White Coat Ceremony

First-year Medical Students Welcomed on White Coat Day

Students told they are entering a profession built on purpose, passion and trust.

White Coat Ceremony keynote speaker David McAneny, MD, professor of surgery and associate dean for clinical affairs, welcomed 138 first-year medical students to the medical profession with a few words on “the 3 Ps”: purpose, passion and precious trust.

“Even if you remember only one of those Ps, my job will be done,” said McAneny, who also serves as vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Boston Medical Center.

“You will not find joy every day, but remain centered on your purpose – that which gives you direction and meaning – and you will find that so fulfilling,” he said.

Passion, he said, is what energizes you, what makes you look forward to every day. Precious trust is a bond between doctor and patient, built on listening, discussion and touch.

“Modern wonders cannot replicate the human element of what we do,” said McAneny. “Never underestimate the power and sanctity of that trust, and never, ever abandon or abuse it.”

The Aug. 3 ceremony on Talbot Green, organized by the MD student affairs, development and events offices, culminates with the symbolic act of faculty helping the new medical students put on the white coat of a physician.

“When you don the white coat you step into the responsibilities, expectations and privilege of the profession. You accept the physical symbol of trust,” said Hee-Young Park, PhD, dean ad interim.  

This is the 178th entering class of the medical school, selected from a pool of 12,025 candidates, representing 26 states, including students born in 14 countries, who attended 48 separate undergraduate institutions, with ages ranging from 21 to 40.  

“All of you have met academic and personal challenges; all of you have had successes and failures; all of you have sacrificed much and accomplished a great deal to reach this moment,” said Kristen Hanssen, MD, associate dean of admissions. “For us as a faculty it will be a privilege to walk this little way with you and perhaps to guide you, just a little bit.”

To arrive at the point where she could stand on the stage Monday and receive her white coat, Jiho Kahng overcame years of instability. At age 7, Kahng immigrated from South Korea with her parents and two older sisters. Two years later, her parents separated, and her father returned to South Korea. Two years after that, Kahng and her sisters entered foster care and were placed in separate homes. There, Kahng attended three different middle schools in a single year and lived with six other children. Years later, she reunited with her mother, who worked 90-hour weeks as a single parent to provide for the family.

Without health insurance for much of her childhood, Kahng often served as an advocate for her family, helping her mother navigate unfamiliar systems amid language and financial barriers. Those experiences shaped her commitment to reducing barriers to care, making BU a natural choice among the 17 medical schools where she was accepted.

“I know what it feels like when access to healthcare depends on your circumstances instead of your needs. I wanted to train at a medical school that shares my commitment to health equity,” said Kahng.

Jonah Berg’s road to medical school began at 11, when his father, an emergency room physician, ended up in the ICU following a cycling accident with a traumatic brain injury, broken bones and other injuries. 

The ICU, with its tubes, wires and myriad beeps of monitors and alarms “felt like you were on the most ill spaceship,” Berg recalled.

Initially, the ICU frightened him, but he recently shadowed an intensive care physician, and he’s now considering that specialty.

“I found it really was a beautiful place where people are working hard to help families through the scariest moments of their lives,” he said. “It would be an honor to do something like that.”

Six years ago, doctors at Stanford (University) Hospital found a hole in Max Ptacek’s heart, caused by a rare case of skin bacteria that had somehow entered his body, and lodged in an artificial valve implanted when he was a child and replaced when he was in high school.

Doctors initially wanted to use an antibiotic pump; a device he’d have to wear the rest of his life. But he and his family argued that would dramatically impact the life of a young, active teen who loved to bike, rock climb and ski. Doctors listened, conferred with other specialists and decided to try a six-week course of antibiotics that has thus far proven successful.

Witnessing how a large healthcare system could focus its resources, with a team of physicians who listened to his concerns, inspired Ptacek to become a doctor himself.

“I felt drawn to medicine because of that blending of science and personal interaction,” said Ptacek.

Watch the ceremony. View the Facebook album.