Commencement 2025
“We have trained you to use your gifts to make the world a better place.”
Commencement ceremonies celebrate the graduating Class of 2025.
Video: Katie Gertler/WashU Medicine
WashU Medicine graduates, faculty, family and friends celebrated Commencement with recognition and hooding ceremonies on May 9 and May 12, 2025.
Scroll below for coverage of School of Medicine Commencement ceremonies, or jump to the ceremony for graduates of:
Class Acts 2025: Jeremiah ‘Jay’ Truel
“I went into dermatology to help vulnerable people — to walk them through scary times when they’re looking for guidance but unsure who to trust,” says MD Class of 2025 graduate Jeremiah “Jay” Truel. Influenced by his father’s compassionate interactions with people experiencing homelessness, Truel co-founded StreetMedSTL, providing medical care at encampments and shelters, and established Unhoused Health to train medical students in trauma-informed care. His dermatology residency will continue his mission to address skin conditions that disproportionately impact those without housing.
All-University Ceremony
Monday, May 12, 2025, 9 a.m. | Francis Olympic Field – Danforth Campus
All-University Commencement
University-wide Commencement livestream and details »
Keynote Speaker: Simone Biles, widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time; Biles received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremony.
Read the full story: Simone Biles urges Class of 2025 to “keep going even when things don’t go as planned.”
Kendall Burks, who earned both Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from WashU’s Medical Scientist Training Program, also took center stage to encourage fellow 2025 WashU graduates to keep going, no matter the challenges that stand in the way.
Having earned a medical degree and doctorate in molecular genetics and genomics from WashU, Burks will start an internal medicine research track residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“Whether your work takes you to an office, a courtroom, a hospital or a classroom, carry these values with you: kindness, even when it’s hard; resilience, even when you feel uncertain; and the deep belief that we are all here to lift each other up. With the world-class education you’ve received here at WashU, you don’t just have the ability, but the responsibility, to shape the world you want to see and the one our communities deserve.”
— Kendall Burks, MD, PhD
WashU Commencement Graduate Student Speaker
Photos by WashU. Click to enlarge.
MD Ceremony
Monday, May 12, 2025, 3 p.m. | The Stifel Theatre, St. Louis
Commencement Recognition Ceremony
MD Commencement program (PDF) »
MD Ceremony recording »
Keynote Speaker: Rochelle Walensky, MD, distinguished infectious disease physician, public health leader and researcher who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Match Day 2025 »
The Class of 2025 trained during a time of change in medicine and medical education. As one of the first classes to complete the school’s new curriculum, which focused on early clinical experiences and health equity, they came together on Match Day to celebrate their hard work and the next step in their journey.
At the MD Commencement ceremony Monday afternoon, blaring bagpipes and beaming, waving loved ones greeted the graduating Class of 2025 at the Stifel Theatre in downtown St. Louis. The newly minted physicians walked across the stage hugging and shaking hands with faculty, their mentors throughout their four or more years of training at WashU Medicine. By all accounts, the young doctors represent resiliency, with many beginning medical school during the height of the global pandemic and training under the newly launched Gateway Curriculum, the first overhaul of the school’s program of studies in more than two decades.
Matt Miller
They’re also graduating during rapidly changing times when technology, artificial intelligence and policies based in scientific doubt can contribute to heightened uncertainty, said David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine.
“There will be days when you wonder why and how you got yourself into this kind of relentless and sometimes devastating work in the first place,” Perlmutter said. “And there will be other days when you wonder at your great fortune, at that rare and beautiful privilege of having the tools — or the ability to create new tools — to save one life or millions of lives.
He added: “We have not trained you for certainty, or for a straight and easy path. We have trained you to look a patient in the eye and do everything in your power to heal her. We have trained you to take a scientific problem and keep working at it until it’s solved. We have trained you to see a need and fill it. We have trained you to use your gifts to make the world a better place.”
David H. Perlmutter, MD, addresses the MD Class of 2025. Perlmutter is executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine.
The ceremony’s keynote speaker and WashU alum Rochelle Walensky, MD, spoke about managing uncertainty as physicians and scientists by being open, honest and fearless about sometimes saying, “I don’t know” in a profession that esteems precision.
“What do we do with the uncertainty, the gray areas?” asked Walensky, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2021 to 2023, a former professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In a world that expects certainty, Walensky advised graduates to listen, practice empathy and take a new approach to dealing with uncertainty. “What if we stopped resisting uncertainty and even started accepting it, acknowledging it,” she said. “This degree comes with more than a title, doctors, it comes with a responsibility. You are now stewards of truth, both seekers and tellers, defenders of reason, champions of intellectual honesty and, perhaps most importantly, communicators of uncertainty.
“Your white coat is not the mark of your mastery but the threads that bind you to a lifelong pursuit of knowledge that is gathered at the bedside, forged at the bench, tested in populations and returned always to the hands of patients that need it most.”
