‘We’re Counting On You’: Students, Speakers Share Hope and Resolve at HSPH Convocation

As the Harvard School of Public Health reels from cuts to its research funding, graduates and their families celebrated the wide-ranging impact of their work at last Wednesday’s convocation.

Since Donald Trump assumed office in January, Harvard has faced nearly $3 billion in federal funding cuts across the university — with the final round of cuts to federal contracts threatened just the day before the ceremony. Among Harvard’s thirteen schools, HSPH relies most heavily on federal funding and has been hardest hit by the administration's cuts.

Even as speakers acknowledged funding uncertainties, public health skepticism, and threats to international students, the Wednesday ceremony — held one day before a historic Commencement — was characterized by hope and a focus on the future.

“It’s a challenging time for Harvard, for public health, and for many of you,” HSPH Dean Andrea A. Baccarelli said in opening his address. “Our University and field are being tested in ways few could have imagined.”

But despite the difficulties facing the field, Baccarelli said that the HSPH’s graduates have a unique power and responsibility in society.

“Aren’t we so lucky to be in public health? We are lucky because our work is going forward. We are lucky because we are all positioned to make a difference,” he said, urging the graduates to face the problems head-on.

“Public health runs towards the problem, never away from the problem,” he added.

As Harvard School of Public Health Dean Andrea A. Baccarelli addressed the crowd at the school’s 2025 Convocation, some students wore caps decorated with pro-Palestine messaging. By Stephanie Dragoi

Baccarelli’s remarks set the stage for HSPH’s convocation speaker, epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist Céline R. Gounder, an NYU professor.

Gounder was the first speaker at the ceremony to mention President Donald Trump by name, condemning the administration’s messaging on public health. She denounced Secretary of Health and Human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76 for his vaccine skepticism and accused him of “politicizing science.”

“The current administration is waging a war on science,” Gounder said.

She also referenced the Trump administration’s termination of research funding and recent move to block international student enrollment at Harvard, leading the crowd in a round of applause for the 249 international HSPH graduates.

“The world needs your courage, your clarity, your compassion. We’re not just wishing you luck. We’re counting on you,” Gounder told graduates.

Student speaker Muhammad Jawad Noon drew on his experience as a medical doctor in Pakistan — recounting a story about treating a young girl who was a victim of terrorist attacks — to underscore the critical importance of robust public health systems that place vulnerable individuals first.

“Medicine could heal her wounds. What about the systems that failed her?” he asked.

Noon also noted the funding cuts to research institutions, saying that “innocent lives are caught between politics and power.”

“My fellow graduates, critics will tell us our work is too political, too expensive, too idealistic — but remember, many great public health victories were once dismissed as impossible,” Noon said.

After the ceremony, doctoral and masters students expressed their hope and pride for the public health profession.

“It’s quite challenging to see what’s going on in the country right now, but it does make me want to fight for what we’re studying more,” Stephanie M. Wu, who received her PhD in Biostatistics at the ceremony said.

“I don’t think I’m naturally someone who would be an influencer, but I feel like it is time to speak out now, because it’s now or never,” Wu said.

“It’s nice to think beyond just your own degree, your own program, and look at the overall state of public health, and celebrate with everyone, but also know that there’s a mission,” Anuraag V. V. Gopaluni, another Biostatistics doctoral student, said.

“I thought it was a great ceremony. I felt really proud to be in public health,” Wu said.

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

–Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at abigail.gerstein@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.