St. Joseph’s University, New York (SJNY) celebrated its 105th annual commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 23, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., for more than 1,100 graduates.
This year’s featured speaker was KMarie King, ’94, M.D., M.S., MBA, esteemed chair and chief of surgery at the Albany Medical Center, where she holds the distinction of being the first Black female chair of surgery at an academic health science center in the United States.
Dr. King is a fellowship-trained hepatobiliary and pancreas surgeon, completing her fellowship training at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where she also earned a master’s degree in biomedical science. She completed her residency training in general surgery and a research fellowship in surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, and earned a medical degree at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. King also holds a Master of Business Management from Brandeis University and is a United States Army veteran, having served in Operation Desert Storm. She earned a B.S. in biology from SJNY’s Brooklyn Campus in 1994.
Dr. King has received numerous awards for her research in the areas of liver and pancreatic cancers, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.
Dr. King is a trustee of WMHT Public Media in Troy, N.Y.; a trustee-at-large for the board of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract; vice president of the Society of Surgical Chairs; and the immediate former program chair for the Society of Black Academic Surgeons. She is a member of the American College of Surgeons and was named a fellow in the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.
Dr. King received a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa from St. Joseph’s University, New York president Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D., at the ceremony.
In addition to this year’s keynote speaker, St. Joseph’s recognized Brooklyn valedictorian Caitlin Caporal, ’24 and Long Island valedictorian Melissa Guercio, ’24 during the program.