|
Home > News Releases > White Coat Ceremony 2007
White Coat Ceremony 2007
|
Largest Class of Medical Students Enters Duluth Campus
Fifty-eight First-Year Medical Students Receive White Coats
October 6, 2007 (Duluth, Minnesota)
Fifty-eight first-year medical students received their first white coats today at the University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth Campus. Receiving their personal white coat is a rite of passage for students entering medical school. Conducted at medical schools and other health profession colleges across the country, the White Coat Ceremony was created at Columbia University to stress the importance of humanism in the doctor-patient relationship.
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Gary Davis, Ph.D., senior associate dean of the campus, welcomed to the ceremony an audience of 375 students, families, friends and dignitaries.
|
| |
|
|
|
Lynne Lillie, M.D., a 1992 graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth Campus and president of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians, was the keynote speaker at the event. Lillie also is a family-practice physician with Health East Clinic-Woodbury. Dr. Lillie recalled her own career journey and the importance of seeing how her own family received care from their physicians. She admonished students to treat each patient as if he or she were their own grandmother or grandfather. |
| |
|
|
|
Among the students that reflected on the ceremony, Erik Scharrer said, "The white coat symbolizes that we are entering the profession of medicine now during our training, not just when we get our first real job or even at the beginning of residency. And it reiterated the importance of our campus and our mission to rural and American Indian medicine." |
|
Erik Scharrer pictured with Lillian Repesh, PH.D. (left) and Kathleen Watson, M.D.(right).
|
|
|
|
|
|
A record number of 75 alumni, faculty, friends, family and business colleagues gave a gift to sponsor the white coats and the ceremony. Commenting on the sponsorship of her coat, student Katherine Lenz said, "Finding out who sponsored our coats made it all the more personable. It just emphasized one more time that people believed in us and what we are trying to accomplish." |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
A special feature of the ceremony was the segment of the program where Native American students and alumni gathered to play the Center of American Indian and Minority Health Drum. They sang an honor song for the students and their families and ended with a traveling song.
|
| from the ceremony program... |
|
Mary Bassing, second year student
|
|
|
|
Mary read her poem UNKNOWN |
|
Welcome and Oath for Medical Students
Raymond G. Christensen, M.D., assistant dean for rural health, Duluth Campus.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Christensen emphasized the mission of the Duluth campus -- to serve rural and Native American communities. "We must all remember that medicine serves best when it places the needs of patients and public health before its professional needs and wants. This is a rural medical school with emphasis on rural and Native America. Today, and hereafter, as you don your white coat and the responsibilities it represents, do not forget our mission to rural and American Indian communities." Dr. Christensen also led the students in reading the Oath for Medical Students. |
|
Greetings from the Minnesota Medical Foundation
Mark Parsons, Ph.D., associate vice president and director of gift planning.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Parsons verbally introduced students to the "silent well-wishers" -- organizations and individuals who believe an investment in medical education means an investment in the health and well-being of all Americans. "Thousands of benefactors have silently supported University of Minnesota Medical School students over the years. Contributions from Medical School alumni and others have helped fund many activities, such as this White Coat Ceremony... Scholarships have also been a significant component of donor support— again, provided by individuals you may have never met. Thanks to their generosity, 698 medical students received nearly $2 million in scholarships in the 2006-2007 academic years. And last year our benefactors gave well over $4 million for future scholarships for students in the Medical School and School of Public Health." |
|
Faculty Address
Alan Johns, M.D., Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duluth, and Duluth Clinic, SMDC Health System, and Duluth charter class member.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Johns laced his address with humor as he compared today's medical school to his experience in 1972 when he was among the first students entering the, at that time, new Duluth Medical School. Dr. Johns also emphasized that life-long learning will be an important part of the students' lives and that the "best kept secret about learning," he said, "is that studying medicine can be fun. It continues and builds relationships with classmates, future partners, faculty and patients."
|
|
A Historical Perspective of the White Coat
Kathleen V. Watson, M.D., associate dean for students and student learning, University of Minnesota Medical School.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Watson recounted the history of the White Coat, which began in 1988 by Columbia University's Dr. Arnold P. Gold who felt that medical students were scientifically proficient and technically well-trained, but often demonstrated a sad lack of caring and compassion. He and a group of colleagues created the White Coat Ceremony. When Dr. Watson met Dr. Gold in 2004, Gold told her, "Our intention was to collaborate with medical schools in order to foster humanism in the medical culture, transform the culture of medical education, and help to educate humanistic physicians". Introduced in 1993, the first White Coat Ceremony began what has become a new tradition in medicine. It is now practiced at the beginning of the year at more than 100 American medical schools. |
More News about the University of Minnesota Medical School – Duluth Campus
|
Feedback | Notice of Privacy Practices
|
|
|
Return to: Medical School Duluth : Academic Health Center : myU : U of M Home
