Dell Medical School Class of 2025 Commencement

Joseph J. Fins, M.D., D. Hum. Litt. (hc), MACP, FRCP (London)

Dr. Joseph J. Fins is the E. William Davis, Jr. M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics and chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. He holds multiple professorships in medicine, psychiatry, neurology, rehabilitation medicine, health care policy and research. Dr. Fins is also an attending physician and director of medical ethics at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, and he co-directs the Consortium for the Advanced Study of Brain Injury at Weill Cornell Medicine and Rockefeller University.

An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Fins has received numerous awards, including the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction in 2024. He has served on various prestigious committees, including The White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy and The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law.

Dr. Fins is a prolific author with over 500 publications, including "Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and the Struggle for Consciousness" and "A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life’s End." His research interests span ethical and policy issues in brain injury, palliative care and medical education.

William Austin

Will Austin, elected by his peers to speak today, graduates with an M.D. from Dell Medical School and a master’s in health care transformation from McCombs School of Business. He holds two bachelor’s degrees, in entomology and health and disease, from Purdue University. For residency, he will pursue combined internal medicine and pediatrics (Med-Peds) at Baylor College of Medicine. Will is driven to beat neglected tropical diseases — diseases of poverty that impact more than 1 billion children and adults every day. This is a journey he has been on since 2015.
At Dell Med, one of Will’s greatest joys came from serving and advocating for his class on the Student Senate. He was elected to back-to-back terms spanning all four years. Will also found great purpose in serving through Dell Med RISE, a mentorship program that inspires, supports and empowers undergraduate students historically underrepresented in medicine to reach their dreams in health care. For his “exceptional commitment to community health and advocacy,” he was awarded the inaugural and eponymous “Austin Advocacy Award,” established in his name by RISE’s undergraduate partner program.
During his fourth year, Will was selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate and analyze raw milk outbreaks alongside public health experts. He was inducted by the Class of 2025 into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and further honored as this year’s Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine student awardee, as an exemplar of respect, compassion and humanism in the care of patients, their families and health care colleagues.Will Austin, elected by his peers to speak today, graduates with an M.D. from Dell Medical School and a master’s in health care transformation from McCombs School of Business. He holds two bachelor’s degrees, in entomology and health and disease, from Purdue University. For residency, he will pursue combined internal medicine and pediatrics (Med-Peds) at Baylor College of Medicine. Will is driven to beat neglected tropical diseases — diseases of poverty that impact more than 1 billion children and adults every day. This is a journey he has been on since 2015.

At Dell Med, one of Will’s greatest joys came from serving and advocating for his class on the Student Senate. He was elected to back-to-back terms spanning all four years. Will also found great purpose in serving through Dell Med RISE, a mentorship program that inspires, supports and empowers undergraduate students historically underrepresented in medicine to reach their dreams in health care. For his “exceptional commitment to community health and advocacy,” he was awarded the inaugural and eponymous “Austin Advocacy Award,” established in his name by RISE’s undergraduate partner program.
During his fourth year, Will was selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate and analyze raw milk outbreaks alongside public health experts. He was inducted by the Class of 2025 into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and further honored as this year’s Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine student awardee, as an exemplar of respect, compassion and humanism in the care of patients, their families and health care colleagues.