Qatar- WCM-Q graduates 41 new doctors despite COVID-19 challenges

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) The pathway to ending the COVID-19 pandemic has been lit by the rapid development of highly effective COVID-19 vaccines. The global community is in a race to access and deploy vaccines, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, and Chief Medical Advisor for COVID-19 to President Joe Biden. He spoke at the virtual graduation ceremony of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q)'s Class of 2021 yesterday. 'Our pathway to ending the pandemic has been lit by the stunningly rapid development of highly effective COVID-19 vaccines now authorized for use. However, the global community is in a race to access and deploy these vaccines faster than SARS-CoV-2 can mutate into the more transmissible and more deadly variants. As you move into the next stage of your medical careers, regardless of your medical specialty, now more than ever, we will need your talent, your energy, your resolve, and your character to restore and preserve the health of our world. And so, thank you for your courage and perseverance, congratulations, and please keep well I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, Dr. Fauci said in his keynote address.  Forty-one graduates received their MD degrees this year. The Class of 2021 comprises 11 males and 30 females of 13 different nationalities. They are the second class to complete WCM-Q's innovative six-year medical programme, including pre-medical and medical curricula. Speaking to the graduating doctors, Dr. Fauci reminded them they would take up their positions within the healthcare system alongside their more senior colleagues who are currently working hard to treat patients suffering from COVID-19 and other diseases. 'We all must adapt to this extraordinary situation and unite to meet its challenges. When this pandemic began its sweep around the globe more than a year ago, it quickly hobbled hospitals and imposed crushing stress levels and strain on their medical staff. You are among those who faced this situation with courage, resiliency, and adaptability, he said.  Watched by family and friends virtually worldwide, the students of the Class of 2021 recited the Hippocratic Oath and were presented with their degrees by Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q.  Dr. Sheikh, in his speech, paid tribute to the perseverance of the graduates, who had to complete the final year of the challenging medical programme under lockdown conditions.  'Your dedication to your studies and commitment to the measures to limit the coronavirus spread has been a source of inspiration to us at WCM-Q. I am grateful to every one of you for stepping up to this challenge, to my colleagues in the faculty and on the staff at WCM-Q, and the wider Education City community, for providing essential support in very trying conditions, Dr. Sheikh told the graduates.  'Many of you will be called upon to help those afflicted by COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, to deal with as yet unforeseen healthcare emergencies, and to find new reserves of strength to meet the challenges you will encounter. I think I speak for everyone here when I wish you all the very best as you go forwards from here to embrace these challenges, he added.  The Class of 2021 is the 14th graduating class in WCM-Q's history.    MENAFN06052021000063011010ID1102039422