Christine K. Cassel, M.D., president of American Board of Internal Medicine, and Surgical Oncologist LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., FACS, will also receive honorary degrees at 2005 annual commencement at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, June 2, 2005 at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

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Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, M.D., MPH, FACS, 17th Surgeon General of the United States, will receive an honorary doctor of science degree on Thursday, June 2, 2005 at the annual commencement exercises for Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson College of Graduate Studies.

Christine K. Cassel, M.D., MACP, president of the American Board of Internal Medicine, and surgeon and oncologist LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., FACS, Charles Drew Professor of Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine, and Chairman of the Board of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, will also receive honorary doctor of science degrees at the ceremonies, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on Broad Street, Philadelphia.

“Jefferson Medical College is honored to welcome Drs. Carmona, Cassel and Leffall and to have the opportunity to recognize them for their unique contributions to health care in this country,” said Thomas J. Nasca, M.D., FACP, dean of Jefferson Medical College and senior vice president, Thomas Jefferson University.
  
More than 200 doctor of medicine degrees, doctor of philosophy degrees and master of science degrees will be conferred on students from Jefferson’s medical school and school of graduate studies and basic science programs during the exercises.   

Dr. Carmona, the nation’s chief educator on public health and medicine, was sworn in as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service on August 5, 2002.

Prior to being named surgeon general, Dr. Carmona was chairman of the State of Arizona Southern Regional Emergency Medical System, a professor of surgery, public health and family and community medicine at the University of Arizona, and the Pima County Sheriff's Department surgeon and deputy sheriff.

Dr. Carmona has also held progressive positions of responsibility as chief medical officer, hospital chief executive officer, public health officer, and finally chief executive officer of the Pima county health care system. He has also served as a medical director of police and fire departments and is a fully-qualified peace officer with expertise in special operations and emergency preparedness.

Born and raised in New York City, Dr. Carmona dropped out of high school and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967. While enlisted he received his Army General Equivalency Diploma, joined the Army's Special Forces, ultimately becoming a combat-decorated Vietnam veteran, and began his career in medicine.

Dr. Cassel is president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation in Philadelphia, a position she has held since July 1, 2003.  Dr. Cassel is former dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for Medical Affairs at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore. 

She is a leading expert in geriatric medicine, medical ethics and quality of clinical care. Among her many professional leadership positions, Dr. Cassel was named the first women president of the American College of Physicians in 1996. She is immediate past-Chair of the ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees, served as chair of the Board of the Greenwall Foundation, which supports work in bioethics, past president of the American Federation for Aging Research and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at the National Institutes of Health. 

In 1997-98, Dr. Cassel served on the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry.  She was formerly professor and chair of the Henry L. Schwartz Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development and Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and director of the Geriatric Research, Educational and Clinical Center at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Leffall is a medical educator and leader in professional and civic organizations. In May 2002, he was appointed by President George W. Bush as a member and chair of the President’s Cancer Panel.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons, and the American College of Gastroenterology (he was named Honorary Lifetime member in 1998 to the latter).  Dr. Leffall has served as visiting professor and guest lecturer at more than 200 medical institutions in the U.S. and other parts of the world.  He has authored or coauthored more than 130 articles and chapters.           

His professional life has been devoted to the study of cancer, particularly among African-Americans.  In 1979, as national president of the American Cancer Society, he launched a program on the challenge of cancer in Black Americans paying special attention to the increasing incidence and mortality of cancer in this population group and its implications for similar studies in other racial and ethnic minorities-the first program of this type in our nation.  His major areas of interest are soft part sarcomas and cancer of the breast, colorectum, and head and neck.

Now in his 44th year on the faculty, Dr. Leffall has taught approximately 5,000 medical students (of 7,500 graduates since the medical school’s founding in 1868) and helped train nearly 250 general surgery residents.

Dr. Leffall served as chief of General Surgery in the U.S. Army Hospital in Munich, Germany, before joining the Howard University faculty in 1962. In 1970, he became chairman of the Department of Surgery, a position he held for 25 years.

In 1987, the Biennial LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. Award was established by the M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and Intercultural Cancer Council in Houston in recognition of Dr. Leffall’s contributions to cancer prevention, treatment and education in minority and economically disadvantaged communities.

In 2001, he received the first Heritage Award given by the Society of Surgical Oncology to a past president for significant contributions to oncology.

Founded in 1824, Jefferson Medical College has awarded more than 27,000 medical degrees and has among the most living graduates of medical schools in the nation. It offers both traditional medical education programs and innovative joint degree programs to its enrollment of approximately 900 students each year.