VP&S Welcomes 140 Future Physicians at White Coat Ceremony

In a ceremony that entwines 2,000 years of history with a modern outlook, 140 new students at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons were welcomed into the profession of medicine at the annual White Coat Ceremony on August 7.

With the help of VP&S faculty, the future physicians donned the profession's most recognizable symbol for the first time, embraced a commitment to compassionate, patient-centered care, and recited a version of the Hippocratic Oath written by the incoming class.

Special guest speaker, Columbia University President Jennifer Mnookin, began her remarks by acknowledging the role of the families and friends of the VP&S Class of 2030, many of whom were gathered in the mezzanine level of Alumni Auditorium.

“Dr. Gold believed that waiting until graduation to ask young physicians to articulate their obligations to patients and their humanism was essentially four years too late. I think there’s something quite profound in that idea,” Mnookin said.  “You’re here because you’re making a commitment to a path, to a profession, and to your future patients.”

Though many challenges face the Class of 2030, including the public’s growing mistrust of science and expertise, Monica Lypson, MD, vice dean for education and the Rolf H. Scholdager Professor of Medicine at VP&S, told the students it was also an exciting time. “What a time it is to be a part of our profession!” Lypson said.

“Advances across medicine, technology, and research are rapidly reshaping what we know and what we teach, while offering new possibilities to improve health and human flourishing. And it is the ability to don the white coat that centers us, that allows us to engage in one of the most intimate acts, which is doing our best to relieve suffering.”

The next speaker, James McKiernan, MD, interim dean of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, CEO of ColumbiaDoctors, and a 1993 VP&S graduate, spoke of the historical accomplishments of VP&S and its alumni, including four Nobel Prizes (and one Pulitzer); the Apgar test; the Whipple procedure; the discovery of cystic fibrosis; and the invention of bacitracin.

McKiernan then asked his audience to look ahead into the distant future: “We can’t wait to read the chapter that you’re going to write. In 20 or 30 years, you’ll be up here talking about a member of this class whose invention or discovery changed medicine.”

But the essence of medicine, McKiernan argued, is the doctor-patient interaction, “which really hasn’t changed since our medical school opened its doors 260 years ago. Can you listen to your patient? Can you explain difficult news with compassion and humility? Can you look beyond the diagnosis, the case, or the surgery and see the human being?”

The event’s keynote speaker, Kimberly Lomis, MD, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and recent vice president for medical education innovations at the American Medical Association, drew from her experience as a student and young clinician. “Don’t let your white coat project a false perfectionism,” Lomis cautioned. Instead, “embrace curiosity; nurture communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and an understanding of how the system works or doesn’t work.”

Lomis related a story of her treating a patient in a remote Alaskan village. The outcome was good and the patient recovered, but that success required more than the ‘dyadic’ doctor-patient relationship. “The nurse, the bush pilot, and the villagers were all crucial to convincing the patient to let me care for her and to get her the help she needed.”

She reminded her audience that their white coats are a promise, “to contribute your unique experiences to our profession and to better the lives of others. You do not have to go all the way to Alaska. There are plenty of problems right in your backyard. In your pursuit of humility, professional obligation, and expertise, don’t be afraid to get your coats a little dirty.”

Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, MD, professor of psychiatry and associate dean for student affairs, and Salila Kurra, MD, associate professor of medicine and associate dean for student career development, then orchestrated the donning of the white coats, which involved six faculty members as cloakers and called forward every member of the Class of 2030 to the stage to put on their own white coat as newly minted medical students.

Finally, Alves-Bradford led the Class of 2030 in a reading of their class oath.

Photos of the White Coat Ceremony by Michael DiVito / Other photos by Jenny Gorman