PHILADELPHIA – On Friday, Aug. 12, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will bestow short white coats on 146 first-year medical school students during its annual White Coat Ceremony. This year’s rite of passage will blend tradition with the ever-growing role of mobile technology in the field of health and medicine. Equipped with new Apple iPads, incoming students can use #psomwhitecoat to share the start of their careers in health care via a real-time social media wall gallery that will be displayed during the ceremony.
The 2016 incoming class upholds PSOM’s long tradition of accepting students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. More than one-fourth of this year’s class represents students who are the first members of their family to graduate college and 26 percent of the class is comprised of underrepresented minorities in the field of medicine, including Mexican American, American Indian, and African American students. Members of the incoming class come from fields and backgrounds that range from the U.S. Military to global nonprofits to undergraduate degrees in art, literature, and music in addition to degrees in more traditional science backgrounds such as biology and chemistry. Students hail from 25 states – Pennsylvania represents the largest portion with 30 students – and 60 colleges and universities.
During the event, students will be individually garbed in short white clinicians’ coats, a vivid symbol of the medical profession, and will receive a stethoscope in the presence of family, friends, and faculty. At the conclusion, the entire class will recite the Hippocratic Oath, pledging to treat the ill to the best of their abilities, preserve each patient's privacy, and to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation.
WHERE: |
Zellerbach Theatre
Annenberg Center
University of Pennsylvania
3680 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 |
WHEN: |
August 12, 2016, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (**White Coat presentation starts at 3:40 p.m.**) |
WHO: |
Speakers will include:
- 3:05 p.m. – J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, presents welcoming remarks
- 3:15 p.m. - Keynote address, Reflections, presented by Paul Lanken, MD, retiring first associate dean for Professionalism and Humanism at the Perelman School of Medicine.
- 3:40 p.m. – White coats presented by Gail Morrison, MD, senior vice dean for Education and director of the Office of Academic Programs, and Stanley Goldfarb, MD, associate dean for Curriculum
- 4:35 p.m. – Incoming class recites Hippocratic Oath
The Penn Medicine Department of Communications can arrange interviews with students and speakers. All media planning to cover the event must check-in with Johanna Harvey (215-873-3870) at the main entrance. |
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.