Each year, the School of Medicine welcomes the incoming class with a White Coat Ceremony. The White Coat Ceremony was created in 1993 by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to emphasize the importance of compassionate care for the patient as well as scientific proficiency. Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, a White Coat Welcome event for the entering class was held online, with the promise of an in-person ceremony when COVID safety protocols would allow it.
That in-person White Coat Ceremony took place Sunday, Aug. 1, at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Concert Hall. The class that entered in 2020 are now rising MS2s. They spent the first half of their first year of medical school learning online, meaning that the White Coat Ceremony was the first time the whole class had been together in the same space.
Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education and Chair of the Department of Medical Education Craig Hoesley, M.D., opened the ceremony, remarking that the class that entered in 2020 had shown remarkable grit and determination in navigating their first year under the COVID pandemic, developing skills that no previous class in the school’s history possessed after their first year of medical school.
Hoesley was followed by Christina Grabowski, Ph.D., associate dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management. Grabowski told the class, “You are the chosen few,” a point she illustrated by sharing that the school had 4,614 applicants for the 2020 entering class, which had been whittled down to 186 students, a mere 4 percent of the total applicants.
Kevin Leon, M.D., associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, was the ceremony’s keynote speaker. He recounted the history of the white coat and how it became a powerful symbol of the medical profession. He also described some of the many ways the class volunteered during the pandemic, including putting in over 1,100 hours in the Equal Access Birmingham student-run free clinic; volunteering at all of the city’s vaccination clinics, even before they were eligible to receive the vaccines themselves; and making calls to homebound and isolated seniors through the school’s senior companionship program. “Why is this year’s ceremony even more special? Because we’re not just giving you a white coat – this class has earned the white coat,” he said.
Students were cloaked in their new white coats, generously provided by the Medical Alumni Association, by representatives of the school’s regional campuses: Huntsville Regional Medical Campus Dean Roger Smalligan, M.D.; Montgomery Regional Medical Campus Interim Dean Wick Many Jr., M.D.; and Tuscaloosa Regional Campus Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education Grier Stewart, M.D. Since the school was not able to host the traditional Legacy Luncheon for the 2020 incoming class, many legacy students were cloaked by their alumni family members.
Class President Charles GagnonMedical student David Schartung of Decatur, Ala., said, “Listening to all the speakers really reminded me how far we’ve come. It was wonderful to see each other in person and to experience being together with my entire class.” He says the loss of his father caused him to pursue a medical education. “When I was younger, my father passed away from cancer. And watching all of his trials made me know that I want to be a part of something that helps people, and that is constantly growing and changing. That is what made me know I wanted to be a physician.”
Kalissa Means of Eutaw, Ala., says she was also moved by the experience of being with her class for this important milestone. “Getting to finally have an in-person ceremony means everything. Our class has had to adapt so much, and we didn't get the typical experience other classes had. So just being able to be here and get the white coat together made everything so much more special.”
Charles Gagnon of Panama City, Fla., shared that, even though he is the class president, there are people in his class that he hadn’t seen in person until that day. “I'm very excited to start the second year, and I think this will bring us a good energy. We've definitely bonded in a unique way, and I'm very excited to see how we collaborate together as a health care team in the future.”
The School of Medicine will host a White Coat Ceremony for the 2021 incoming class on Sunday, August 15, at 2 p.m. at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Concert Hall. The ceremony will also be streamed online.