Watch a video presentation of the event here
Dr. John Gimpel asked the gathered medical students to close their eyes and to pause. For just 10 seconds.
Use that time, Gimpel said, to reflect on the people in your lives. People who have supported and encouraged you. Through good times and through struggles.
“We are blessed to have some of these very people, the fabric of our lives, in the room with us today, and many others continuing to support you from afar, including from heaven,” Gimpel said. “How happy they must be that you remembered them on your big day.”
The white coat ceremony marks a rite of passage for first-year students in the Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. One hundred sixty-one medical students, comprising the class of 2028, officially donned their white coats during a ceremony Oct. 18 in Hobson Performance Center.
Among the students donning those white coats were Caleb Perez and Jessica King.
Perez made a bit of history, becoming the first Campbell football player to enroll in the osteopathic med school. In 2021, Perez, a special teams stalwart who moved to the offensive line, played in 10 of 11 games at Campbell. As a senior tight end at Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Mount Dora, Florida, Perez collected 359 receiving yards and scored five touchdowns.
“I’m blessed,” Perez said. “God is great to place me in such a great position. It’s been amazing.”
King, of Tampa, Florida, entered Campbell through the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences program.
“I loved the environment. When I applied for med school I was really happy to get accepted. I’m a Christian, so I have a deep faith in God,” King said, attributing her faith as a reason for choosing Campbell. “I definitely want to get involved in mission trips.”
As part of the ceremony, Dr. Jerry Wallace, chancellor, recognized Bob and Pat Barker as founders of Campbell’s medical school. The Barkers, leaders in business and the local community, are longtime generous and stalwart supporters of Campbell University and the medical school.
Gimpel, the keynote speaker, is president and CEO of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, a position he has held since 2009.
“Look out for each other,” Gimpel said. “It will be important to maintain the fabric of the connections you’ve made before coming into Campbell, which has collectively elevated you as someone who is blessed, someone who not only possesses the capacity to serve patients, but also one with the inclination to do so.
“While the quantity of your time with your family and friends maybe a bit more limited in your medical school and residency days, be sure to work in maintaining its quality, strengthening its fabric as you face the ups and downs of this important journey to become an osteopathic physician.”
The white coat worn by physicians and medical professionals is a symbol of friendliness, purity and righteousness. Its symbolic origins date to the advent of aseptic surgery, in 1889, said Dr. Nicholas Pennings, director of Campbell University Health Center and chair and professor of Family Medicine.
By 1920, as medicine and science became inseparable partners, and as health care transitioned from the home to hospitals, white coats were established as a powerful and iconic symbol of the physician as a medical scientist, Pennings said.
“Limited infection control measures, unfamiliar surroundings and unproven treatments often made the public reluctant to access care that was available to them in hospitals.
To enhance credibility and ensure the public that hospitals and doctors were safe, the medical profession began to associate itself with science, a field that had begun to earn the respect and public’s interest in trust, Pennings said.
The symbolic white coats reflect a mission that “we hold dear at Campbell, to prepare community-centered physicians who bring care, healing and humanity to those in greatest need,” said Dr. Brian Kessler, dean of the medical school.
“This coat symbolizes your commitment to bringing expertise, knowledge and empathy to every patient encounter, upholding integrity in all you do and approaching your work with humility and excellence,” Kessler said.
Think about those coats — the fabric comprising those coats — Gimpel said.
That essential biologic fabric holding together about 30 to 40 trillion cells, bones, organ structures, connecting the body, mind and spirit of the unique human organism, he said.
“I invite you to think of the white coat we put on today, and the oath you recite for the very first time, as symbolic of the fabric connecting you to 150 years of osteopathic physicians,” Gimpel said.
“This fabric also includes your support system, your family and friends, partners, spouses, significant others, teachers, mentors, family elders, rabbis and priests.”
Gimpel, said Kessler, has been an influential advocate for health care reform. He has served on myriad national boards, including the U.S. Coalition for Physician Accountability, working to improve the transition from medical schools to residencies and promoting equity and wellness for all trainees. In 2020, the American Osteopathic Association recognized Gimpel with its highest honor, the Presidential Citation.
“Humility is a virtue,” Gimpel said. “Rest assured, you can enlist the strength of this fabric, that inner woven support system that has elevated you to today, that can bring you, your body, mind and spirit, back to the humble realization that while you are only one human being, not perfect or all knowing, you are strengthened by your support system, your fabric.”
The white coat, in and of itself, does not give one superpowers, Gimpel said. It will, however, he told the students, grant you the permission to connect with your patients. To be curious and to understand them — in body, mind and spirit.
“To connect with them in such a manner as to hear the words that are not spoken, to see the tears that are not shed, to learn how to listen and how to use your hands to diagnose and to treat. And when you don this white coat, it will be an eternal reminder of your oath for basic human compassion, that element of health care that is non-negotiable — non-negotiable for those called to practice osteopathic medicine.”