MGH Institute of Health Professions Graduates Largest Class

A serious car accident followed by surgery and two months of rehabilitation gave Lawrence O’Donnell a new appreciation for the invaluable role that health care professionals perform.

The Boston native and host of the nightly MSNBC program “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” spoke of the care he received following the accident during his May 11 keynote address to graduates of MGH Institute of Health Professions.

A total of 551 students earned degrees in nursing, physical therapy, communication sciences and disorders, and health professions education. The Boston health sciences graduate school’s 35th Commencement was held at the John B. Hynes Convention Center. The Class of 2015 is the largest in the 38-year history of the school, which is located in the Charlestown Navy Yard.

O’Donnell, while vacationing in the British Virgin Islands with his brother in spring 2014, was seriously injured in the car accident, breaking his hip. Considering himself “lucky to be alive,” O’Donnell said the experience changed his life and gave him profound appreciation for the health care professionals who helped him recover.

“You are all heroes,” he said. “What you do is more important than winning the Super Bowl. I know most people won’t fully realize that until they need you. We can try to find the words to thank you, but what I do know is that you will never be thanked enough for all you do.”

O’Donnell, whose program consistently focuses on politics, noted, “There are no politics in hospitals. What happens in hospitals is more important than politics.”

“You can listen to what we think is the news of the day, but remember that there are so many good things that happen in the country each day that we couldn’t even begin to report them,” he remarked, “and all of you are going to make those good things happen.”

The MGH Institute presented three awards during the event.

Janet Callahan,’00, ’13, an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the MGH Institute, received the Bette Ann Harris Distinguished Alumni Award, the school’s highest honor given to a graduate. She is a renowned expert in dystonia, a condition in which people experience involuntary movements and extended muscle contractions.

Amanda Hitchins ’12, a speech-language pathologist, received the Emerging Leader Alumni Award for her efforts to build the first sound proof auditory room in the eastern section of the Democratic Republic of Congo to screen for hearing disorders and allow for early detection and treatment.

School of Nursing Assistant Professor Katherine Simmonds received the coveted Nancy T. Watts Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Watts Award, named after one of the physical therapy profession’s pioneers and the Institute’s first leader of its physical therapy department, is presented each year to a distinguished faculty member who has excelled in teaching. Simmonds was lauded as a leader and innovator in clinical education and a mentor who has been a role model for students and colleagues alike.

The MGH Institute has graduated more than 5,900 health care professionals since its inception in 1977. The only degree-granting affiliate of Partners HealthCare System, it currently has more than 1,400 full- and part-time students. The school also offers degrees in occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and rehabilitation sciences.