(Ret.) Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey B. Clark offered a series of quotes as part of his keynote address Wednesday, May 7.
The first quote, profound in its simplicity, was from his mom.
“If you’ve done the best you can, the angels in heaven can do no better.”
Clark, a decorated officer and physician, shared this wisdom and experience over 35 years of service to Campbell University military student doctors May 7 during the Class of 2025 Military Commissioning Ceremony in Hobson Auditorium.
Six members of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine 2025 graduating class will enter the military as new officers. They will graduate with their classmates in a ceremony at 10 a.m. May 8, in Gore Arena, John W. Pope Convocation Center.
The inspirational ceremony also featured remarks by Campbell University President Dr. Bradley Creed and a rousing rendition of the Armed Forces Medley.
“You, through your service, will make us proud,” said Creed, who is retiring as Campbell president this summer.
Creed said the new officers, as doctors, have answered a higher call to service and to humanity.
“Today, you have extended and enlarged that call by serving our country, and all that entails. Thank you so much for your service, congratulations, God bless you and go Camels!”
Family members, including current service members and veterans, pinned the shiny, twin silver bars on the shoulders of each new military doctor.
Dr. Brian Kessler, dean and chief academic officer for the medical school, presented each service member with a coin representing Campbell’s med school.
“Today’s ceremony stands apart from our other commencement events,” Kessler said. “It’s more than a recognition of academic achievement. It’s a solemn affirmation of your commitment to serve. We gather to honor individuals who have chosen a path that blends the healing power of medicine with the discipline of the responsibility of military leadership. You have committed to serving others through courage, skill and compassion.
“As officers, you’ll be entrusted with the lives and the wellbeing of those you command. As physicians, you will offer clarity, healing and compassion to those in need. These dual roles will demand clinical excellence, ethical judgment, humility and resilience. As your dean, I am proud of you and all that you represent. You exemplify what it means to be a physician and a leader.”
In introducing Clark, Dr. Robert Agnello, an assistant professor of Family Medicine at Campbell, spoke of Clark’s family. About his children and wife, Sue, who oversaw some 25 moves as Clark pursued his career. She, too, is a prolific and decorated volunteer, including service with the Arlington Ladies, who attend funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery to ensure no soldier, sailor, airman, Marine or Coast Guard member is buried alone, the group’s website says.
The general walked to the front of the stage and, with a soft voice, addressed the new officers by referencing Agnello.
“Did y’all hear him talk about my family? We should always leave by talking about our family,” said Clark, who was born in LaGrange and served 35 years as a family medicine physician, including numerous command roles. Now semi-retired, Clark serves as a Defense Health Agency senior mentor adviser, among myriad other positions.
“We are privileged to serve two professions — the profession of arms and the profession of medicine, simultaneously,” General Clark said. “I’ll ask you to think of yourselves as medical corps officers, not doctors who happen to wear the uniform. That’s a distinction with a difference. You are medical corps officers, which is incredibly special.”
General Clark talked about the military oath, a code of ethics and core values, such as integrity, honor, courage and duty. He asked the graduating doctors to think about the conversations they’ll have with their patients, the relationships they’ll form.
“Very few professions get to do that,” he said. “The questions we get to ask, the things that we get to learn and know about those wonderful fellow human beings that we get to take care of, very few folks get to do that. It’s very special.”
As physicians, he said, we must regulate ourselves.
“If things are going well, we recognize and we build upon it. If things do not go well, if we make a mistake, (then) we, as professionals … dig into it, we understand it.”
General Clark then turned to the Hippocratic Oath, attributed to Greek physician and philosopher Hippocrates, who lived from 460 to 370 BC. That oath, the general believes, applies to all medical professionals.
“I think he was saying,” General Clark said, “that, (for) everybody in the profession of medicine, this is the oath, this is how you ought to think about … this art, this art of medicine.”
Warmth, sympathy and understanding.
“That’s the art.”
It’s also about humility. About asking for help when needed. It’s the courage to say, “I don’t know.”
“Those of us in the medical profession, we cannot get too big for our britches, because it’s not about us,” the general said. “You turn to those around you because you’re all on the same team, and you put your heads together and you make the best decision for that wonderful human being that you get to take care of.
“Do not treat a fever chart or a cancerous growth, but treat a human being, a fellow child of God.”
Class of 2025 Graduation Military Promotees:
Army
Capt. Woohyuck “Wayne” Jang
Capt. Allison Myers
Capt. Kaydee Robertson
Navy
Lt. Daniel “Craig” Dagdag
Lt. Robert Repetti
Air Force
Capt. Devyn Bahnmiller