Graduate shares special onstage moment with brothers as third in family to earn DO from Liberty

Growing up hearing their mother’s stories about being a NICU nurse, three brothers in the Vroegindewey family were inspired by her passion for healthcare. They have all now begun careers in medicine as alumni of the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine. The youngest of the trio, Noah, graduated on Thursday night with his brothers Luke (’22) and Jeremiah (’23) by his side at the degree ceremony held in the Center for Music and the Worship Arts, Concert Hall.

“Both of our parents encouraged us to pursue a career we’d find meaningful,” Luke said. “I’ve always been drawn to science, lifelong learning, and service, and during college I realized medicine combined those passions with the values I admired most in my parents. LUCOM’s emphasis on faith, service, and integrity strongly aligned with our values.”

A special part of the degree ceremony is the hooding of graduates, a tradition for medical schools to formally welcome them into the medical profession by symbolically donning a hood on top of their regalia. Graduates who have a parent or other family member already in medicine are typically “hooded” by this relative. Luke and Jeremiah shared this responsibility for their brother.

“I think it’s an honor to be hooded by two brothers who have gone through the same experience as me of not just any medical school but the same medical school,” Noah said. “When I was in school, they were able to help me and offer encouragement, so it was very rewarding and encouraging to me to see that in the ceremony too.”

“I’m incredibly proud of Noah,” said Luke, who is completing his final year in residency in internal medicine at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset, Ky., and will start a two-year fellowship in endocrinology at Indiana University this summer. “He worked hard, excelled academically, and matched into his first choice (for residency). It’s also meaningful that (Jeremiah) and I get to hood him together. It’s a rare and special moment to share, and I feel truly honored.”

Jeremiah is currently in his second year of family medicine residency in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“I am very proud of Noah and am honored to be present for this milestone achievement of his,” Jeremiah said. “I think it still doesn’t seem real that the three of us made it and became physicians. Hooding Noah will really makes this sink in in a cool way. Looking forward, it will be cool to bounce work stuff off each other in our respective jobs as well.”

Noah will do an internal medicine residency at Carilion Clinic VTC School of Medicine in Southwest Virginia.

After discovering a passion for caring for patients as a nurse technician in his home state of Michigan, Noah was strongly encouraged by his brothers to pursue medicine and follow in their footsteps to LUCOM. He had never lived outside of Michigan before and struggled early on, as many student-doctors do, but he said having Jeremiah on campus and Luke a phone call away was helpful.

“The compassion that I could show to patients inspired me to first see if I liked the healthcare system when I was (working) in the hospital, and then I got some experience like that and wanted to do more, so I applied to medical school,” Noah said. “It was great to have someone (at LUCOM) who I knew very well and who I could always go to if I needed help in something. (Luke) offered a lot of encouragement over the phone since he was doing his residency in Kentucky.”

Throughout his four years, Noah said the friendly, inspiring faculty and Christian community at Liberty’s medical school were highlights of his experience.

“LUCOM feels like a whole community of people caring for you, and that helped me a lot during medical school and its difficult times,” he said. “All of the faculty are very loving, and they really care about us students. They pray for you and about you, and they don’t just see it as being their job. They genuinely want you to succeed.”

Now looking toward his residency and career in medicine, Noah said he will allow his faith to influence his approach to patient care.

“I believe, as a Christian, in being caring towards people, making sure that they feel the love of God when you’re (treating) them and not being judgmental when I see them on what might be the worst day of their life. If they want someone to pray with them, I will gladly pray with them. I want to help in all of the ways I can.”

LUCOM’s Class of 2025 brought 150 student-doctors into the medical profession and achieved a 98.7 percent placement for residencies on Match Day earlier this spring.