Press Release

July 26, 2006
Contact: Jerry Carey
Phone: (856) 566-6171
careyge@umdnj.edu

A Tradition Continues: Students Begin
Medical Journey During July 30 Ceremony

STRATFORD — Countless camera flashes will signal that proud parents and spouses are capturing the moment when 100 men and women take their first steps toward becoming physicians at the tradition-filled White Coat ceremony held by the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine on Sunday, July 30, at 10 a.m., in the school’s Academic Center, on Laurel Road, in Stratford.

The White Coat ceremony is a rite of passage that culminates with each student receiving a new white lab coat that symbolizes entry into the medical profession. After receiving their white coats, the students will join together to recite the "Pledge of Commitment," in which they promise to "show compassion and respect" throughout their careers and to "set worthy examples in the application of humanistic principles."

“The White Coat ceremony is a highly symbolic event where students learn their first important lesson in medicine - to succeed at patient care, they must truly care for the individual who has become their patient,” said Dr. Thomas Cavalieri, dean of the UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine.

The tradition of the White Coat ceremony was founded more than a decade ago by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which is dedicated to fostering humanism in the field of medicine. The first White Coat ceremony took place at Columbia University and is now an annual event at many medical schools across the country.

For more information, or to make arrangements to cover the ceremony, please call Jerry Carey at (856) 566-6171.

UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health, on five campuses. Last year, there were more than two million patient visits to UMDNJ facilities and faculty at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and Universi ty Behavioral HealthCare, a mental health and addiction services network