A Profession ‘Under Siege’: Speakers Urge Students To Defend and Uplift Medicine at HMS Class Day

Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s Class Day speakers urged graduates to unite in support of medicine amid funding uncertainty and public health skepticism, taking veiled jabs at the Trump administration after a Commencement marked by pride and defiance.

Though most of the speakers avoided calling out the administration directly, students, alumni, and faculty advocated for the importance of research funding, public trust in healthcare, and diversity in a ceremony that mirrored themes from Wednesday’s School of Public Health Convocation.

“You are now emerging as members of the most noble of professions,” Marc S. Sabatine ’90, a member of the HMS Alumni Council, said to graduates. “But that profession is under siege. It is no understatement to say that HMS and HSDM are facing existential threats.”

The most direct mention of Harvard’s confrontation with the Trump administration came from HMS Dean George Q. Daley ’82 just before graduates received their diplomas.

“Part of the institution from which you’re graduating today has been the most direct target of the current administration’s cuts to science,” Daley said.

“We are embroiled in a high stakes battle to maintain our academic freedom and independence. We are fighting to sustain our right to accept trainees from around the world. And the repercussions of such restrictions threaten U.S. preeminence in biomedical science,” Daley added.

Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley ’82 speaks at the school’s 2025 Class Day ceremony, held hours after Commencement. By Hugo C. Chiasson

Hours after President Alan M. Garber ’76 received two standing ovations from graduates and families gathered for Commencement, Daley presented Garber as a model for the new doctors.

“Medical leadership is not just about knowing the right time to act, but it’s also knowing the right time to reflect. You can do this while preserving your integrity and staying grounded in your values,” Daley said.

“Our president, Alan Garber, a physician himself, has elegantly struck this balance. He has defended Harvard’s ideals of academic freedom and independence, while also acknowledging, with great humility, that Harvard can do better,” he added.

The ceremony was opened by student co-moderators Justin C. Gelman, Selena M. Gonzalez, and Kaila L. Daniels, who criticized the Trump administration’s actions to emphatic cheers from the audience.

“I should not have to say this, but diversity of background, of origin of thought is not a threat to democracy and to education, but a vital force that enriches both,” Gonzalez said.

“In a country whose administration doesn't value the lives of international students, we show up to say that we are not impressed and will not be intimidated by hatred or bigotry,” Gelman said.

Student speakers Tashauna R. Holmes of HSDM, Kushal T. Kadakia of HMS, and Jowan J. Watson of HMS advocated for equity in healthcare, criticized research funding cuts, and denounced “attacks on inclusivity” in speeches encouraging their classmates to go boldly into the medical profession.

Kushal T. Kadakia, who received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 2025, spoke at the school’s Class Day gathering. By Hugo C. Chiasson

Reflecting on strides in medicine over the course of the class of 2025’s education, Kadakia condemned funding cuts’ hindrance of progress in the field.

“We saw the practice of medicine change in real time, with the FDA approving dozens of first-in-class medications every single year of our medical school career, medicines that were often developed here at Harvard with the support of NIH funding — funding that is today being used as a bargaining chip, selling science and endangering our patients,” Kadakia said.

Keynote speaker Paula A. Johnson ’80, president of Wellesley College, called on the new physicians and dentists to exercise “an important form of citizenship” by translating their scientific expertise for the broader public— to uphold “Veritas” in an “atmosphere of mistrust.”

Hours after a Commencement ceremony where graduates enthusiastically cheered for the University’s defiant stance, Johnson also highlighted the importance of Harvard’s continued fight against the Trump administration.

“Harvard is fighting hard as we speak, both for the academic freedom that allows the truth to be told, and also for the academic freedom that allows the rigorous pursuit of truth in the first place,” she said.

“It is up to all of us to cherish that academic freedom that allows us to do research on any question unencumbered by government pressures. Remember that no institution or organization has the right to tell you to ignore the evidence or your best judgment,” Johnson added.

Wellesley College president Paula A. Johnson ’80 was the keynote speaker at the 2025 Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine Class Day. By Hugo C. Chiasson

HSDM Dean William V. Giannobile highlighted federally-supported research and technological innovation in dentistry to paint the stakes of funding cuts, calling on graduates to restore “faith in science.”

“What is at risk without this funding is a ripple effect that goes beyond harder across the United States and around the globe. Our country’s preeminence of research and our ability to produce scientific discoveries that improve human health are on the line,” Giannobile said.

“Your generation will be the torchbearers for science, the advocates that stand up for evidence-based medicine and dentistry. Your Harvard degree will be your superpower, that big H emblazoned on your white coat,” he added.

Harvard School of Dental Medicine Dean William V. Giannobile speaks at the school’s 2025 Class Day ceremony, held with Harvard Medical School. By Hugo C. Chiasson

Despite acknowledgements of the fraught landscape for biomedical research, the ceremony was characterized by a determined pride in the medical profession.

“I have every faith in each and every one of you that you will persist in this crucial work, whether in a clinic, in a laboratory, an office, some other equally important domain, not in spite of the current climate, but because of it,” Dean Daley told graduates.

—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.