BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine celebrated a milestone Monday, graduating its largest medical school class in the program’s history. Seventy-nine new physicians received their M.D. degrees at a commencement ceremony held at the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium on the Boca Raton campus. An additional 19 graduates of the biomedical sciences master’s program were also recognized.
The ceremony featured the traditional “hooding” — a symbolic rite of passage from one generation of physicians to the next. Ten graduates were hooded by physician relatives. Among them, Christopher Haff was hooded by his twin brother, William Haff, D.O., and class president Joshua S. Sohmer was hooded by his wife, Sabina Fridman, M.D., ’23, herself an FAU College of Medicine alumna. Larry Brickman, M.D., an associate professor of surgery and U.S. Army veteran, administered an officer’s oath to Jacob Abulencia, who was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.
The graduating class stepped into a state facing a growing healthcare crisis. Florida is projected to face a shortfall of nearly 18,000 physicians by 2035. More than half of this year’s graduates — 53% — chose to remain in Florida for their residencies, matching with programs at 21 institutions across the state.
Thirty-three percent of the class entered primary care fields, including internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics — areas of critical need statewide.
