Pharmacy White Coat Ceremony For Class of 2020

On Friday, Aug. 19, the University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy welcomed 93 new students to the Class of 2020 Doctor of Pharmacy program by presenting students with their white coats, a symbol of their entry into the health care profession.

The event was held in Kresge Auditorium in the CARE/Crawley building on the University of Cincinnati’s Medical Campus and hosted speakers from the college, the Academic Health Center, alumni and professional organizations to include the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, the Ohio Pharmacists Association and the Ohio Society of Health Systems Pharmacists.

William Ball, MD, senior vice president for health affairs, Christian R. Holmes Professor and Dean of the College of Medicine, gave the university’s welcome remarks, noting the distinctions of this class as having an average 3.5 GPA, and a PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) score of 70. More than half of the class, 53 percent, entered after earning their undergraduate degrees at UC, and 71 percent of the class hails from Ohio. Sixteen percent of the class is made up of minorities, and females (63) make up more than half of the class.

Students were called to the stage by Andrea Wall, the associate dean for student affairs, and "coated” by Dean Neil MacKinnon, PhD. Each student received a congratulatory handshake from Dean Ball.

As the role of the pharmacists is ever expanding, Dean Ball noted that when the class graduates in 2020 they will be trained to provide services such as immunizations and medication management; services that pharmacists "ten years ago would never have dreamed of” doing.

Funds for the coats are provided by pharmacy alums, and a card with each donor’s name is presented to the student.