VCU news

By Joe Kuttenkuler

WHAT:         The annual White Coat Ceremony is a tradition at many Schools of Medicine in which incoming medical students are cloaked in their first white coats by members of the school's senior faculty marking the beginning of a students’ four-year journey toward attaining their medical degree. During the ceremony, students also recite the Hippocratic Oath, which articulates a doctor's responsibilities to his or her patients. 

This year’s class, divided almost equally between women and men, features a number of legacy students…those following in the footsteps of parents who attended medical school at VCU. One student from California is a third generation medical student whose grandfather and father graduated from the School of Medicine in 1938 and 1970 respectively.

Through the medical school’s Foundations of Clinical Medicine Program, first-year students begin learning skills such as medical interviewing, the basics of a physical exam, as well as practicing compassion and empathy in a medical setting. The program allows students to see examples of these skills first hand when they accompany preceptors in clinical settings. Their white coat is intended to serve as a reminder to students that they are now representing the medical field.

Students in the class of 2007 come from 74 colleges in 25 states.

WHO:              The 184 students in the class of 2007 will participate in the annual White Coat Ceremony. Paul Fairman, M.D., from the Department of Internal Medicine will speak to the students about the importance of compassion and empathy in delivering medical care.

WHERE:        Medical Sciences Building auditorium on the MCV Campus, 1225 E. Marshall St.

WHEN:          2-3 p.m., Aug. 14, 2003