I’m pleased to have this opportunity to congratulate all of you here today and recognize your hard work and your accomplishments.

This is a day of change, one in which you and your classmates turn to the next chapter of your lives. You will head in many different directions but you will all continue to learn.

We are entering into a turbulent but exciting period in health and medical science. We don’t know exactly what form health reform will take, but one thing I know for sure: the demand for the skills that today's graduates have mastered will only continue to increase.

That’s true of future physicians, physicians’ assistants, allied health professionals and scientific investigators. We are moving into a golden age of medicine, in which research will drive discovery at an ever-increasing pace, leading to treatments for conditions previously thought intractable.

OHSU truly is the place where healing, teaching and discovery come together. In unifying these missions, we realize the greatest intellectual strength and innovation.

I hope you will embrace this model of integration and incorporate aspects of education and research into your professional lives. Through this balance I believe you will find the greatest reward.

Over the years, OHSU has evolved and adapted and grown in size and complexity. But what was true in 1887 is still true today: you, the students, are the reason we are all here.

Those of you who are receiving a degree today have every reason to be extremely proud of yourselves. All of us at OHSU are very proud of you and hope you know that even as you leave campus you remain a part of the OHSU family.

Congratulations to each of you and your families. You join a dedicated and elite community unified in its commitment to service and to bettering human health worldwide.

- Joe Robertson, MD, MBA
President, OHSU