Kaine addresses 1st Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine grads

Years after playing a key role in the creation of Roanoke’s new medical school as governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine on Saturday stood before its first graduating class.

It was, he said during a commencement speech for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, “a sweet moment.”

Now a U.S. senator, Kaine recounted to the 40 graduates how the school they pioneered in 2010 first came to be.

It was 2007, and then-Gov. Kaine was at the Hotel Roanoke to give a speech about tourism. Afterward, he was asked if he had time to meet with Virginia Tech President Charles Steger and Ed Murphy, who at the time was the CEO of Carilion Clinic.

“Right from the beginning, the idea was a compelling one,” he said of their plan to launch a public-private venture for a medical school and adjoining research institute.

But, he added, “building a medical school from scratch, and a research institute, is not an inexpensive proposition, and it’s not an easy one.”

About that time, a study was released that showed Virginia was facing a future physician shortage, which a new medical school would address.

“We had a good idea, but now we also had a demonstrated need,” Kaine said.

Still, some lawmakers at first resisted spending $59 million in state funds to build the school. But eventually, the funding was included in a statewide package for higher education.

The end result was a class of 40 aspiring physicians who, after receiving their medical degrees Saturday at the Jefferson Center, will become resident physicians at hospitals from Roanoke to Seattle, from Atlanta to Vermont.

Since the charter class enrolled, the medical school has grown to its projected size of 168 students.

In his more personal comments to the graduates, Kaine told them of how his younger brother, the carefree jokester of the family, underwent a personality change after becoming a doctor.

While he “still has a twinkle in his eye,” Kaine said, his brother has become more somber and reflective after having to tell patients that they have a terminal illness, or new parents that their baby has a birth defect.

“All of you, I think, are going to see your personalities change,” the senator said.

“You are giving up a part of yourselves to take other people’s care onto your shoulders, and I thank you for that.”

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