New Brooklyn Doctors Graduate Early To Fight Coronavirus

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Freshly-minted Brooklyn doctors soon will join the fight against the new coronavirus.

SUNY Downstate is holding what it calls a "Virtual Commencement" on Friday for 36 College of Medicine students.

They're all graduating early to answer a call by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for new doctors to jump into the state's pandemic efforts, a release states. Cuomo put it into a practice with an April 4 executive order allowing early graduations for medical students who completed their requirements.

The coronavirus will alter their first steps out of college — social distancing measures shifted commencement away from an in-person ceremony toward the virtual affair.

"Having worked hard to become physicians, we understand the disappointment our graduates must feel not being able to celebrate this important milestone traditionally with family, friends, and classmates and the walk across the stage," said SUNY Downstate President Wayne J. Riley in a statement. "Our hope is that this virtual commencement, including the traditional reading of the Hippocratic Oath, will bring some of the pomp and circumstance of commencement to our graduates."

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Another 159 College of Medicine graduate and more than 500 other College of Nursing, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions and School of Graduate Students students will have their own virtual commencement on May 20, 2020, according to a statement.

The virtual commencement Friday starts at 2:30 p.m. and can be viewed here.

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