CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Graduating medical students from around the globe recited the Hippocratic oath together Monday morning in their respective languages via Zoom and FaceTime live.
The initiative was the "brainchild" of Dr. Katayoun Madani, a Northwestern Medicine global surgery fellow in the division of trauma and critical care surgery, with the support of Dr. Mamta Swaroop, an associate professor of surgery and the director of the Center for Global Surgery in the Institute of Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“The Hippocratic Oath is a rite of passage for medical students,“ Madani said, in a statement. “It reminds us and declares we are all part of something infinitely greater, older and more important than any country, location, creed, race, gender, particular specialty or institution.”
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical school graduations are either being canceled or planned virtually. Globally, many medical students in the class of 2020 are graduating early to join others on the frontlines in service to their communities as new physicians. “In light of the new normal of social distancing, quarantine and in a time of isolation, we want to stand in solidarity with the class of 2020,” Mandani said.
Swaroop said “we want to welcome these newly donned physicians into our family and into the art of medicine and tell them they are not alone as they start their journey. We are with them.” Swaroop noted the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the global medical community together to share information to fight the virus like never before.