BALTIMORE — Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health graduated its largest class in its 104-year history on Tuesday.
The Convocation ceremony was pre-recorded and virtually broadcast.
The class was made up of 980 graduates, including 276 international students representing 59 countries. Among them, 118 earned doctoral degrees and 862 obtained master’s.
Dean of the school, Dr. Ellen J. MacKenzie, noted that the School’s first graduating class, 102 years ago, faced a similar challenge during the 1918 influenza pandemic.
“This is a moment to recognize the cost of ignoring public health, of undervaluing prevention and preparedness,” said MacKenzie. “Ensuring the public's health is not cheap. Advances against measles and polio, HIV and tuberculosis, tobacco, and traffic injuries and maternal and child deaths require investment and constant effort. We are seeing firsthand what can happen when public health is underfunded, when its workforce is ratcheted down.”
The Bloomberg School Class of 2020 joins over 25,000 alumni living across the U.S. and throughout the world.
