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BIDDEFORD, Maine

College of Osteopathic Medicine celebrates fourteenth annual White Coat Ceremony

Over 1,200 family members and friends gathered to celebrate as 123 first-year students at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine participated in the College's fourteenth annual White Coat Ceremony that formally recognizes the transition students make from lay persons to those assuming the responsibility of physicians.

The evening ceremony was held at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland, Maine on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010.
 
Event highlights included welcome remarks by Marc B. Hahn, D.O., dean and senior vice president for health affairs of the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine, who addressed the students: "Whether you choose to pursue a career in primary care or enter a specialty field, you are assured that the excellent education you will receive in the classroom, labs, clinics, and hospitals in the next four years will give you a solid foundation for professional success. Tonight's ceremony is just one step on the path that leads towards the professional goal each of you have established for yourself- that of becoming an outstanding osteopathic physician."

In keeping with tradition, the medical students were presented their white coats by members of the physician community. Both the Maine Osteopathic Association President Joel Kase, DO, MPH, and Kenneth Johnson, D.O., associate dean for dducational programs and vice dean, joined Dean Hahn on the dais and welcomed the first-year students into the house of medicine. 

Martin S. Levine, D.O., delivered the keynote address. Dr. Levine is an AOA board-certified family physician who practices in Bayone, New Jersey and Jersey City, New Jersey. In July 2010, Dr. Levine was named president-elect of the American Osteopathic Association.

Also speaking at the event were Danielle Ripich, Ph.D., president of the University of New England, associate deans of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, MOA’s Dr. Joel Kase, and Dr. Nancy Cummings, president of the Maine Medical Association.

The White Coat Ceremony was an idea conceived by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to create a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in medicine. The first White Coat Ceremony took place in 1993 at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Since then, more than 100 other medical schools in the U.S. and abroad have initiated a similar ceremony.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.