Ochsner Health is a system that delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate.
UQ-Ochsner Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program Honors 2024 Graduating Class
Release Date: December 11, 2024
On November 23, Ochsner Health and The University of Queensland (UQ)’s joint Doctor of Medicine (MD) program honored its 2024 graduating class at our annual culmination ceremony.
With this year’s 72 graduates, the medical program now has more than 1,000 alumni. The partnership began in 2009 to provide medical students and education with a global perspective and exposure to different healthcare systems to be better physicians and leaders in medicine.
To reach this milestone, students completed two years of medical school curriculum in Brisbane, Australia, at The University of Queensland. The final two years of clinical study were conducted at The University of Queensland Medical School – Ochsner Health campus at Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans. In the 2024 academic year the students provided nearly 1,500 hours of volunteer services, including participation in over 25 outreach events in the New Orleans Greater Metropolitan area.
During the ceremony, Leonardo Seoane, MD, FACP, Ochsner's executive vice president and chief academic officer and professor at UQ-Ochsner MD Program, congratulated the cohort on their achievement at the culmination ceremony.“Ochsner is proud to invest in you, the next generation of physicians, as we work collectively to make healthcare more accessible and compassionate for all the communities that we serve here in Louisiana and beyond,” said Dr. Seoane. “Together you will all improve health outcomes and change patients’ lives. Always remember the lessons you learned these past four years: put patients first, embody professionalism and take care of yourselves as you take care of others.”
During the culmination ceremony several UQ-Ochsner faculty and residents were recognized with awards of excellence in clinical teaching.
The highest individual award of excellence – the Teacher of the Year Award – was bestowed upon Vu Vuong, MD, an OB/GYN with Ochsner Health Center – West Bank. Dr. Vuong has been caring for his patients at his West Bank office since 1997, practicing the whole spectrum of the specialty. He takes pride not just in his own practice, but also in teaching the next generation of physicians.
The Resident Teachers of the Year for 2024 are:
- Joshua King, MD – Internal Medicine
- Charles Sisk, MD – OB/GYN
- Steven Fielkow, MD – Pediatrics
- Oriane Ezedine, MD – Psychiatry
- Christopher Zumwalt, MD – Surgery
The following students were also recognized with individual awards:
- Levi Griffin – Student Excellence Award for OB/GYN
- Jale Manzo – Student Excellence Award for Pediatrics
- Jaskaran Singh Dhillon – Student Excellence Award for Psychiatry
- Nathan Au-Yeung – Internal Medicine-American College of Physicians Excellence Award
- Carlos Santaolaya – Dr. E. Edward Martin, Jr. Family Medicine Award
- Colton Paterson – John Lockwood Ochsner Sr. Surgical Award
