BUFFALO, N.Y. They volunteer at food pantries andsuicide hotlines, work with the homeless and refugees, and assistat hospice and Meals on Wheels. Theyve done research oncancer, diabetes and geriatrics, and worked on medical missions allover the globe.

They are the 180 students of the Class of 2021 at the JacobsSchool of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University atBuffalo. Today, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m., they will receive their whitecoats at a ceremony in the Mainstage theater in the Center for theArts on the UB North Campus.

Best time for photos: Students will begin to becoated at approximately 3:30 p.m. For pressarrangements, contact Ellen Goldbaum in the UB Office of UniversityCommunications at 716-645-4605 or 716-771-9255 and on-site.

For each student who will be coated, the ceremony is apersonal milestone, said Michael E. Cain, MD, vice presidentfor health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine andBiomedical Sciences.

But this years white coat ceremony is also aninstitutional milestone, Cain added. Today, weofficially welcome to UB its largest-ever medical school class, 180students, up from 144.

That expansion, which he called a necessity to help fill thephysician shortage in the region and in the nation, was only madepossible by the construction of the new downtown home of the JacobsSchool of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo NiagaraMedical Campus. Students will begin classes in the new building inJanuary after spending their first semester on the SouthCampus.

Of the 180 students, 152 are from New York State, 78 are fromWestern New York and 40 earned their undergraduate degrees fromUB.

At the ceremony, all 180 medical students will take the Oath ofMedicine. During the "calling of the class," students will becalled to the stage individually to be presented with their coatwhile their undergraduate institution and hometown is identified byCharles M. Severin, MD, PhD, UB associate dean for medicaleducation and admissions.

The keynote address will be given by Robert H. Ablove, MD,clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics. TheLeonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award will be presented to LynnSteinbrenner, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department ofMedicine and chief of the Oncology Section at the VeteransAdministration WNY Healthcare System.

The white coat ceremony is a symbolic rite of passage shared bymedical students across the U.S. to establish a psychologicalcontract for professionalism and empathy in the practice ofmedicine.

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Media Advisory: White coat ceremony for UB's largest-ever medical school class marks institutional milestone - UB News Center