{"id":36625,"date":"2026-09-28T10:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T14:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=36625"},"modified":"2026-10-02T08:49:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T12:49:31","slug":"geisel-school-of-medicines-green-vest-ceremony-marks-another-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2026\/geisel-school-of-medicines-green-vest-ceremony-marks-another-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Geisel School of Medicine\u2019s Green Vest Ceremony Marks Another First"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Geisel MPH and MS students pose for a photo following their Green Vest Ceremony. (Photo by Taboka Ncube)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a ceremony highlighting the importance of public health work, Geisel School of Medicine students in the MPH and MS programs received a Dartmouth green vest symbolic of those worn worldwide by public health officials and emergency response teams when working in the field.<\/p>\n

In separate opening remarks, Alicia Battle, assistant dean for public health programs, and Dean Jennifer Hunt welcomed everyone to the medical school\u2019s first Green Vest Ceremony for students entering the field of public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour mission is to change the world, and we know you will,\u201d Hunt said. Citing the medical school\u2019s vision to educate public health professionals, physicians, clinicians, scientists, and teachers working together to solve intractable and difficult health problems locally and globally, she said, \u201c\u2026 As you put on this vest, remember that it is a symbol and a sign that you are part of a community that \u2026 will be changing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keynote speaker Derrick Gervin, an assistant professor of social work in the Whitney M. Young, Jr School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA and a former supervisory health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shared personal reflections from his years as a Public Health Service Commission Corps Officer and previous leadership roles at the CDC\u2014experiences that shaped his understanding of service to families and communities.<\/p>\n

Describing his first job as a health services officer with a mental health unit in a federal prison, Gervin said his days were spent with men who had been found not guilty by reason of insanity but who were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Attorney General and Federal Bureau of Prisons. Gervin listened to their detailed stories to assess risk, identify community supports, and recommend conditions of release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose circumstances were rarely about a single bad decision,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were about poor housing conditions, limited education and employment opportunities, historic traumas, unhealthy relationships, untreated mental health and other medical needs, and neighborhoods with long histories of being disproportionately impacted by violence.\u201d Learning how these systems were interconnected he was able to help the men navigate the inherent complexities and challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood something I've carried ever since\u2014even in the most controlled environments in America, individuals still need what everyone else needs, which is to be seen as a whole person,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is why this ceremony matters. The vest is not just something you put on for field work. It is a visible reminder that public health begins when we meet people where they are and accept responsibility for helping them. \u2026 Let this ceremony mark more than the moment you receive a vest. Let it mark the moment you accept the weight, the privilege, and the promise of the work ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo Gallery (photos by Taboka Ncube<\/em>):<\/strong><\/p>\n

This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>

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Sharing what she learned, alumni speaker Chiamaka Agali MPH\u201926 said she knew she wanted to focus on understanding more about the health of displaced populations but did not know where that would lead.<\/p>\n

The Center for Global Health Equity funded a trip to Nigeria to work with Naza Agape, a youth-led organization assisting internally displaced people; a policy paper on the health outcomes of pediatric detainees; global health conversations with MPH students from Liberia and Japan; and two about adverse childhood experiences\u2014one centered on mothers in Ghana and another on refugee girls in Jordan. \u201cNone of that was part of the plan,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, the plan changed constantly. I followed what excited me and that led to opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

She advised student to take advantage of opportunities that capture their interest to both discover themselves and to transform them into the kind practitioners, servants, and leaders that the world will need for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problems facing us all are big, but \u2026 public health is \u2026 a global roster of various actors in different disciplines from a multitude of countries,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, may your capacities continue to expand, and your passion a well that never runs dry. May each of your journeys be ever fruitful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concluding the ceremony, Battle shared a favorite African proverb to carry forward: \u201cI am because we are, and we are because I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Hinton MS\u201927 and Michaela Sherlock MPH\u201927 reflected on a ceremony centered on trust, community responsibility, and the vest as a symbol of transition into public health service\u2014echoing the white coat tradition in medicine but applied to population-level care.<\/p>\n

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Thomas Hinton MS\u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A first-generation student from rural Vermont pursuing a physician-scientist path, Hinton said the ceremony marked his entry into something larger than himself. \u201cToday reminded me that even as one person, researcher, public health professional the work we choose to do can contribute to something far greater than ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

While a white coat represents responsibility to individual patients, the green vest represents responsibility to communities and populations through public health work, and signals visibility and readiness to serve during emergencies. Hinton said he sees his vest as both an acknowledgment of his journey so far and a reminder of his goal to connect research, public health, and medicine on behalf of underserved patients.<\/p>\n

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Michaela Sherlock MPH\u201927<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sherlock said the ceremony marked a symbolic beginning to her professional journey in public health and was an important reminder of why people pursue careers in public health. She noted keynote speaker Gervin\u2019s emphasis on how the vest may create initial trust, but that trust must still be earned through trustworthy action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we all come from different backgrounds and have different inspirations for pursuing public health, we have a desire to improve the health of the communities we care about and be someone our community can trust,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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