Columbia University Medical Center To Hold White Coat Ceremonies For Incoming Medical And Dental Students On Friday, Aug. 24

Incoming 2011 classes of Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons & College of Dental Medicine will receive first white clinical coats & recite first Hippocratic Oath

White coat ceremony tradition initiated at Columbia in 1993; since adopted worldwide

WHAT: Columbia University Medical Center’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) and College of Dental Medicine will welcome the classes of 2011 at annual White Coat Ceremonies. Students will be presented with their first white clinical coat and publicly declare their intention to practice medicine “in uprightness and honor” by reciting the Hippocratic Oath before family, friends, and faculty.

The annual White Coat Ceremony was initiated at P&S in 1993 by Arnold P. Gold, M.D., a professor of clinical neurology and clinical pediatrics at P&S and his wife, Sandra O. Gold, Ed.D., in order to encourage students to approach their education with the humanism and professionalism of a practicing healthcare professional.

Previously, white coats were not presented until the start of clinical training (usually near the end of the second year of medical school) and the Hippocratic Oath was not recited until graduation. The ceremony has since become a tradition at more than 130 schools of medicine, dentistry and osteopathy throughout the United States and internationally.

College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S) Ceremony Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, 12:30 p.m. William Black Medical Research Building, 1st floor, Alumni Auditorium 650 West 168th Street (entrance between Broadway & Fort Washington Ave.)

Speakers:

Lee Goldman, M.D., Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences at Columbia University, and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center Lisa A. Mellman, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Student Affairs, P&S Arnold P. Gold, M.D., Chair Emeritus of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and Professor of Clinical Neurology and Clinical Pediatrics, P&S Robert Kelly, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Guest Speaker: Abraham C. Verghese, M.D., Director, Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio About the P&S Class of 2011

156 entering students, chosen from 6,292 applicants (40 applicants/position) P&S received the most applications in its history this year 78 women + 78 men Age range 20-42 years old; average age: 24.6 30 from traditionally underrepresented minority backgrounds 20 are citizens of other countries (including Canada, Belgium and Korea) 17 are pursuing a joint M.D./Ph.D. degree College of Dental Medicine (CDM) Ceremony Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, 2 p.m. Hammer Health Sciences Building, 4th floor, room 401 701 West 168th Street (at the corner of Fort Washington Ave.)

Speakers:

Ira B. Lamster, D.D.S., M.M.Sc., Dean, College of Dental Medicine Lee Goldman, M.D., Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences at Columbia University, and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center Letty Moss-Salentijn, D.D.S., Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, CDM Martin J. Davis, D.D.S., Associate Dean of Student and Alumni Affairs, CDM Lois A. Jackson, D.D.S., President, Association of Dental Alumni, CDM About the CDM Class of 2011

77 entering students, chosen from 2,272 applicants (30 applicants/position) 11,365 people applied to U.S. dental schools last year; CDM received 20 percent of the applications filed 41 women + 36 men Average score on the Dental Admission Test (DAT) is 22.3 average, the highest in CDM’s history and the among the very highest in the nation 4 students have master’s degrees International students are from China, Ghana, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada For more information on the origin of the White Coat Ceremony, click here to read an article in P&S Journal.

The ceremonies are sponsored in part by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

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Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions.