In a ceremony that celebrated achievement, resilience, and the power of community, on Sunday, May 18, the University of Vermont welcomed a commencement speaker whose life embodies all three of those virtues. The 2025 University of Vermont Commencement Address was given by James (Jim) M. Betts ’69, M.D.’73. Dr. Betts isn’t just an alumnus of UVM and the Larner College of Medicine—he’s an accomplished pediatric surgeon and urologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California, a tactical SWAT team member, a former U.S. Olympic Committee physician, and a volunteer firefighter. 

Since his childhood growing up in Bennington, Vermont, Betts was always drawn to service. That innate instinct to serve—honed over decades and rooted in his Green Mountain State upbringing—was never more evident than during one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s darkest times. On October 17, 1989, the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake struck just before game three of the World Series. Betts was working at Children’s Hospital Oakland when the ground shook. Television coverage quickly revealed the devastation: the double-deck Nimitz Freeway had pancaked, trapping scores of people in the rubble. Jim grabbed his gear, joined a rescue team from the hospital, and headed straight to the site.

There, among the twisted steel and shattered concrete, they found a car crushed between the decks. Inside, along with two deceased adults, were two children—siblings Julio and Cathy Beruman. Six-year-old Julio’s legs were pinned beneath the front seats, his right leg crushed beyond saving. Betts climbed up a fire truck ladder, crawled into the wreckage, and began the rescue. With firefighters and two other physicians assisting, he administered fluids and local anesthesia and performed a field amputation at the knee to free Julio and ultimately save his life.

Eight-year-old Cathy, while not trapped, had suffered severe craniofacial injuries. Both children were taken to Children’s Hospital Oakland, where Betts continued operating through the night. Today, both siblings are grown and married. Their lives are a testament to Betts. 

"Part of me as a first responder, as a trauma surgeon, means you go to where the problem is; you don’t hesitate or stand back. I want to use those skills that I’ve developed to provide assistance to others." 

— Jim Betts

That moment on the Nimitz Freeway wasn’t the beginning of Jim’s story—it was just one of many chapters in a lifelong narrative of service. Growing up in Bennington, Betts’s neighbor, Don Shea, M.D.’56, made house calls at dawn and treated everyone in the community, regardless of their ability to pay. Every morning, Jim would run out to meet the physician, eager to learn, absorbing the quiet nobility of medicine practiced with heart, and again in the evenings so Dr. Shea could share his experiences treating patients with him. Jim was just 10 years old when he decided his career path was pretty much set.

His mother, Eva Betts, ran the family business, the Maple Sugar Bowl restaurant in Bennington 364 days a year, raising Betts and his brother and sister alone after Betts’s father passed away. She fed anyone who came in hungry, whether they could pay or not. Her example of quiet generosity became the blueprint for Betts’s life. “She is my hero,” he says. “Most of my passion for helping others comes from Ma Betts.”

That passion carried him through medical school at the University of Vermont, through residencies in Charleston, Richmond, Philadelphia, and Cleveland, and eventually to Oakland, California, where he joined two senior pediatric surgeons. There, he built a career not just in pediatric surgery and urology, but in trauma care, community outreach, and advocacy. He chose Oakland because it was diverse and in an underserved region full of children. Betts is the founding director, now emeritus, of the pediatric trauma program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. “There are so many different peoples who live in that area from all over the world,” he said. “It is a privilege to care for those children.” 

But his service didn’t stop there. In 1979, he became a “physician in residence” for the U.S. Olympic Committee, eventually helping launch the anti-doping movement in sports. He oversaw thousands of drug tests, helped shape national policy, and still lectures today about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs—especially as it relates to high school students. “That’s still a mission of mine,” he says.

His work with the Olympic Committee began modestly—treating colds and sprains at the Colorado Springs training center. But by 1983, he was accompanying athletes to the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela, where a doping scandal erupted. Betts and his colleagues warned athletes they would test positive if they competed. Some ignored the warning, won medals, and were later stripped of them. That moment catalyzed the creation of an anti-doping committee that would later influence the NCAA, professional sports, and eventually the World Anti-Doping Agency, who are still the main testing agency today. He became a founding member of the USOC Anti-Doping Committee and served from 1984 to 2000.

Betts’s role was more than a physician. He personally oversaw thousands of male athletes giving samples, ensuring fairness, integrity, and accountability. It was another way he served—advocating for the athletes who needed someone to protect the spirit of competition.

After settling in California, Betts felt compelled to support those affected by natural disasters. He became a volunteer firefighter with the Big Sur Fire Department, where he is certified in search, rescue, and vehicle extrication and also serves as the department’s medical director. In recognition of his commitment, he was named Firefighter of the Year in 2015. Today, at age 78, he continues to serve as a weekend duty officer when he’s not on trauma call at the hospital.

Amid a story and life that compares to an epic novel, he never forgets the moment the earthquake struck. “I think about earthquakes every day,” Betts admits. “I don’t want to be trapped. But I like to think that if something like that happened now, I would still do the same thing I did before.”

That’s the essence of Jim Betts. 

That’s why, when the University of Vermont invited him to deliver the 2025 Commencement Address on May 18, he didn’t talk about accolades or his personal achievements. He talked about service, about the importance of caring beyond the classroom, beyond the self. “I am forever indebted to UVM for offering me a foundation of learning and instilling a devotion to serve,” said Betts. “Whichever road you choose, consider one that encourages a passion for caring,” he told the graduates.

His passion for caring and service has kept him deeply connected and engaged with UVM and especially the Larner College of Medicine, where he has served in multiple roles over the years, including president of the Larner College Medical Alumni Executive Committee and the Dean’s Advisory Board. Because of his extraordinary contributions, Betts was awarded an honorary doctor of philosophy degree at UVM’s 2025 Commencement.

In recognition of his unwavering support of Larner, Betts fittingly received the A. Bradley Soule Award in 2003. This award honors an alumnus whose loyalty and dedication to the Larner College of Medicine reflect the exceptional commitment of its namesake, A. Bradley Soule, M.D.’28, a distinguished radiologist, educator, and leader. Over his nearly 54-year career, Dr. Soule was celebrated as both a superb teacher and a guiding force in the college’s growth, leaving a legacy of service, leadership, and devotion to medical education. 

Betts’s contributions to UVM admissions, career development, and alumni engagement in the San Francisco Bay Area also earned him the Distinguished Service Award from the UVM Alumni Association. From 2004 to 2010, he served on the university’s board of trustees, playing a key role in the founding of the UVM Foundation. He later joined the UVM Foundation’s board of directors from 2016 to 2022; he continues to lend his insight as a member of its Leadership Council. His heartfelt Commencement message to embrace service wasn’t just for future physicians—it was for all UVM graduating students preparing to enter the world with a degree in hand and a heart full of ambition. He urged the graduates to find the best in others and leave the world a bit better. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived … this is to have succeeded,” Betts said.

That’s because Betts knows that service isn’t a profession; it’s a commitment. It’s how you show up every day. It’s how you treat the stranger, the patient, the athlete, the child. It’s how you live when no one’s watching.

He learned that from his mother, who fed the hungry without question. And from Dr. Shea, who made house calls at dawn, and from the children of Oakland, who needed someone to fight for them. 

Jim Betts is not just a Vermonter, a Catamount, or a surgeon. He’s a powerful reminder that medicine is more than science—it’s humanity. That caring is not a skill—it’s a choice. And that the most powerful legacy we can leave is in the lives we touch.

So, be the person who runs toward the wreckage. Be the one who sees suffering and helps. Be the one who believes that every act of service and kindness is worth doing. 

Be like Jim.