White Coat Ceremony Welcomes New Medical Students

The 139 members of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Class of 2028 gathered on Aug. 9 in Alumni Auditorium for the White Coat Ceremony, an annual event at which Columbia’s incoming medical students are welcomed into the profession and cloaked in white coats by faculty members.

The Arnold P. Gold White Coat Ceremony is named to honor the late Arnold P. Gold, professor of neurology and pediatrics, who founded the VP&S ceremony to reinforce a strong commitment among students to humanistic practice. In her remarks at the event, Katrina Armstrong, dean of VP&S, emphasized the importance of humanism in medicine during a time of widespread discord and conflict.

“You are joining this profession at an extraordinary time, but that opportunity can too often be undermined by social division, dysfunction, and anger that’s around us,” Armstrong said. “Our society has never had a greater need for those dedicated to caring, compassion, and healing. The white coat carries a lot of responsibility. Wearing that coat, you’ll see what it means to sit at a patient’s bedside and listen to their story, to hold their hand when their world has been turned upside down. In that moment and that relationship, I hope you will understand that all divisions become meaningless.”

Students also heard from James J. O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who delivered the Fern Feldman Anolick-Gold Foundation lecture. O’Connell leads national discussions on how to better support and care for unhoused individuals and has written and contributed to numerous articles and books on this topic.

“Keep your minds and hearts open, because you never know what’s going to happen,” O’Connell said. “You’ll be invited into the most intimate times in your patients’ lives, when they are most distressed and most need someone to listen to them. It’s a great privilege and a great honor. You need to bring not only the skills you’ll gain in your training, but your heart and soul. Whenever you can, listen to the stories of people. Give them a chance to tell you what’s going on. That’s where the real art is and what you need to practice most.”

After receiving their white coats, members of the Class of 2028 continued a tradition begun by VP&S medical students in 2021 by reciting an oath they wrote themselves. Their words were carefully crafted to update the Hippocratic Oath to better reflect the values they wish to uphold as they enter their medical training.

Students in the incoming class come from 32 states and 60 different undergraduate institutions. Four percent of the incoming class were the first generation in their family to attend college.