Components of The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center to Hold Commencement Ceremonies

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health and College of Medicine will hold commencement ceremonies, Saturday, May 17 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, in College Station. Commencement speakers for each of the two ceremonies are the Texas Commissioner of Health at the School of Rural Public Health ceremony and the director of Mobile Health Programs at the Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) at the College of Medicine ceremony.
Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., M.P.H., Texas Commissioner of Health, will offer the keynote address to the graduates of the A&M System HSC School of Rural Public Health, Saturday, May 17, 10 a.m., at the Bush Presidential Conference Center in College Station. Fifty-four students will participate in commencement. The first distance education graduates of the School of Rural Public Health attended ceremonies earlier this month in Corpus Christi and McAllen.
Dr. Sanchez received his medical degree in 1988 from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and holds a master’s in public health from the San Antonio Branch of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a master’s in biomedical engineering from Duke University. He has bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and chemistry from Boston University. Dr. Sanchez heads the Texas Department of Health, one of the largest state agencies with a staff of 5,000 and an annual budget of $1.5 billion. As Commissioner of Health and State Health Officer, he oversees programs ranging from licensing and certification to disease prevention and control, epidemiology, environmental health and the TDH laboratory, one of the largest in the world.
Gloria A. WilderBrathwaite, M.D., M.P.H., director of Mobile Health Programs at the Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC), will address the graduates of the A&M System HSC College of Medicine, Saturday, May 17, 2 p.m., at Rudder Auditorium on the Texas A&M University campus. Sixty-eight medical students will graduate at these exercises.
Prior to coming to CNMC, Dr. WilderBrathwaite, who received her bachelor of science degree from Howard University, her M.D. from Georgetown University and an M.P.H. from George Washington University, was responsible for the daily operations and medical and administrative needs of Georgetown University Medical Center’s Pediatric Mobile Medical Unit. She has received numerous awards and honors including Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network “Use Your Life Award” for her service to children. “Dr. Gloria,” as her patients like to call her, has been on CBS’ 48 Hours and NBC’s Dateline and has been featured in articles in The Ladies Home Journal, the Washington Post and the Washington Times.
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has students graduating at both the College of Medicine and School of Rural Public Health ceremonies.
Baylor College of Dentistry, an A&M System Health Science Center component in Dallas, will hold commencement ceremonies Thursday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas.
Admission to all commencement ceremonies is free and does not require a ticket.
The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center provides the state with health education, outreach and research. Its five components, located in communities throughout Texas, are Baylor College of Dentistry, the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the School of Rural Public Health.