New Valley doctors graduate virtually
SAN ANTONIO — When the first new doctors graduated Saturday from the Rio Grande Valley’s only medical school — in a virtual ceremony made necessary by the pandemic — a decades-old vision was finally fulfilled.
“We’ve been talking and dreaming about this for many years,” said Randy Whittington, 74, a Harlingen lawyer and longtime supporter. “The first bill to introduce a medical school in the Rio Grande Valley was in 1947, the year I was born. So we’ve been at this a long time.”
In 2009, state legislators finally approved a new four-year university with a medical school in the Valley.
Four more years passed before lawmakers signed off on creating the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from existing uni
versities in Brownsville and Edinburg, and a regional academic heath center in Harlingen.
The UTRGV medical school has facilities in all three cities and elsewhere in the Valley.
For its first class, 55 students were selected from nearly 3,000 applicants. They began their medical studies in the fall of 2016, and on Saturday, 39 graduated on schedule.
Scattered around Texas, the new doctors heard inspirational speeches and then waited for their names to be called in the virtual ceremony. Their diplomas will be sent to them by mail.
‘It’s bittersweet’
Medical school dean Dr. John Krouse, whose recorded remarks were heard Saturday morning, said the only thing that could have made the experience richer would have been a traditional graduation event, where the participants could share their pride and joy together.
“There’s a huge amount of celebratory excitement among everyone, but in a sense, it’s bittersweet. We would have loved to be able to do this in person, so people could embrace and celebrate together,” he said.
In his message to the graduates, Krouse talked about the implications of becoming new doctors during a worldwide pandemic that is causing immeasurable suffering, particularly among society’s most vulnerable groups.
“It is my great hope that this will follow them in their careers, and that they will be compassionate and empathetic,” he said of the graduates.
A dozen of the graduates came from the Rio Grande Valley, and three were from San Antonio, including Julien Mahler, 27, who was joined Saturday by his younger sister Kristina in their parents’ living room.
For Mahler, the “virtual” nature of the graduation, seen on a computer screen, did not diminish its enormous personal significance.
“It’s a big deal for a couple of reasons. My mom and dad are from Belize, and they didn’t have a chance for a good education until they came to the States 30 years ago. To me, it shows that the American Dream is still possible,” he began.
“It’s the fruition of all the things we did growing up. My dad worked three different jobs. My mom babysat on the side. So it means a lot to me,” he added.
Mahler, who did his undergraduate work at Northwest Vista Community College and the University of Texas at Austin, was attracted to the new Valley medical school in part because of its emphasis on serving the community.
“It’s a core value of the medical school. We are in an area that traditionally has had poor access to care,” Krouse said.
Among its locally focused facilities are the Diabetes and Obesity Institute in Brownsville and Institute for Neuroscience in Edinburg, which does research on Alzheimer’s disease.
It also has outreach programs to bring medical care to low-income residents in the Valley.
Like most students, Mahler spent time working offcampus in such communities, including a colonia in Hidalgo County.
“While I was there, we established the first student clinic in Penitas. The nuns had a facility but didn’t have the manpower or equipment,” he said. “So we put two and two together. They offered immigration and social services, we offered medical services.”
When the medical school was forced to go online in mid-March, Mahler was in Nome, Alaska, working with indigenous people.
“I was so far out, I was afraid the flights would be interrupted, and I’d be stuck there for months,” he recalled.
He hopes to soon begin his three-year residency in emergency medicine at UT Health San Antonio.
‘Incredibly proud’
Whittington, 74, the Harlingen lawyer, worked with many others to bring the medical school to fruition. Over the past five years, he has served on the school’s interview committee, which included faculty and community members.
“I have to say that one of my great satisfactions in life is that I have interviewed literally hundreds of applicants for the medical school since it started; so I consider these young men and women who are graduating Saturday to basically be my kids,” he said.
“I am incredibly proud of them. They have performed beyond all expectations over the last four years. It’s not what we envisioned, but in some ways it’s even more fitting,” he said of the virtual commencement.