{"id":9,"date":"2023-07-18T06:15:15","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T06:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/events\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:05:18","slug":"white-coat-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/md\/events\/white-coat-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"White Coat Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThis year’s White Coat Ceremony celebrating the graduating class of 2028 will be held on:<\/p>\n

Sunday, October 5, 2025
\n9:00 am – 11:00 am<\/h3>\n

The event will be held in-person with doors opening at 8:30 am and live streamed right here on this website. The in-person event will be held at:<\/p>\n

Memorial Hall<\/h4>\n

More Information<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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History of the White Coat Ceremony<\/h2>\n

The first White Coat Ceremony was held at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York in 1993, supported by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. The purpose of the ceremony is to clarify for students, prior to their entrance into the medical community that a physician\u2019s responsibility is to both take care of patients and also to care for patients. In other words, doctors should care as well as cure.<\/p>\n

Capturing students\u2019 attention at a strategic and impressionable moment, it is important that family members and friends are invited to attend the ceremony. An inspiring address by an eminent physician sets the tone for the ceremony in which distinguished faculty and administrators from the medical school cloak students with their first white coats. Students recite a student-written adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath appropriate for their status as students, pledging to lead lives of compassion, uprightness, and honor. The ceremony is designed to stress the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and to foster a psychological contract in which each student accepts responsibility to be technically excellent, committed to the profession, and compassionate with patients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Students<\/p>\n

Q&A about the history of UNC SOM’s White Coat Ceremony<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Event Details<\/h2>\n

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Directions<\/h3>\n

Memorial Hall is located at\u00a0208 E Cameron Avenue,\u00a0Chapel Hill,\u00a0NC\u00a027599<\/a>.
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