Matt Miller
Photos by Matt Miller. Click to enlarge.
Audiology & Communication Sciences
Monday, May 12, 2025, 1:30 p.m. | Eric P. Newman Education Center
Commencement Recognition Ceremony
PACS Commencement program (PDF) »
PACS livestream recording »
Click photos to enlarge.
The Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences celebrated a new generation of clinical audiologists, teachers of the deaf, and research scientists at its Commencement recognition ceremony on the Medical Campus. Amanda Ortmann, PhD, associate professor and director of audiology studies, welcomed the graduates and the friends and family who supported them along the way. Ortmann noted that the graduates came from undergraduate backgrounds as diverse as psychology, English, environmental studies, and speech and hearing sciences, brought together at one of the most selective and rigorous audiology and hearing science programs in the country. “We told them that it would be tough,” Ortmann said. “And it was, but they were up to the challenge. They were and are the cream of the crop.”
Biology & Biological Sciences
Friday, May 9, 2025, 9:30 a.m. | The 560 Music Center
DBBS Hooding & Recognition Ceremony
DBBS Commencement program (PDF) »
DBBS livestream recording »
Keynote Speaker: Nicquet Blake, PhD, vice provost of student academic affairs, dean of the graduate division of UC San Francisco
“See this as your moment to shape what’s next [and] to reimagine research…to rebuild trust in science.”
– Nicquet Blake, PhD
Keynote Speaker
Click photos to enlarge.
The Roy and Diana Vagelos Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences recognized 88 graduates at their Hooding and Recognition Ceremony on May 9. This year’s ceremony celebrated a record-setting number of participating graduates and faculty. Graduates and their guests celebrated after the ceremony with a reception at the venue. WashU speakers included Steve Mennerick, PhD, associate dean for graduate education; Erik Herzog, PhD, Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences; and Andrew Richards, director of admissions and recruitment and information systems. The keynote speaker, Nicquet Blake, PhD, is the vice provost of Student Academic Affairs and dean of the Graduate Division of UC San Francisco. As an alum of the division, Blake noted that graduates have a responsibility to communicate with clarity and humility, as well as to be creative and courageous in their pursuits.
Joint Master’s Programs
Friday, May 9, 2025, 4 p.m. | Eric P. Newman Education Center
Commencement & Recognition Ceremony for master’s programs in Applied Health Behavior Research, Data Science and Biostatistics, Clinical Investigation, Genetic Counseling, Medical Physics, Population Health Sciences, and Predoctoral Clinical Research (TL1)
Joint Master’s Commencement program (PDF) »
Keynote Speaker: Kerri Morgan, PhD, esteemed researcher, academic and practitioner in occupational therapy and adaptive technology, WashU Medicine
Click photos to enlarge.
Occupational Therapy
Monday, May 12, 2025, 1:30 p.m. | Graham Chapel — Danforth Campus
Diploma Ceremony
OT Commencement Program (PDF) »
OT livestream recording »
Keynote Speaker: Sarah Adam, OTD, assistant professor and academic fieldwork coordinator, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Saint Louis University, and the co-captain of the USA Wheelchair Rugby Team.
“You’ve learned to be flexible thinkers, compassionate problem solvers, and relentless advocates. And that ability to keep showing up, grounded in your purpose, will help create this unstoppable momentum that’s going to keep you driving forward even when the path ahead is unclear.”
– Sarah Adam, OTD
Keynote Speaker
Click photos to enlarge.
Physical Therapy
Monday, May 12, 2025, 1:30 p.m. | Khorassan Ballroom, The Chase Park Plaza
Diploma Distribution & Hooding Ceremony
PT livestream recording »
Faculty Speaker: Ruth Clark, PhD, emeritus professor of physical therapy and neurology, WashU, member of St. Louis Public Schools Health & Wellness Committee.
“A life of kindness was vital to her well-being and vital to human interactions the same as function of the heart is vital to human life.”
– Ruth Clark, PhD
Keynote Speaker
Click photos to enlarge.
The WashU Medicine Program in Physical Therapy celebrated its 2025 Commencement on May 12 at the Chase Park Plaza. The ceremony included a processional, remarks from faculty and student speakers, and the presentation of both DPT and PhD diplomas. Retired faculty member Dr. Ruth Clark, recognized for her nearly 40-year legacy of teaching and research, delivered the keynote address. Graduating student Lorenzo Nave served as the student speaker. Honors awarded during the ceremony included the Beatrice Schulz Award (Rachel Shannon Black), the Steven J. Rose Research Award (Kayla Rose Bell and Lauren Froehlich), and the Director’s Award (Leo Samuel Jacobs). Graduates included 83 Doctor of Physical Therapy recipients and 1 PhD graduate in Movement Science.