Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, gives commencement address at UGA College of Public Health.

About 160 University of Georgia College of Public Health students participated in the College's 8th annual graduation ceremony held in the Tate Student Center on UGA's campus May 11, 2012.

In her commencement address, Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., Commissioner of the Department of Public Health, charged the new graduates to, "truly work, live and make a difference at the highest level of your ability to comprehend."

The huge gathering also heard from a fellow student, Lunarosa Peralta of Athens, an environmental health science student who was chosen to be the student speaker. Peralta will be pursuing a Master of Public Health degree from UGA beginning this fall.

About 230 students were eligible to participate in the ceremony and more than 1200 friends and family members attended to bid the graduates well-wishes.

-Reprinted with permission from The UGA College of Public Health http://www.publichealth.uga.edu/news/department-public-health-commissioner-addressed-students-graduation