(bright music)
>> We are very fortunate
to have an outstanding keynote speaker, Ken Frazier.
Since 2011, Kenneth's been the CEO of Merck.
When he was named to the position,
he was the first black person to lead a Fortune 500 company.
At Merck Kenneth invested heavily
in research and development
which has put Merck in an excellent position for the future.
During his watch, Merck has developed
and released many important innovative medicines
and vaccines, including groundbreaking cancer drugs,
the vaccine for HPV and many others.
Over his career, Ken has also been a strong advocate
for social justice and economic inclusion.
Even as a high profile CEO, he's not been afraid
to speak out for what he believes in
even may it causes controversy.
In recognition of his advocacy
and his overall principle approach,
he's received numerous awards and honors.
Ken is also the co-founder and co-chair of OneTen,
a coalition of major corporations committed
to making a lasting impact on racial and economic justice.
The group is focused on hiring, training
and promoting a million black Americans
over the next decade.
As you can see, Ken is much more
than an incredibly accomplished healthcare leader.
He is precisely the kind of forward thinking person we need
in a world that's filled with both daunting challenges
and enormous opportunities.
We are honored to have him with us today.
Please join me in welcoming Ken Frazier.
>> Congratulations class of 2021.
It is my distinct honor to join your parents,
loved ones and friends, as well as Dean Rothman
and the distinguished faculty
of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
to celebrate all of you today.
Graduation is one of life's major milestones
just like your first steps, your first day in kindergarten
or most recently, your first day on this August campus.
Today, your academic achievements,
hard work and commitment to excellence have qualified you
to earn a diploma from one of the top medical schools
in the world.
And if you ask me that is a milestone worthy of celebration.
Now, you might not know the word milestone has a history.
One that I think is especially profound
in today's complex world.
A couple thousand years ago,
the ancient Romans erected stone obelisks along the roads
every thousand paces, a distance known to them
as mille passus or mile to English speakers.
They did this so that travelers could pause,
passus, to consider how far they had come,
how far they had left to travel,
and sometimes which fork in the road they should take
to get there.
These Roman milestones are a fitting metaphor
for times like these when so much is going on.
But what we really need to do is pause
to think about what is brought us
to this moment in our lives and decide where we want to go
or what we want to do or become or change.
while we continue our journey?
One of the most important milestones
in my own life occurred when I was a young lawyer
who led the volunteer efforts to argue
for James Bo Cochran's release from death row in Alabama.
Mr. Cochran, an African-American man, was wrongly convicted
and spent nearly 20 years on death row
for a crime he didn't commit.
The day Mr. Cochran was released from prison
in 1997, was a turning point for me.
It prompted me to confront my own history.
I thought about the hardships my grandfather endured
as a sharecropper,
and my father's tireless commitment to raising his family
after my mother died when I was 12 years old.
I reflected on the special advantages I receive
by being boss to the top schools in Philadelphia.
Advantages that helped me get into college
in Harvard Law School.
Advantages that were denied
to most of my inner city friends and peers.
I also confronted the harsh reality
of our criminal justice system and how the poor
marginalized and poorly represented,
especially people of color
are too often denied equitable participation
in our democratic processes.
I realized that I was pursuing something much bigger
than a legal career.
I was committing myself to a calling
and that calling to stand strong for social justice,
economic opportunity, and health equity
has provided the moral compass for my decisions
and the foundation of my leadership ever since.
That sense of calling has never been more important
than over the past year.
Today, everyone participating
in this convocation shares another important milestone.
This is the second year that the SARS-COV-2 pandemic threat
has forced many commencement activities
at Hopkins to be conducted virtually.
I know this wasn't the graduation you had dreamed of
but as the ancient Romans intended,
let's pause at this milestone and look back
on the past 15 months.
We have all borne witness not only to the tragic
and ongoing loss of human life around the world,
but also to the burden this crisis has placed on each of us
and on our families, schools, healthcare providers,
communities and businesses,
virtually every part of our society.
And we all must acknowledge
that the burden is not uniformly distributed.
In the words of Richard Horton editor in chief
of the Lancet, two categories of diseases are interacting
within specific populations, infections with SARS-CoV-2
and an array of noncommunicable diseases.
These diseases are clustering within social groups
according to patterns of inequality,
deeply embedded in our societies.
That interaction is creating the tremendous disparities
in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths across this country
and around the world.
Like a powerful magnifying lens,
the pandemic is forcing us
to examine the underlying injustices in our communities
on equal access to health services and insurance coverage,
longstanding and poorly managed medical conditions,
mental health and substance use disorders,
low education attainment,
poverty and increasing economic disparity,
incarceration rates, and structural racism.
Never before have these social determinants of health
been so conspicuous and felt so intractable.
Perhaps even more alarming is
that the political determinants of health
are playing such a prominent role,
affecting who gets the most promising medicines who can be
or as willing to be vaccinated.
And who receives the financial
and social support necessary to survive
until the pandemic is finally contained.
These challenges are profound.
The solutions are not yet in hand and will not be easy.
But even so as I look ahead at the pandemic
from the vantage point of today's milestone,
I find myself optimistic.
Let me start with the most obvious reason why.
For the first time in the history of pandemics,
biomedical science is fully on our side.
The rabbit development of authorized vaccines,
antivirals and immune therapies
is nothing short of astonishing
and attribute to the advanced state
of our scientific insights,
genomic tools, capabilities, and commitment.
