120 medical students to graduate during Boonshoft School of Medicine commencement ceremony at Wright State Nutter Center

After intense study and specialized training, medical students at the Boonshoft School of Medicine will be able to experience the school’s graduation ceremony on May 2.

A class of 120 medical students from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine will celebrate graduation on Sunday, May 2, at 2 p.m. in the Wright State Nutter Center.

The ceremony is open to a limited number of guests, who must have tickets to attend, and will include a limited stage party of faculty and administrators. All attendees must wear masks, even if fully vaccinated. Read more about the ceremony.

The ceremony can be watched at wright.edu/streaming and on the university’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In addition to the conferring of degrees, the ceremony will include a “hooding ceremony” in which graduates receive traditional regalia denoting their status and profession. Students will also take a professional oath to mark the start of their medical careers and sign a registry to commemorate their first use of the initials M.D. following their names.

Wright State University President Sue Edwards and Boonshoft School of Medicine Dean Valerie Weber will preside.

Erica Taylor, assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion and assistant professor of pediatrics

Erica Taylor, M.D., assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion and assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, will deliver the commencement address.

Taylor is also community medicine residency elective director with the integrated pediatric residency program. The pediatric residency program provides training to Wright State pediatric residents at Dayton Children’s Hospital and the pediatric clinic at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center. In addition, she is a pediatric hospitalist with Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Previously, she served as clerkship director in the School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, clinical preceptor for internal medicine and pediatrics, and clinical assistant professor.

Taylor’s academic appointments with the School of Medicine go back to 2010 when she was chief resident with the integrated pediatric residency program. She was the first African American to hold this position.

Taylor received her medical degree from the Wright State School of Medicine in 2005 and her bachelor’s degree in biology from Xavier University of Louisiana. She completed an internship in internal medicine and pediatrics and her residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics at Wright State.

Taylor has served on multiple local and national committees throughout her career, including as the teaching and learning lead for the national nonprofit Aquifer Educators Consortium, immediate past chair of the Boonshoft School of Medicine student promotions committee, and as a member of the School of Medicine’s doctoring committee and the residency education committee at Dayton Children’s Hospital.