Aspiring clinicians earn white coats during annual ceremonies

Weill Cornell Medicine celebrated the incoming physician assistant students in the Class of 2028 and first-year medical students in the Class of 2030 Aug. 18 during two White Coat Ceremonies hosted at 1334 York Ave.

Fifty students in the 27-month Master of Science in Health Sciences for Physician Assistants Program and 106 medical students received their white coats from faculty members, signifying the start of their medical educational journeys.

"Your milestone today is part of a bigger institutional milestone," said Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost of medical affairs for Cornell University during the PA ceremony. "You are our first Weill Cornell Medicine PA class starting at the same time as our arriving medical students. Both incoming classes will don the white coats today - but you get to go first. We look forward to you sharing more experiences. This has been very purposeful … because you'll be working together for the decades ahead."

Later that day, during their white coat ceremony, the medical students heard a keynote address from Dr. Leonard Girardi, M.D. '89, chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the O. Wayne Isom Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery,

"When you put on those white coats with the red patch today, your efforts, along with Weill Cornell's support, are the beginning of a career that offers the opportunity to achieve greatness in each and every one of you," he said. "Four years pass by very quickly so, irrespective of whether you ultimately take care of patients, educate the next generation of students and residents, or perform cutting edge research, please give it your very best each and every day. Study hard, be a little uncomfortable and extend your boundaries."

Visit the Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom to read more about the PA program'sand the medical degree program'sWhite Coat Ceremonies.