deep human empathy.
Our Medical Physics graduates will harness the laws of the physical universe in service of healing, applying precision and ingenuity to diagnose and treat disease in ways that would have seemed miraculous to prior generations. And our Research PhD and Master’s graduates will be the engines of discovery—asking the questions that have never been asked, unlocking the biological mysteries that hold the key to treatments and cures not yet imagined and improving the systems and processes that help and harm health.
As you graduate, know that you have not merely passed through WashU Medicine—you have shaped it. Your questions challenged our faculty to think more deeply. Your research expanded our collective knowledge. Your clinical work enriched our hospitals and clinics. Your diversity of perspective, background, and lived experience made every classroom, laboratory, and patient encounter richer than it would have been without you. You have contributed to this institution’s legacy of discovery and care, and that contribution will endure long after your time here. WashU Medicine is stronger for having trained you, and we are proud to count you among the remarkable community of individuals who have called this place home.
TO OUR EDUCATION TEAMS:
None of this would be possible without the remarkable educators- residents, fellows, staff, and faculty- who have devoted themselves to the training of these outstanding graduates. Education is itself a profound act of service—one that extends a person’s impact far beyond what any single individual could accomplish alone. You did not simply transfer knowledge. You modeled what it means to think rigorously, to care deeply, to remain curious, and to hold yourself to the highest standards. You showed our students what excellence looks like—in the laboratory, at the bedside, in the classroom, behind the scenes, and in the way you carry yourselves as professionals and as people. The values you demonstrated will echo through the careers of every student you have trained, and through the patients and communities those students will serve. Thank you.
IN CLOSING:
Graduation is a beginning, not an ending. The long work of a career in health and science—full of discovery, challenge, growth, and purpose—lies ahead of you. We could not be more proud of who you are or more excited about what you will do. The world you are stepping into needs you urgently. The challenges facing human health are vast and you are extraordinarily well prepared to meet these challenges. Whether you will care for patients in a community setting or an academic medical center, conduct research that reshapes our understanding of health and disease, develop technologies that change clinical practice, or train the next generation of health and science professionals—your work will matter. It will be felt in individual lives and across populations. It will be felt not just in our time, but in the generations that follow.
On behalf of the entire WashU Medicine community, CONGRATULATIONS! You have earned this moment. Go forward grounded in the education, values, and community you carry with you from WashU Medicine. We have every confidence that you will use them with excellence and integrity.
Now, go change the world!
With deep pride and warmest congratulations,
Eva