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Future physicians welcomed to profession
Trevor York receives his coat from endocrinologist Richard Berkson, MD ’72. Photo: SANDY KICMAN
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“You have worked hard to earn it; now you must work even harder to earn the right to keep it.”
Members of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Class of 2016 took their first, public step toward becoming physicians last week when they took part in the school’s White Coat Ceremony.
The White Coat Ceremony, held Aug. 17 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus, is a symbolic rite of passage shared by medical students across the U.S. to establish a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine.
In remarks to the 144 members of the class, Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the UB medical school, said each student had earned his or her white coat. “You have worked hard to earn it,” he told them, “now you must work even harder to earn the right to keep it.”
During the “Calling of the Class,” students were called to the stage individually to be presented with their coats while their undergraduate institutions and hometowns were announced.
Charles M. Severin, associate dean for medical education and admissions, provided the class profile: The 144 students (including four MD/PhD students) were selected from a pool of 4,192 applicants. Only 600 of the applicants were granted on-campus interviews. Every year, Severin noted, he labels the incoming class “the smartest class ever admitted to the UB medical school” and he said that, from a strictly statistical standpoint, it is once again true: The overall GPA for the new class is 3.75.
Severin also said that in making admissions decisions, UB looks “not just for the brain of a physician, but also for the heart of one.” While many students majored in the hard sciences, the class of 2016 completed many double majors reflecting diverse interests and skills, among them genetics and African studies, biology and environmental science, art and biology, and biophysics and business. Several students in the class already have published scientific papers and a few have earned patents on their discoveries.
Outside of science and research, the class reflects a broad array of interests: Among the class members are violinists, guitarists, a winemaker, a film critic, a choreographer of Latin dance, a gold medalist figure skater, body builders, gospel singers, deep sea divers, a basketball coach and a rugby player. Many students are involved in altruistic works, including violence prevention, working with the homeless, food banks and organ tissue donations. Several have served in the military.
The class includes 118 New York State residents, 59 from Western New York. Twenty-six are UB graduates.
For the first time, pre-med counselors from area colleges were invited to the White Coat Ceremony; counselors attended from UB, Geneseo State College, Canisius College and Rochester Institute of Technology. Physicians from the community who are participating in a new mentoring program for medical school students also attended.
In the keynote address, UB medical school alumnus Thomas C. Mahl, clinical professor in the Department of Medicine and chief of medical service in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo, told students that physicians have special privileges, but with those special privileges come responsibilities.
“You have the responsibility to be honest, to be truthful, to hold your patients’ secrets secret and to support them when they are weak,” he said. He added that throughout their careers—long after they have graduated medical school—students must continue to learn because medicine changes so rapidly.
During the ceremony, Peter D. Ewing, UB clinical assistant professor of medicine, was presented with the Leonard Tow 2012 Humanism in Medicine Award.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Cain administered the oath of medicine to the new medical students.
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