"It's by no coincidence that the lab coats you're getting today are the same coats you will wear tomorrow to treat patients, so this ceremony is for them as much as it is for you," said Dr. Carlyle Miller, associate dean of Student Affairs and Equal Opportunity Programs, to the entering medical students at the White Coat Ceremony on August 28. "Medicine is changing and will continue to change, but patients and our dedication of service to them should not," he continued. The White Coat Ceremony, a rite of passage for many first-year medical students, was held in Uris Auditorium before an audience of faculty, students and family members.
First-year students Yifan Xu and Ray Wu get a helping hand from Dean Antonio Gotto and Dr. Peter Marzuk with their white coats.
Keynote speaker Dr. Joseph Fins, chief of medical ethics and professor of medicine, public health and medicine in psychiatry, spoke about his own experience when he was a Weill Cornell student. "I almost didn't get in because they lost my application," he joked—but the theme of his talk was earnest: the importance for medical students to find mentors. "Why do I bring up mentoring now? So that you'll recognize an opportunity to be mentored when you see one."
Dr. Fins' example of a good mentor from his own life was the general practitioner in his hometown for whom he volunteered while a high school student. The unique lessons he learned from his mentor, who would simultaneously teach him about art and medicine ("I remember learning about catgut and Dante's 'The Divine Comedy' in the same sitting as he stitched up a boy's knee in the emergency room"), helped Dr. Fins forge a path that was aligned with who he already was and the kind of doctor he hoped someday to become.
Dr. Fins advised the students that they would have to meet lots of doctors from many backgrounds before finding a mentor with whom they click. "The good news is, Weill Cornell Medical College provides that setting," he assured. He stressed mentoring as a key part of becoming a good physician. "The practice of medicine is a history of the practice of mentoring going back for generations. I hope that one day you become the kind of mentor you find here at Weill Cornell."
The centuries-old practice of medicine was underscored by Dean Antonio M. Gotto Jr., who read the Hippocratic Oath to the entering class. The ancient pledge was originally written by Greek physician Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, in the 4th century, B.C.E. The Oath has evolved over the years but remains true to its fundamental message: the ethical preservation of life. "In June 2011, God willing, you will be entering the profession as a physician, but today you are entering as a student," said Dr. Gotto. "I'd like you to begin your career by reflecting on the Oath's meaning and import."
Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine, helps first-year student Peter Coombs into his white coat.
Twelve distinguished faculty participants took part in the ceremony of helping each of the 103 students don their white coats onstage. Missourian Bryant J. Staples, whose mother and sister attended the ceremony to share in the moment, considered it an auspicious event. "I've been looking forward to this since I applied," he said.
April Timberlake, from Washington, D.C., saw the ceremony as a good way to settle in and begin her studies. "At first I thought it was just a ceremony, but when you're standing up there it feels different. It made things real for me."
Click here to read the rest of Dr. Fins' speech.
Photography by Weill Cornell Art & Photography.