Shalala To Speak at UW Medical School Ceremony

U. S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala will be the featured speaker at a UW Medical School ceremony Friday, May 16, recognizing the graduating members of the class of 1997.

Shalala will describe how doctors must meet the challenge of a changing health care system. Her comments also will focus on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the infamous national study in which participating black sharecroppers were led to believe that they were being treated for syphilis, when in fact they were only given placebos and tests. UW Medical School’s Dr. Vanessa Gamble headed the “Legacy Committee” that urged the federal government to issue an official apology, which will take place Friday afternoon when President Clinton meets with surviving study participants and their families and supporters in Alabama.

To be held in Memorial Union Theater, the ceremony begins at 9 a.m.