White Coat Ceremony Marks P&S 250th Anniversary on Aug. 14
![1767 Medical School Petition](https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_200/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=4Z9yZa6J 200w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_260/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=8pqBag_j 260w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_320/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=eAwUQ3zm 320w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_400/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=ph0MlAik 400w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_520/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=mGnRq9Ev 520w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_640/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=B9MqIfiH 640w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_800/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=WLy2YoNb 800w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1600/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=gGJaPGpR 1000w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1040/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=A8ohtVvw 1040w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1280/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_1767_med_school_petition_100x560.jpg?itok=z0zcdim3 1280w)
A copy of the petition is on display in the exhibit “P&S 1767-2017: 250 Years of the College of Physicians and Surgeons” through Dec. 20 in Hammer Health Sciences Building, Lower Level 2. Other items in the exhibit are a photo of some of the first female students admitted in 1917 and student notes of lectures given by founder Samuel Bard in 1774.
When Columbia's newest medical students receive their white coats on Aug. 14, they will do so on a day with historical meaning for Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S). On the same date 250 years ago—Aug. 14, 1767, to be exact—the governors of King’s College unanimously approved a petition to organize a “School of Physick” at the college. Their action marked the start of medical education at Columbia.
The petition was submitted on Aug. 4, 1767, by five New York physicians, who wrote candidly about the state of the medical profession in the 18th century as one that “has till of late years, in this Country, been considered … rather humiliating than reputable” and noted their hope that a medical school “will be no inconsiderable advantage” to King’s College.
Back then, access to medical education was scarce for aspiring physicians. Only one medical school existed in the 13 American Colonies and it had opened just two years earlier in Philadelphia. If Americans wanted to study medicine, they had to apprentice with a practitioner for many years or travel to Europe for a long, pricey university education. Much of what we know today as “modern medicine” was still decades away, including the invention of the stethoscope and use of anesthesia during procedures.
The petitioners–Samuel Clossy, Peter Middleton, John Jones, James Smith, and Samuel Bard–saw the need to expand and professionalize medical education. They were some of the most prominent physicians of their time. Dr. Bard was an American who earned his MD in Europe and later became George Washington’s physician; Drs. Clossy and Middleton trained in Ireland and Scotland, respectively, and are known for their contributions to anatomy; Dr. Jones wrote the first textbook of surgery by an American to be published in the United States; and Dr. Smith was an expert in chemistry. The five physicians would become the medical school’s first faculty members, along with a sixth, John V.B. Tennent, a renowned obstetrician, who had written the Board a separate letter of support. The Board’s approval of the petition elected all six men as professors.
Classes began on Nov. 2, 1767, at the King’s College “Faculty of Physick,” the first medical school in New York. King’s College granted its first baccalaureates in medicine in 1769 and the first MD in North America in 1770. This history will be the backdrop for the upcoming White Coat Ceremony in The Armory, marking the start of medical school for 152 members of the Class of 2021.
![Columbia medical student and physician](https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_200/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=9Cx6pxmV 200w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_260/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=omOZgmBD 260w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_320/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=Thfolinb 320w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_400/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=9KzVU75x 400w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_520/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=--AuZxxK 520w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_640/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=DtfyskFj 640w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_800/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=1FEIIXef 800w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1600/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=mskc9i9P 1000w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1040/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=YFHPFoZ0 1040w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1280/public/media/images/2020-02/170731_whitecoatceremony_100x777.jpg?itok=tNZsJH1T 1280w)
A first-year medical student dons his white coat at the 2016 White Coat Ceremony.
The ceremony was founded at P&S in 1993 by Arnold P. Gold, MD, professor of clinical neurology and clinical pediatrics, to reinforce a strong commitment to humanistic practice in medical students. He is also the founder of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which has been instrumental in developing, through curriculae, research, conferences, ceremonies and awards, more than 20 diverse programs that support the education and training of humanistic providers. Dr. Gold is among the guest speakers who will address students at this year’s ceremony, as is Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, MD, University Professor at Columbia University; Kavli Professor and Director, Kavli Institute for Brain Science; Co-Director, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute; and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
This year's White Coat Ceremony will be streamed live via the Columbia University Medical Center Facebook page for members of our community to watch. Tune in on Aug. 14 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
For more information about the 250th anniversary of P&S, visit 250.ps.columbia.edu.
![August 14, 1767 Petition](https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_200/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=93TQ49jI 200w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_260/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=WtKDH-w3 260w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_320/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=Jemg68DP 320w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_400/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=9W_eiYld 400w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_520/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=XvCX4phB 520w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_640/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=3fj8q09j 640w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_800/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=1K1Cfdiy 800w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1600/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=f0_-78Lq 1000w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1040/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=-hULkyDi 1040w, https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cola_media_1280/public/media/images/2020-02/aug-14-1767-petition.jpg?itok=VBXHfaD9 1280w)
Pictured is a letter from 1767 – a petition to King’s College Board of Governors to open a medical school