Notes from the President

It’s that time of year. They come back for various reasons. Alumni. Some are leaning heavily on canes, while others wear the blush of a new job or recent success. Who are these 42,000 graduates of Loma Linda University? What are they doing? Are they fulfilling their dreams, loving and living as they go about their activities? Perhaps rebounding from the ravages of disease? Or counting their blessings while serving the world with their skills?

For most parents, having an alumnus of Loma Linda University in the family means sweet success. Mission accomplished. Obligation fulfilled.

For the student, becoming an alumnus is a final step, the end of a lifelong dream, a time for reflection and reward. LLU will graduate more than 1,300 students this year, adding to our distinguished list. Each of our schools has milestones to be recognized. Our School of Medicine, for example, claims the most medical graduates in the western USA—nearly 10,500. Many of our schools have multiple generations calling Loma Linda their alma mater. 

When we are asked to consider a difficult project, like our recent contracts to develop teaching hospitals in Afghanistan and Palestine, our initial question is always “Can we find the people willing to go?” Our confidence in the answer has grown through the years because of our alumni. They always step up and serve with distinction, many working in unlikely places and often forgotten to us. Most are unsung heroes, not asking for recognition or reward, just enjoying the privilege of service.

Alumni are also donors, wanting to give back, remembering a particular program or teacher, feeling grateful for their career, and always wanting to help the next generation. Some give large naming gifts, while many contribute in smaller amounts, year by year. It is these funds that enable us to remain on the forefront of education, health care, and research. Our current Vision 2020 campaign will transform this campus, preparing us for decades of service into the future.

Many of our alumni have distinguished themselves in their disciplines. They have led major research labs, contributed new clinical techniques, and managed programs and departments effectively. Most importantly, they have carried a sense of this campus ethos with them, recognizing that our motto is a lifelong commitment to both personal and professional wholeness. They often write back or visit, telling of their work and mission. They often refer to the Loma Linda “experience”—that unique sense of satisfaction from a life well focused.

They carry varied responsibilities, such as the respiratory therapists from our program in Saudi Arabia, who now head the respiratory programs in all the hospitals in that Kingdom, raising standards to a new level. Or our rehabilitation technicians, graduating from our new certificate program in Haiti, serving the many amputees and others injured in that earthquake-torn country. And many step into the public sector as social workers, public health specialists, nurses, and more in city and county health departments, often serving the disenfranchised—as do our dentists, chaplains, pharmacists, and others in various other sectors.

I often think about our students and graduates of the future. What will they look for at Loma Linda University? Will they find it? Can we always maintain our standards of excellence? Will we find the right faculty to carry on our programs? Maintain our uniqueness? What new programs will be developed? What about our Gateway College and our new certificate programs planned for San Bernardino? Will those students experience Loma Linda in a way that will lead them to display their diploma with pride?

We also include our patients as a special kind of “alumni” of Loma Linda. These are often the most passionate ambassadors for the Loma Linda experience and the quality of care and compassion they find on our campus. There are now 17,000 from our James Slater, MD, Proton Treatment and Research Center alone. They come from all corners of this country and abroad. I have had the privilege of visiting with some of them. They appreciate the success of their cancer treatment, but most talk effusively about what they learned about living while at Loma Linda. They exercised at the Drayson Center, ate our unique dietary menus, and socialized with fellow patients and staff. When they leave, they begin life anew, with a better knowledge of nutrition and exercise, but also, more importantly, with an understanding of balance in life, God’s role on this earth, and the gift of life.

I stood on the top of Pisgah Peak before sunrise this morning. The three miles up that winding dirt road is always invigorating, calling me to summit its 6,000-foot peak at least once a week for the last 35 years. As I reached the top, a profusion of yellow greeted me along the upper bank. A spread of daffodils, planted long ago by someone in the unknown past, is now reaching out to the morning sun. Each spring they greet me and I wonder—who planted them? What were their dreams? Was this to be the view from their front porch, or the path to their home on the hill? All year long those bulbs lay just below the surface, gathering strength, absorbing nutrients, waiting for the call of spring. Neither the manzanita bushes above nor the green grass blanketing the earth could know what lies beneath them. Yet each spring these daffodils bring forth their blessings to the world, unheralded, persistent through snow or heat, reminding us all of God’s creative love.

This view struck me this morning as a beautiful metaphor for our graduates. Often silent yet busy, sometimes forgotten yet carrying on their work, they come forth to bless the world. They are like a daffodil endowment, a quiet hidden fund that periodically pours forth its blessings. Thank you to all our alumni for the amazing reputation you have bestowed on Loma Linda. You are both our legacy and our future, and we are indeed grateful.

Enjoy some incredible stories of our students, alumni, and patients in our new PBS WORLD Channel series “Life on the Line,” which begins airing nationally April 4 at 6:00 p.m. ET/PT. Learn more about this program—Loma Linda University Health’s first national TV show—at www.lifeontheline.tv. And catch a glimpse of these stories in this trailer:

Cordially yours,

Richard H. Hart, MD, DrPH

President, Loma Linda University Health