Medical students don white coats, helped by role models
Prior to accepting their white coats, third-year medical students watched as a select group of upperclassmen, residents and faculty were pinned and inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society, a national society that celebrates compassionate, patient-centered care.
After helping his son into his first white coat as a medical student, USA Health Interventional cardiologist G. Mustafa Awan, M.D., called the moment “an amazing experience.”
“I never had a white coat ceremony,” said Awan, associate professor of internal medicine/cardiology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama. “It’s a good transition from basic science to the clinical world and welcoming new medical students to the medical profession. It symbolizes professionalism, responsibility, duty, respect and compassion for the patients and their families. I always tell my son to treat patients and their families just like he, himself, would like to be treated by others.”
His son, Saad Awan, was among 74 third-year medical students in the Class of 2024 at the Whiddon College of Medicine to receive their white coats in a special ceremony Thursday, June 16, at the Mitchell Center. The event – not held at all medical schools – marks the beginning of their third-year clinical rotations.
“This is something he and I have been looking forward to,” Saad Awan said, referring to his father. “He has been a great role model for me. I am looking forward to serving my patients and their families with respect, compassion, empathy, integrity and clinical excellence.”
Carole Boudreaux, M.D., former associate dean for graduate medical education, walked across the stage with her daughter, Madeleine Boudreaux, to help her into her white coat. “We’re excited for her education here and what she’ll take from South into her future career plans,” she said afterward.
Prior to accepting their white coats, the students watched as a select group of upperclassmen, residents and faculty were pinned and inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), a national society that celebrates compassionate, patient-centered care.
Those points were driven home moments later when the newly cloaked students took the Medical Student Oath, a promise to uphold the human aspects of medicine such as sensitivity, compassion and respect for patients.
“It was so nice to commemorate the moment with the Gold Humanism Honor Society,” Boudreaux said. “Combining the two events is so meaningful, especially at this juncture, when students transition from the classroom to the clinic.”
USA Health gastroenterologist Phillip K. Henderson, D.O., assistant professor of internal medicine and assistant professor of surgery at the Whiddon College of Medicine, delivered the keynote address to the crowd.
Henderson urged the students to learn from humiliation, bad decisions and human tragedy, and to become an advocate for their patients. “I don’t care if you’re a third-year medical student or a third-year professor, being an advocate for your patients – there’s no better honor that you could ever have,” he said.
View more photos from the ceremony.
