Multiple medical schools graduate students early to fight COVID-19

Rutgers, NYU, Harvard, Boston University, Tufts, and many other major universities will graduate students early to help combat the crisis.

“I have total confidence that our students are ready to help the cause," Rutgers Dean Robert Johnson said.

In an effort to flood the medical industry with as much talent as possible to help with the coronavirus crisis, several major medical schools are announcing early graduations.

In a recent press release, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School announced that it would graduate its 192 final-year medical students early so that they can join the workforce before their original graduation date in May and “provide critical health care as the world combats the global COVID-19 pandemic.”

“I have total confidence that our students are ready to help the cause. They have learned and trained at Rutgers and will be much-needed support in our nation’s health care system,” Dean Robert Johnson said.

[RELATED: NYU med students to graduate early to fight coronavirus]

New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine was one of the first to announce its plan to graduate the class of medical students early in response to helping fight the coronavirus.

 “We weren’t sure if it would really get there, but we knew that other countries that were getting hit hard by COVID-19 were entering similar plans,” NYU Medical student and early graduate Gaby Mayer told The Verge. 

[RELATED: ‘No Fail Yale’: Ivy League lowers academic expectations amid coronavirus]

Other major medical universities have followed suit, including Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School

Boston University has moved its medical school graduation up by one month to help fight the coronavirus at the request of Gov. Charlie Baker. The graduation lines up with the time period in which Massachusetts is thought to be likely hit with a surge in coronavirus patients. 

“We live in unprecedented times. Medical schools did move up graduation during World War II for similar reasons, they needed more doctors to care for the troops,” Karen H. Antman, Dean of Boston University’s Medical School, said.

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