A single line of 100 freshmen from the U School of Medicine in dresses and ties filed into Kingsbury Hall on Friday afternoon, carrying white lab coats in their left arms.
The students-many of them smiling and waving to loved ones in the audience-were in a procession beginning the White Coat Ceremony for the Class of 2007.
They are officially inducted into the medical school and the profession of medicine by receiving their lab coats from A. Lorris Betz, dean of the School of Medicine, and reciting the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as “student-physicians.”
First held 10 years ago at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, the ceremony is currently performed annually at 106 schools nationwide.
The ceremony is symbolic of entering into a contract, Betz said in his opening remarks, that will be fulfilled four years from now upon graduation.
“The White Coat Ceremony is both a joyous and solemn occasion,” Betz said.
Carolyn Kwok, student body co president of fourth-year medical students, told the freshmen what to expect in the coming years.
Those expectations should range from dissecting the entire human body to delivering a baby, Kwok said.
“You will have participated in the happiest and saddest moments in other people’s lives,” she said.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony was Kristen Ries, professor of internal medicine and a pioneer in the treatment of AIDS and HIV-infected patients in Utah.
The program for the event emphasized that the message of the ceremony is that physicians should care as well as cure. David Bjorkman, senior associate dean for the medical school, said Ries was chosen as keynote speaker because “she embodies the qualities we look for in physicians. She combines excellence with quality care. She’s the embodiment of the human aspect of healing.”
After arriving in Utah in 1982, only a year after the disease was identified, Ries spent 12 to 18 hours per day caring for AIDS patients in Salt Lake City, even making house calls on the weekends, Bjorkman said.
She has received numerous awards locally and nationally for her service and dedication to treating AIDS and HIV.
After mentioning the changes in technology she’s witnessed during her 40 years in the profession, Ries said, “One thing that hasn’t changed is the constancy in caring for the patient. That will never change. Be a part of society as a whole, be active, be a part, volunteer.”
She urged the students to remember that the white coat they would receive was a symbol of power. She also said the coat is a symbol of knowledge, relationships and humanism.
Ries began her comments by saying she had met several of the students the night before and had been impressed by them, especially the diversity of their backgrounds.
Freshman JoeAnn Leong’s mother, Pat, said her daughter was going to be the first physician in the Leong family line.
Sitting behind them, freshman Jared Orrock’s 16-year old brother, Ammon, said Jared was following his father into the medical field and that he and his little brother planned to do so as well.
“This was all her decision,” JoeAnn’s father Larry said. “She wanted to do something challenging and rewarding. She’s really excited.”
Jared’s mother, Kathy, said, “I’m very proud. I’m privileged to witness this today.” Jared’s wife Jessica said Jared had been anticipating the day for a long time and was very anxious for it.