Albany Medical College Commencement Ceremonies to Take Place Friday, May 5

The Albany Medical College’s 185th Commencement Ceremonies will take place at 1 p.m. Friday, May 5 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

The college will award medical degrees (MD), master’s degrees and doctoral degrees to more than 200 students.

Barney S. Graham, MD, PhD (pictured above), a 2021 recipient of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, will deliver the keynote address. Dr. Graham, an immunologist, virologist, and clinical research physician, is a pioneer in structure-based vaccine design and a thought leader on pandemic preparedness. He has been involved in the clinical evaluation of candidate vaccines for more than 30 years. He retired from the National Institutes of Health as Deputy Director of the Vaccine Research Center and chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2021. In 2022, he joined Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta as Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology and Senior Advisor for Global Health Equity.

Dr. Graham will receive an honorary degree. John Simon, MD, who served as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Albany Medical College for 28 years, and Ursula A. Matulonis, MD ’87, chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers; Brock-Wilson Family Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, also will receive honorary degrees.

Also addressing the graduates will be Alan Boulos, MD ’94, The Lynne and Mark D. Groban, MD ’67 Distinguished Dean of Albany Medical College; Maggie Gillis, Vice Chair of the Albany Med Health System Board of Directors; and student representatives of the Class of 2023.