Pride, Speeches and Selfies Are All Part of CoM White Coat Ceremony

CINCINNATI—Proud parents and family members joined distinguished faulty to greet 170 members of the Class of 2020, who capped off their first week in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine with a morning White Coat ceremony, Friday, Aug. 5, at the Aronoff Center in downtown.

Each member of the incoming class of medical students received a white coat to mark their entry into the profession and symbolizing the patients the students will treat and the compassion, honesty and caring the students should always aspire to achieve.

"You represent a broad range of experiences and perspectives," said College of Medicine Dean William Ball, MD. "You represent a high level of diversity that we enthusiastically embrace as we face the challenge of providing health care to a diverse community. Your class was selected, based in part on your stellar academic record, but also based on your demonstrated ability to be insightful, to be good communicators and to show empathy."

Ball explained that for the second time in the College of Medicine's history—and second consecutive year —women make up 51 percent of the entering class, while students of color account for 15 percent of the class. Sixty-five percent of the Class of 2020 is from Ohio. The cumulative grade point average of the class is 3.76, the highest in recent years. Of the incoming class of med students, 25 received their undergraduate degrees from UC.

He thanked parents and family members for attending the ceremony, which lasted just over an hour.

"You have supported each of these young women and men to get them here and will continue to bear witness with pride as they go on to a life dedicated to helping others," said Ball. "Your children have been amazingly successful. I know that all of the families are truly grateful and we are also grateful to you.  These students will continue to need your support and encouragement as they embark on their own professional and personal journeys."

In addition to speeches, group photos, selfies and videos highlighted the event. The Class of 2020 also received congratulatory remarks from UC Interim President Beverly Davenport, PhD.

She told the medical students that the white coat will change them and the community's image of them. Davenport, who holds a doctorate in communication, was given a white coat for the ceremony.

"It can change the way that you feel," said Davenport. "It can also change the way that you are viewed and I can attest to that. I was looking for my way this morning and I walked through the lobby of the Aronoff Center and a man said, 'Are you looking for where you need to be?' I said, 'Yes I am.' He said, 'You know my shoulder hurts. Can you do something about that?'"

Her speech was interrupted with laughter from the audience.

"Well, as Dean Ball told you, I am a PhD and I am not an MD. I said, 'Sir, I certainly can't do very much at all. I study how people think about things, but thank you so much for showing me the way.' So you see, people are going to think very differently by just seeing you in your white coat. Some people will get an elevated heart rate and even have higher blood pressure, but you can fix that," said Davenport, as the audience again broke into laughter.

"But to so many the white coat will give them assurance and trust that you will be able to help them. So as you receive your white coat today as a new medical student in what will be our College of Medicine's Class of 2020 I want to congratulate you on achieving this next step on your journey to becoming a physician," said Davenport. "To your family and the friends who gather with you today, please know we share in your pride that you are all feeling for your loved ones that have started medical school with us."

Davenport noted that 25 members of the incoming class received undergraduate degrees from UC in April. 

"Thank you for staying with us here at UC. You have come to know how special this university is and I invite you to help your classmates understand what it means to be a Bearcat. Cincinnati is a vibrant, warm and inviting city that you will be proud to call your home for the next four years, and we hope for many years after that," she said.

"I feel so privileged to be a part of this special day for you," said Davenport. "From the moment you slip on your White Coat you will be a member of the medical profession.  You may not yet have your MD, but people will be depending on you. Accept that responsibility. Embrace it and be as proud of it as we are of you. Care for your patients. Don't be callous to their suffering. They need you, but care for yourself as well."

Keynote speaker Alan George Smulian, MD, directing his remarks to the students, put people who go into medicine into three groups: those who chose medicine to have a global impact and make a contribution to society; those who want to make a direct personal contribution to medicine and add to science; and individuals who would like to get something out of the profession – recognition, financial rewards or employment security.

"While these may all be valid reasons to enter the profession, I would argue that in reality, there is only one person who should be getting something out of our choice to enter medicine and that is the patient," said Smulian, a UC professor of internal medicine and director of the Division of Infectious Disease.

Smulian, also the recipient of the 2016 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, quoted William Osler, MD, one of four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. "We are here to add what we can to life, not get what we can from life."

Smulian described medicine as "the ultimate service industry" and that patients are the most important recipient of that service.

"You do your patient no favors by not striving to provide the highest quality of care that you can," he said. "But even more important is the manner in which you provide the care."

Smulian again turned to Osler: "Care more for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease ? Put yourself in his place ? The kindly word, the cheerful greeting, the sympathetic look; these the patient understands."

Smulian is an investigator recognized for his molecular characterization of Pneumocystis carinii and Histoplasma cell biology with a specific interest in in vivo organism survival.  He is a member of an active clinical research program in anal dysplsia in HIV-infected individuals at the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 

"It's the humanism which we deliver care that truly makes a difference in how patients perceive the care they receive," Smulian told medical students. 

He also reminded students there is yet another aspect of medicine and medical science they should consider. "Find the aspects of medicine that you enjoy and find fun."

Following the keynote address, Andrew Filak Jr., MD, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Medicine, Aurora Bennett, MD, associate dean for student affairs and admissions, and Mia Mallory, MD, associate dean for diversity and inclusion, presented each student with a white coat. At the end of the ceremony, the Class of 2020 read its own unique "Oath of Professionalism," written by students during their orientation week. 

Here is quote from the oath: "We strive to be life-long learns, leaders and above all, caregivers to humanity. May we forever hold our colleagues and ourselves to these standards of compassion and commitment.