Hundreds gather at EVMS for 2023 Alumni Weekend
Over the weekend, 250 people gathered at EVMS for the institution’s 2023 Alumni Weekend. A full program of activities extending from Friday evening through Saturday included EVMS’ inaugural Black Alumni Social, an event organized to recognize the institution’s ongoing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion and provide opportunities for faculty, staff, students and alumni to network and connect.
“Through every program, department and school — in our clinician’s offices and researchers’ labs — you see the results of our collective efforts to bring in more voices to the EVMS community, to invite and welcome new perspectives,” said Mekbib Gemeda, EdD, EVMS’ Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, in his opening remarks for the social. “Diversity, equity and inclusion are ideas that, in many ways, have never been more important, and they are, as it turns out, part of EVMS’ DNA.”
Gatherings such as the Black Alumni Social, “prove how powerful we are together, and how energized we remain as we continue to effect change and work toward the equitable, healthy future we want for ourselves and future generations,” added Dr. Gemeda.
The weekend activities also allowed attendees to take part in EVMS’ 50th anniversary celebration, which began in October 2023 and will extend through the end of the academic year.
EVMS was founded in 1973 by a group of civic leaders committed to creating a medical school founded by the community for the community. EVMS Alumni Board Member Jeniffer Campo, MD (MD ’98), reflected on EVMS’ longevity — and how far the institution has come — in her remarks.
“This weekend brings alumni and their guests back to EVMS,” she said. “For some of us, it has been years since we’ve been on campus. I hope you are as wowed as I am by the growth EVMS has experienced in recent years — not to mention the half-century since the school’s founding.”
See photos from EVMS’ 2023 Alumni Weekend.
Pictured at top: Members of the MD Class of 1993 gathered Oct. 14 at the Alumni Family Barbecue on TowneBank Lawn.