MEDICAL BULLETIN

Tradition tweaked

C. Kent Smith, M.D., senior dean for students and advising society dean, helps Samer Fadl don his white coat.

Elizabeth McKinley, M.D., a 1987 alumna, assistant professor of medicine, and advising society dean, shares pearls of wisdom with students in her keynote address.

Richard Fratianne, M.D., a 1958 alumnus and professor of surgery, welcomes Airadion Omoruan to the medical school as 1949 alumna Mary Feil Hellerstein, M.D., looks on.

First matriculating class of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. First oath-writing exercise. First time at Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. The School of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony saw many “firsts” in 2004-2005.

The annual celebration serves as the formal kick-off of the academic year. New medical students, cheered by family and friends, receive their white doctor coats. The event features a theme of humanism in medicine, and the white coat symbolizes the compassion and responsibility that come with working in the profession of medicine.

Although a welcoming ceremony is a long-standing tradition at the medical school, the 2004-2005 ceremony greeted a larger class than in recent years. The 166-member group included the 32-member inaugural class of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, nicknamed the College Program, as well as the 134 members of the medical school’s venerable program, now nicknamed the University Program. This latter group included the 13 students in the class who are part of the eight-year Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D./Ph.D. in a basic science) as well as other dual-degree programs. (For more information about the College Program, please see College Program launches in 2004-2005.)

The White Coat rite capped several days of orientation activities, including a new oath-writing exercise involving students from both programs. Earlier in the week preceding the ceremony, University Program and College Program students gathered to eat lunch together and heard remarks from Dean Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D.; Elizabeth McKinley, M.D., a 1987 medical alumna and assistant professor of medicine; and Steven Ricanati, M.D., a 1995 medical alumnus and assistant professor of medicine, before breaking into small groups to discuss the ethical and other considerations that should guide their thinking and behavior during medical school. Representatives from all of the small groups gathered again the next day to finalize a new code of professionalism, which students read at the White Coat Ceremony in place of the Hippocratic Oath written for practicing physicians, which formerly was read. (See Oath of Medical Professionalism.)

The oath-writing exercise was spearheaded by Dr. Ricanati and Dr. McKinley, two of the four faculty members serving as deans of the student advising societies begun in 2003-2004. The other student advising society deans are C. Kent Smith, M.D., senior dean for students, and Robert Haynie, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for student affairs and a 1978 medical alumnus.

Dr. McKinley was the keynote speaker at the ceremony, sharing how her experiences as a breast cancer patient changed her as a physician.

“We need to recognize that diseases affect patients’ minds, bodies and spirits, and not just their organs,” she told the students.

“We must care for the whole person with compassion and respect and knowledge. The gift of their stories is a great privilege that we need to honor and learn from.”