56 First Year Medical Students Receive White Coats

Largest Group of Native Americans Enters Medical School

DULUTH, Minn. (October 7, 2006) –   Fifty-six first-year medical students received their white coats today on the University of Minnesota Duluth Campus.  For the first time, the White Coat Ceremony featured two Native American songs performed by the Center of American Indian and Minority Health Drum: the Honor Song and the Traveling Song. The addition underscores the Medical School–Duluth’s emphasis on educating students to practice in rural and American Indian communities.

The Honor Song was performed by Chuck Branch (Cherokee Nation, Nuyi Otlvnadia), a first-year medical student; Jean Howell (Cherokee), a second-year medical student; and Erik Brodt, M.D., and Jason Deen, M.D., alumni of the Medical School–Duluth. Dr. Brodt (White Earth Ojibwe) is in his first year of family residency with the Seattle Indian Health Board. Dr. Deen (Blackfeet) is in his first year of internal medicine/pediatrics at Georgetown Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Receiving a white coat is a rite of passage for students entering medical school. The ceremony signifies the responsibilities and obligations of the physicians who wear the white coat and the importance of embracing compassion and character along with knowledge of science and medicine.  In her keynote speech about the meaning of the White Coat, Joy Dorscher, M.D., Director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health, told medical students to pay attention to the heart of medicine, that is, their care of nurture of patients as individuals. 

Conducted at medical schools and other health profession colleges across the country, White Coat Ceremonies originated in 1993 at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons by Dr. Arnold Gold.  Dr. Gold wanted to stress the importance of humanism in the doctor-patient relationship.  A White Coat Ceremony is scheduled at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s primary campus in Minneapolis on October 27, 2006.

At the Duluth ceremony, students recited the Oath for Medical Students, a form of the Hippocratic Oath that is usually sworn to at graduation, dedicating themselves to the practice of medicine and the humanistic care of patients. Families of the students, local-area physicians and alumni attended the event.

Other information about this first year class: 

• The largest group of Native Americans ever has entered the University of Minnesota Medical School.   Nine Native Americans are starting in Duluth, and an additional six Native Americans are starting in Minneapolis. 
• Two Duluth students are Dean’s Scholars.
  Dean’s Scholars—outstanding Medical School applicants from the state of Minnesota—receive four-year, full-tuition scholarships. Two of the four scholarships awarded to the entering class went to students on the Duluth campus:
• Andrew Grossbach. Born in Duluth, he grew up in the central Minnesota town of Braham, where his father, Don Grossbach, is a family physician. Like his father before him, Andrew has decided to start his medical education at the University of Minnesota–Duluth.
• Katie Cannon was born in Detroit Lakes and grew up on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. This past December she received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Native American studies at the University of Minnesota–Morris.
• Two students are married to each other: Kathleen and Ryan Kroschel. Ryan is originally from Hinckley, and Kathleen is originally from Chaska.
• Three students are Early Admissions Rural Scholars: Amanda Carlson, Danube, MN; Adam Foss, Winsted, MN; and John Kampa, Center City, MN.
  
  The Early Admission Rural Scholars program allows exceptional students to enter medical school in their senior year of college and, therefore, graduate from medical school in seven instead of eight years. This program leads to the baccalaureate degree awarded by UMD and to the M.D. degree granted by the University of Minnesota Medical School.   
  
• Jason Eggers, 40, is in the National Guard, served in Afghanistan, and has degrees as a physician’s assistant and a chiropractor.  

Speakers at the ceremony included:   Richard Ziegler, University of Minnesota Medical School – Duluth dean, Raymond G. Christensen, M.D., Assistant Dean for Rural Health – Duluth; Gwen Wagstrom Halaas M.D., M.B.A, Director, Rural Physicians Associate Program, University of Minnesota Medical School;  Becky Malkerson, President and CEO, Minnesota Medical Foundation; Arthur Aufderheide, M.D. , Department of Anatomy, Microbiology and Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School – Duluth;  Kathleen V. Watson, M.D., Associate Dean for Students and Student Learning, University of Minnesota Medical School;  Joycelyn A. Dorscher, M.D., Director, Center of American Indian and Minority Health, University of Minnesota.