Weill Cornell Medical College officially welcomed the students in the first-year class—the Class of 2006—at the traditional White Coat Ceremony and Opening Exercises held on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
At the sixth annual White Coat Ceremony, which preceded Opening Exercises, Dean Antonio Gotto and Dr. Bruce Ballard, associate dean for student affairs, greeted the new students.
Dr. Anne Moore, keynote speaker for the White Coat Ceremony.
The keynote speaker for the White Coat Ceremony was Dr. Anne Moore, professor of clinical medicine. An oncologist and a leading authority on breast cancer, Dr. Moore is a noted researcher, teacher and patient-care advocate. She is currently chairman of the Breast Cancer Committee at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center and is immediate past-president of the New York Metropolitan Breast Cancer Group Inc.
Dr. Moore emphasized three basic principles of "professsionalism" for medical students and physicians: competence, honesty and confidentiality." The first rule of our profession is that you have to achieve competence. You have to know your stuff," she said. "Honesty can ... be very painful; we do make mistakes, and we agonize over them. Our code of professionalism demands that we acknowledge our mistakes to ourselves, to our peers, and to our patients. As a student, you will have the great privilege of being part of the confidential doctor-patient relationship. This is a tremendous responsibility for you, and you must never betray that trust."
Following Dr. Moore's presentation, Dean Gotto recited the words of the Hippocratic Oath, which the students will affirm upon their graduation from Weill Cornell in 2006. After the reading of the oath, each of the new medical students was called to the front of the auditorium, where members of the faculty assisted them in putting on their new white coats.
At the Opening Exercises following the White Coat Ceremony, the keynote address was presented by Dr. Frank Chervenak, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College and obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Chervenak, the Given Foundation Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, also serves as director of maternal-fetal medicine at the Medical Center. A distinguished scholar, clinician and teacher who is a leading authority on ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Chervenak is also an authority on medical ethics in the specialty. He is the current president of the International Society of the Fetus as a Patient.
Dr. Frank Chervenak, keynote speaker for Opening Exercises.
"Today is a crossroad for each of you. It's the end of one journey to have been chosen a member of this entering class and the beginning of a lifelong journey into medicine," Dr. Chervenak said. "Your task during your medical school training is to form yourself according to the virtues of self-effacement, self-sacrifice, compassion and integrity."
Self-effacement, he said, "requires the physician not to act on the basis of potential differences between the patient and physician and prevents biases and prejudices that could adversely impact on clinical judgment and care of the patient." Self-sacrifice "requires physicians to accept reasonable risk to themselves. Physicians manifest this virtue in their willingness to care for patients with infectious diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV, and when they turn from economic self-interest and focus on the patient's need for relief when the two are in conflict." Compassion "motivates the physician to recognize and seek to alleviate the stress, discomfort, pain and suffering associated with each patient's disease, illness or injury." Integrity "requires that we practice medicine to standards of intellectual and moral excellence. Integrity prescribes rigor in the formation of clinical judgment." These four virtues, he noted, "define us as physicians and sustain us, and give us strength to cope with the many challenges that we face."
Profile of the Class of 2006
Total Enrolled: 101
Men: 55
Women: 46
MD-PhD Students: 16 (11 men; 5 women)
Underrepresented Minorities: 20
N.Y. State Residents: 33
Out of State: 68
U.S. Citizens: 94
Permanent Residents: 7
Science Majors: 74
Non-Science: 27
Average Science GPA: 3.68
Average MCATs: Verbal 10.37; Physical Sciences 11.56; Biological Sciences 11.63
Age range: 20-36
Undergraduate Institutions: 44
Number of Applicants: 5,103