More than 180 students were welcomed to the GW medical community at the annual White Coat and Honor Code Ceremony in Lisner Auditorium Aug. 20.
Held at medical schools around the country, the White Coat Ceremony serves as a special welcome to first-year medical students. GW’s class of 2015—the most competitive in the history of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences—represents 29 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Among its ranks are 23 emergency medical technicians, a professional lacrosse player and a Fulbright Award winner.
The event was sponsored by the GW Medical Alumni Association and the White Coat Initiative, and co-chaired by second-year medical students Todd Spock, DiAnne Davis and Sarah Todd.
At the ceremony, 186 students received their white coats, recited the School of Medicine and Health Sciences Oath and signed the GW Honor Code pledge.
The ceremony also featured remarks from GW President Steven Knapp, Interim Vice Provost for Health Affairs and Dean of School of Medicine and Health Sciences Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D. ’81, second-year medical student Dana Kuhn and keynote speaker Edward O’Neil Jr., M.D. ’87, associate professor of emergency medicine at Tufts University and president and founder of Omni Med, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization that trains health providers and community workers and runs health service programs in Uganda, Belize, Guyana and Kenya.
Dr. Knapp told the medical student class of 2015 that a career in medicine is a “lifelong journey of service to others.”
“I urge you to listen to, learn from and become involved with the many opportunities available to you in the nation’s capital: opportunities for hands-on learning, direct service and cultural enrichment; and opportunities to explore the profound connections between the care of patients and the broader public health and public policy contexts that will affect every aspect of your and your patients’ lives,” he said.
Dr. Akman offered the students three pieces of advice inspired by the life and accomplishments of the university’s namesake, George Washington: “Aspire to greatness; be prepared for revolutionary change in medicine, science, health care policy and, most importantly, in your identity; and never forget that honesty and integrity are the central components of the physician identity.”
Dr. O’Neil described the “sense of wonder” he felt during his first days as a physician and his health care work in some of the poorest regions in the world. He told the first-year medical students that physicians get to “perform miracles.”
“As you start on this wonderful career of becoming physicians, I would ask that you find a passion to make a difference somewhere in your lives…engage in the problems of the world, because they are many,” he said.
The ceremony concluded with a slideshow of the students’ first few days on campus and a reception in Kogan Plaza.
The ceremony was especially important to first-year medical student Mindy Hsiao. It took two tries before she was officially accepted as a GW medical student, but she said she didn’t want to experience medical school anywhere else.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while,” said Ms. Hsiao. “The minute I put on that white coat, I thought that my hard work had finally paid off and that the real work can begin. I’m excited to start.”