Physician Assistant White Coat Ceremony
Occurring in the Fall, being white coated symbolizes institutional trust that students are ready to begin practicing medicine as they prepare for clinical rotations in the spring.
The White Coat Ceremony Marks an Important Milestone
The Tufts Physician Assistant Program held its first White Coat Ceremony in 2013. Occurring in the Fall, being white coated symbolizes institutional trust that students are ready to begin practicing medicine as they prepare for clinical rotations in the spring.
This year’s White Coat Ceremony will be held on Friday, October 11, 2024. The goal of this ceremony is to welcome Class of 2026 PA students into the Tufts clinical community and acknowledge their mid-way point in becoming Certified Physician Assistants. The ceremony will feature remarks from Beth Buyea, program director, Helen Boucher, dean of Tufts School of Medicine, and Richard Murphy, founding program director. Donning of the white coats will be followed by recitation of the Hippocratic Oath, led by Scott Epstein, medical director.
History
The formalization of the white coat ceremony is credited to Arnold P. Gould, MD, a pediatric neurologist at Columbia. Since then, it has become a standard tradition in most U.S. PA programs. At this ceremony each student is physically given their white coat from a faculty member or relative holding a PA-C degree or higher, symbolizing the students’ ability to carry on the noble tradition of medicine.