One hundred seventy three interns, residents and fellows will proudly walk across the stage at Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. to represent the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) Graduate Professional Medical Education (GME) program's graduating class of 2017.

With graduates from 26 different professional education programs, the annual ceremony will mark the successful completion of challenging education, training and research programs designed to prepare the U.S. Navy's newest group of medical professionals who will continue to shape the future of military medicine and ensure the medical readiness of our nation's service members and their families.

The NMCSD GME program's half-century-old legacy dates back to 1946. Today it is one of only three major Navy GME training sites and three Family Medicine sites across the U.S. Navy Medicine enterprise.

The NMCSD GME program trains an average of 340 interns, residents and fellows annually, in 26 different programs that range from one to six years in length. The program graduates an average of about170 medical professionals per year.

NMCSD has full accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for its Graduate Medical Education programs; the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) for its Graduate Dental Education programs; the American Psychological Association for its Psychology program, and from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) for its Pharmacy program.

Captain Joel A. Roos, Commanding Officer, Naval Medical Center San Diego, will be in attendance. Rear Admiral Paul D. Pearigen, Commander Navy Medicine West and chief of the Navy Medical Corps, will provide remarks as the keynote speaker.

To attend the graduation, please RSVP no later than 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6th to NMCSD Public Affairs at: USN.NMCSD-PAO@mail.mil.

On the day of the event, a Public Affairs representative will meet you at the North entrance to the Pavilion seating area. Parking will be available in the parking lot located south of the pavilion.

For more information on Naval Medical Center San Diego, visit: www.facebook.com/nmcsd, or www.twitter.com/NMC_SD.



For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more information on Naval Medical Center San Diego, visit: http://www.navy.mil/local/sd/