But the solution
to this pandemic is not just biomedical.
New medicines and vaccines alone are only palliative
unless they are deployed and actually used
by the vulnerable people in our country and around the world
who need them most.
A former president of my company,
George W. Merck articulated this principle
in a speech back in 1950.
He said, we try never to forget
that medicine is for the people.
It is not for the profits.
Now, that's a line that gets widely quoted,
certainly within Merck,
but what many people don't remember about the speech is
that George Merck went on to say,
how can we bring the best of medicine
to each and every person?
we cannot rest till the way has been found
with our help to bring our finest achievement to everyone.
don't misunderstand me,
I know that discovery science is essential
and translating that science into new diagnostics,
medicines and vaccines is how we have helped solve
many of the most vexing health challenges.
But we must go further.
We must transform science into the service of humanity
to ensure that we gain its full value.
This is the challenge
that motivated me and many others
to join the bio-pharmaceutical profession
to go beyond the invention of exciting new medicines
and vaccines to contribute to a world
in which these innovations
could be more equitably available,
to bring the promise of better health to everyone
who could benefit and not just those who could afford it.
The pursuit of that value is what differentiates a career
from a calling.
At no time in our history has the quest
for equitable access to treatments and vaccines
been more important than doing the COVID-19 pandemic.
And although I wish we could do much more
to accelerate the availability and uptake,
I believe our voices as champions for global equity
in access to pandemic medicines and vaccines
are gaining strength.
And if we continue our advocacy, we can prevail.
That brings me to an even greater reason for optimism.
Plagues change history, and you,
the newest graduates of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
are writing the history of this one.
In fact, you're already making your impact
and it is impressive.
I don't mean to underestimate the challenges you face
during the pandemic.
And there have been many.
Disruptions in your educational experience,
worries about your colleagues, your patients,
and your loved ones and perhaps even losses, loneliness,
and the lack of familiar social support networks,
the absence of the joys
that would normally punctuate your academic life.
Simple things like sharing a meal, dancing,
or hugging a friend.
Those of you in labs have faced your own struggles.
How to safely continue your science,
find new ways to progress your research
or like our graduate student speaker, Monica Looney,
how to reboot priorities,
something she did when she volunteered
to help establish research facilities
and standard operating procedures
for working with SARS-CoV-2,
even though her own work had focused on tuberculosis.
Those moving into clinical training,
missed out on opportunities
to visit your prospective internship program sites,
or enjoy face-to-face interaction
with your potential mentors and colleagues.
And your match day
lack the usually robust class celebration.
I'm sure the traditional confetti toss
was missed by everyone.
Despite this reality, we aren't surprised
by the depth and breadth of your contributions.
After all, you are bright and talented students
at one of the world's finest universities.
One that has a long tradition
of creating the scientific foundation
for biomedical breakthroughs,
translating that knowledge to the bedside,
and then advocating for policies and investments
to address the frontline problems faced
by people in vulnerable communities.
The COVID 19 pandemic
has only amplified your creativity and commitment.
Some of you, like Monica, retooled your research priorities
and help the research coordinating committee
accelerate interdisciplinary basic and clinical research
relevant to SARS-CoV-2.
Many translated your passion and commitment
into volunteer service to help Baltimore
cope with the surge in healthcare demand
and more recently with vaccination programs.
And some students reached beyond the biomedical dimensions
of the pandemic to address the needs of incarcerated
and underserved people coping with the mental health,
social and financial threats imposed by the pandemic.
I had a conversation with Neil Coyle Wala,
our medical student speaker earlier this month.
And I asked him to help me understand
how he experienced life as a medical student
during the pandemic.
I could perhaps summarize his answer as,
it was the worst of times but also the best of times.
Yes, it was anxiety, uncertainty,
and feelings of disconnection,
but there was also the sense of challenge and pride
and being part of something so unprecedented
and so vitally important.
The recognition of the power of unity in working together
to tackle the impossible,
the inspiring moments of shared humanity,
and the humbling responsibility
of providing the last empathetic touch,
a patient dying alone in an isolation ward
would ever experience.
Neil's hope for the future
that physicians will be better doctors outside
of the hospital and better humanist inside the hospital
should be an inspiration for all of us.
But Neil's is just one story.
And I know each of you has your own story to tell.
Your collective talent, innovation, resilience,
passion, and courage are the true reasons I am optimistic
about our future.
For each one of you, there are many milestones yet to come.
Some of you will discover new frontiers
in the basic sciences while others are pursuing targets
for new medicines and vaccines.
Some will evolve as clinicians and healers
and some will sustain the long tradition
of Johns Hopkins faculty
as exemplary teachers of both the science
and the art of medicine.
Whatever your path,
my hope is that you will continue forward with the energy
and spirit you've demonstrated during this pandemic.
That as you look ahead from today's milestone,
you will not just pursue success in your career
but will also fully commit to your calling.
That, in addition to becoming discovers and inventors,
healers, and teachers,
you will also be advocates for the vulnerable
and underserved and activists
who helped create a more just society
that finally achieves health equity
and the other promises of our democracy.
Because that in the end is what a milestone urges us to do,
not just pause and reflect
but to carry onward with new found bigger,
our motivations reaffirmed,
our destination drawing ever closer
but only with the constant forward movement of our feet.
So I thank you for pausing to reflect with me
at this particular milestone in your journey.
And I wish you all the best for your road ahead.
And once again, congratulations class of 2021.