Commencement speakers often give advice, but rarely does it involve housekeeping. The 100 newly minted doctors in the Alpert Medical School’s thirty-seventh graduating class probably knew what they’d get when they asked Charlotte Boney, associate professor of pediatrics, to speak at their graduation. They received prescriptions for personal and professional health from both Boney and Griffin P. Rodgers ’76, ’79 MMSc, ’79 MD, who heads the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH.

Rodgers’ advice:
1)    “It’s not what you know today, it’s what you learn tomorrow. Be a lifelong learner.”
2)    “I have one word for you: research.”
3)    “Know your IT.”
4)    “Unleash your inner geek and your inner mensch.”
5)    “Follow your passion. Never lose track of what led you to medicine. Take time out to renew.”

And Boney’s:
1)    “Nurture your love live. It will not take care of itself.”
2)    “Get a maid (and your partner is not your maid!) the moment you can afford it.”
3)    “Be skeptical. Do not be content with dogma.”
4)    “Practice philanthropy. Challenge yourself to give away 10 percent of your salary. Pay it forward with small gifts of kindness and larger gifts of money.”