A student receives a lab coat the annual White Coat Ceremony. Photo credit: Jessica Fern Facette
Arezoo Ahmadzadeh freely admits that yellow has always been her favourite colour. But now, she's definitely warming up to white.
"I think white really is a symbol of my chosen profession," said Ahmadzadeh, a first-year medical student in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "It symbolizes integrity, purity, ethics, and the ability to act as an advocate on behalf of patients and society."
"It symbolizes respect and integrity and big shoes to fill," adds fellow student Marya Aman. "But hopefully in these next couple of years I'll learn how to fill them."
Ahmadzadeh and Aman are two of the 162 medical students who took part in a Sept. 29 White Coat Ceremony that marks the beginning of their lifelong journey as physicians. It was an emotional moment for the students as they donned their white coats for the first time in front of family, friends, alumni and instructors.
"[Becoming a doctor] was my first or second childhood dream, since I was seven or eight years old," said medical student Henry Wiebe. "It helped that both my parents are physicians, so I got a lot of dinner-time table talk. I really wanted to relate to that and I thought [being a doctor] was really interesting, even though I didn't know anything about it. From a really young age it motivated me to work towards that goal. [Receiving my white coat] has been very exciting."
The students were welcomed to the medical profession by keynote speaker Richard Fedorak, interim dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
"If it hasn't sunk in yet that you are truly on the path of becoming a physician, it will before you leave here tonight," said Fedorak. "Receiving your white coat is a tremendously symbolic moment that you will remember for years to come. It carries with it hope, acceptance and great responsibility."
Fedorak shared his own memories with the students of when he received his white coat as a U of A medical student more than 30 years previously.
"We did not have a white coat ceremony. We all simply paraded down to the basement laundry where one of the laundry staff fit us with our white coat," reminisced Fedorak. "While less formal than this event today, the gravity of the moment was not lost on myself or my classmates. Nor was the symbol that it represented as we proudly put our coats on."
For all of the students, the White Coat Ceremony event was boosted through the participation of alumni and donors. As each medical student received his or her white coat, some also received a personal note tucked into a pocket from alumni, welcoming them to the faculty.
The support went beyond just words though. The medical students also benefit from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry's annual White Coat Campaign. Each year alumni and donors help raise funds through the campaign, which provides financial support to students requiring help in covering the rising costs of medical education.
As medical students soaked in the ceremony, the interim dean of the faculty gave parting advice to the newest class of physicians in training.
"Dream big. Set your expectations high. Do not settle for anything other than your very best," said Fedorak. "And remember-it is not the white coat that makes the physician, but the person who is wearing it."
Important guidance for the next generation of physicians embarking upon a life-long journey in the healing arts.
"This is definitely a milestone. It's when you finally realize that you're here and that you belong," says Ahmadzadeh. "I still can't really believe that in the future I'm going to have patients and I'm going to be able to care for people. That's a very privileged position to be in but I feel like this ceremony is one of those moments where you realize that yes, it's going to happen, and that I belong here."