Brig. Gen. Bertram Providence, U.S. Army Regional Health Command -- Pacific commander, delivers his keynote address during the 2017 Graduate Professional Health Education graduation ceremony June 16. The 2017 graduating class included 122 Army and A...

Graduates from the Graduate Professional Health Education program class of 2017 listen as Brig. Gen. Bertram Providence, U.S. Army Regional Health Command -- Pacific commander, delivers his keynote address June 16. Tripler Army Medical Center spons...

(From Left to Right) Col. Kent DeZee, Director of Health Education and Training, Brig. Gen. Bertram Providence, U.S. Army Regional Health Command -- Pacific commander, and Commander of Tripler Army Medical Center, Col. Andrew M. Barr, present graduat...

HONOLULU -- Tripler Army Medical Center, also known as TAMC, honored 122 health care professionals of the Graduate Professional Health Education program during a graduation ceremony June 16.

TAMC sponsors 12 Graduate Medical Education (GME) training programs, with more than 240 trainees comprised of interns, residents and fellows. The institution and its GME programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Commander of TAMC, Col. Andrew M. Barr, hosted the event with Brig. Gen. Bertram Providence, U.S. Army Regional Health Command -- Pacific commander, as the keynote speaker.

"It is the Graduate Medical Education programs at Tripler that provide for the future readiness of our Army and its medical department," said Barr. "Remind yourself often of where you have been and why you do what you do; to serve patients and their families, to ease pain and suffering, to heal the sick and bring comfort to those in need, to make others whole again. Always listen first and place the patient first…never stop learning."

TAMC also has collaborative educational partnerships and agreements with the University of Hawaii, Kapiolani Medical Center, Department of Veteran Affairs, State of Hawaii, Hawaii Institutional Review Board Consortium and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii.

Forty-eight Army graduates and one Air Force graduate will move to operational assignments in South Korea, Germany, Egypt, Alaska, the mainland and Hawaii, while sixty-one Army graduates, one Air Force graduate and seven civilian graduates will commence additional residency or fellowship training beginning in July. The remaining four civilian graduates will start new jobs or pursue other professional and personal goals.

"The training you received here at Tripler is a solid foundation on which to build a career, but if you stop reading and growing today, then you stop learning, and the successful career as a healthcare provider requires that you be a life-long learner," said Providence. "I am proud of you and I look forward to the excellent care you will provide to your patients, and leadership you will bring to the military healthcare system."