UM SOM Class of 2021 Presented with White Coats

First-Year University of Maryland School of Medicine Students Receive Their White Coats During Ceremony

The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) held its annual White Coat Ceremony on November 2 at the Hippodrome Theatre in downtown Baltimore. During this event, first-year UM SOM medical students were presented their first white coats as a welcome into the field of medicine.

“Today when putting on your white coat, you will be taking one small step, but symbolically it will be a giant step,” said E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor, and Dean of the School of Medicine. “Wear this white coat with pride and humility,” he told the Class of 2021.

The White Coat Ceremony, which was sponsored by the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, is also intended to serve as an opportunity for families of first-year medical students to celebrate medical education at UM SOM and get a glimpse of what medical school is really like.

The White Coat Ceremony has been an annual tradition at the School of Medicine since 1997. The event features the presentation of traditional white coats, which have long been the symbol of physicians and scientists, to first-year medical students.

David Mallott, MD, Associate Dean for Medical Education, discussed the rigors of medical school, addressing family members attending the ceremony. “Some people say it’s like running a marathon. Right now your folks are at about a mile and a half,” he said.

The coats were put on first-year medical students by School of Medicine house leadership faculty to welcome their new colleagues to the profession of medicine. After being "coated," students recited a Code of Honor acknowledging their acceptance of the obligations of the medical profession.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Commemorating its 210th Anniversary, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 43 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and a distinguished recipient of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically-based care for more than 1.2 million patients each year. The School has over 2,500 students, residents, and fellows, and nearly $450 million in extramural funding, with more than half of its academic departments ranked in the top 20 among all public medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total workforce of nearly 7,000 individuals. The combined School and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has a total budget of $5 billion and an economic impact of nearly $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks as the 8th-highest public medical school in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu/

Learn More

• White Coat Ceremony Website