Dr. Kathleen Foley, keynote speaker at the White Coat Ceremony.
At the fifth annual White Coat Ceremony, which preceded Opening Day, Dr. Kathleen Foley, professor of neurology and neuroscience and professor of pharmacology, gave the keynote address for the new medical students in the Class of 2005.
A specialist in the management of cancer pain, Dr. Foley established the pain service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 1981, the first designated pain service in a cancer hospital in the U.S. She is recognized as a national and international leader in advocating more effective treatment for patients who experience severe pain related to cancer and other medical disorders. Currently, she is the director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center for Cancer Pain Research and Education at MSKCC.
The highlight of the White Coat Ceremony: faculty help the new first-year medical students put on their new white coats.
"This ritual and tradition of a white coat ceremony, in fact, is not just for you," explained Dr. Foley. "It is for all of us to remind ourselves of what training doctors and being doctors is all about. The white coat is only one of the symbols of our profession. It represents the privilege and responsibility we have to care for patients. It embodies what we value, and what you need to come to learn and value: your competency and compassion."
"You are entering medicine," she continued, "at a time when our professionalism is threatened—threatened by market forces that emphasize technology, efficiency, and cost-containment, and give lip service to integrity, individual responsibility, and commitment to excellence and quality care. This ceremony is to remind us all that we, too, must continually remember to balance our scientific knowledge and technology with our humanism."
Following Dr. Foley's presentation, the new medical students came forward as their names were called and donned their new white coats with the assistance of members of the faculty.