Brown's 145 first-year medical students took the next step toward a career that their dean called "both a great privilege and tremendous responsibility,” at the 27th annual Ceremony of Commitment to Medicine on Saturday, Sept. 13.
The annual event, informally known as the white coat ceremony, acknowledges the dedication that brought Brown’s newest medical students to Providence and welcomes them to the profession. Per tradition, students are “coated” by the dean, with white coats donated by the Brown Medical Alumni Association.
Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Mukesh K. Jain, MD, said that 32 US states and territories and 15 different nations are represented in this year’s class. Forty-five percent of the students speak a language other than English and 24 percent come from underrepresented groups, he added.
“This is a class that is diverse in background, united in purpose, and already contributing to the richness of our community,” Jain said.
Meylakh Barshay MD’26, who presented this year’s student reflection, encouraged students to reject the temptation to become nihilistic in the face of medicine’s sometimes overwhelming challenges. While students may want to rush to flatten stories or categorize people, Barshay emphasized the importance of grasping the nuances of patients and their field.
“My own experience has shown that the more dimensions you let people show you, the more dimensions you discover that they have and the deeper your relationship to them can be,” he said.
Barshay recalled starting a program at the beginning of medical school in which classmates were randomly paired with each other every few weeks to have coffee together. Half of his class participated, and since then they have supported each other with everything from meals to kind words to “free doggy day care.”
“The 145 of you have the power to define your own community in a way that not only affects how you all experience the challenge of this journey but also creates a family whose impact can extend far beyond the walls of the medical school,” Barshay said. “In a world of big problems, small deeds done can be better than great deeds planned.”
Beeta Seeber ’95 MD’99, director of the University Clinic for Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, reflected on the first time she stood in the same position as the MD Class of 2029. The white coat, she said, allows physicians to cross socioeconomic, generational, and cultural borders.
“As young physicians you will be advising a far older person to stop smoking, explaining the importance of childhood vaccinations to a young single mother, helping a struggling executive to seek mental health therapy for his anxiety disorder, and discussing Western medical therapies with a patient who strongly believes in alternative healing methods,” Seeber said. “There are very few occupations that allow one access to such a cross-section of society—a unique opportunity for those who want to reach out and help others.”
Seeber advised students to be inquisitive, learn from their classmates, practice self-guided learning, and seek out mentors.
“Having a supportive community around you makes all the difference,” she said.
After donning her white coat, Andrea Tall MD'29 said she is learning to become more comfortable with things like talking to patients and exploring diagnoses.
“It’s very exciting and I’m feeling recharged with the dream that I’ve had to become a doctor,” Tall said of the ceremony.
Nathalia Beller MD'29 said she was “ecstatic” to have reached this milestone and was happy to continue growing her support system at Brown.
“There’s an overwhelming sense of community and support,” Beller said. “It’s so exciting to be here, not just with our newest family and friends in this community, but also with our family and friends from home.”