On this Friday, a summer storm was soaking everything within its grasp. The hard rain was unrelenting, the skies dark and gloomy. Yet the atmosphere inside the Hobson Performance Center at Campbell University the afternoon of July 12 was bright, shiny and white.
Fifty-one new graduates of the Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences Physician Assistant program received their long white coats, a rite of passage marking their transition from students to clinicians.
The long coats, which replace the shorter ones they wore while students, are symbols of professionalism, compassion and humanism, says Karen Hills.
Hills, who offered the White Coat Address, is chief of Governance and Leadership for the PA Education Association and professor emeritus with the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Duke University School of Medicine.
“Your long white coat says to patients you know what you’re doing, and you are asking for their trust,” Hills said. “Finding meaning and purpose in what you do is what will sustain you during the hard times, which we all face.”
Program directors and clinicians conferred a number of awards as part of the ceremony, including the PA Distinguished Servant Leader Award, presented to Betty Lynne Johnson. She is the immediate past chair and director of the PA program at Campbell.
Friends and family accompanied the new PAs onstage and helped them don the bright, white coats. A blessing of the hands, representing the care and compassion they’ll carry throughout their careers, and the PA oath, followed.
The ceremony also marks the transition from learner to medical professional, again, symbolized by the long white coat, said Wesley Rich, associate dean of health sciences.
The new coat, he said, is much heavier than the one it replaces.
“This coat represents a noble burden, a weight and a responsibility to live out your calling in service to others,” Rich said. “It’s a weight to compel you to work not just for the health of a patient in your clinic, but toward a better quality of life for your communities.
“It’s a burden to provide empathy for your patients on their best and their worst days. It compels you to give voice to patients and families and systems that sometimes marginalize them.
“It’s a pretty tall order, yet here you are today, sitting up taller, straighter, strengthened through long hours of a rigorous curriculum, mentored by an exceptional faculty. …
“You are ready to wear this noble burden with grace and humility and competence, and we couldn’t be more proud of you today.”
Hills, who works with PAs across the country on leadership training, is a member of the 2024 Doctor of Health Sciences Class at Campbell and will receive her degree in August.
PAs, Hills said, uniformly possess values that hold patient-centered principles close and reflect a life of service to others.
“Whether you know it or not, PAs are role models in all that we do.
“PAs have inherently challenged the healthcare process, just by our very existence. And as a leader, you have an opportunity to make things better in the places you work. For your patients, for your colleagues and for your communities.”
MacKinsey Johnson, Wallace Student Society president for the class of 2024, thanked classmates, faculty, staff, preceptors, mentors and families.
“These folks sitting in front of me are some of the smartest, kindest, funniest and strongest individuals I know. I am proud to be a colleague of each of you. I know without a doubt that each of these physician assistants that sit before me today will make Campbell University proud,” said MacKinsey Johnson, who noted her class recently presented new, short white coats to the incoming PA class.
Among the 2024 Campbell class, 11 PAs received a National Health Service Corps Scholarship, including MacKinsey Johnson. The scholarship program, a news release says, helps students who are training in eligible primary care health professions. In return, scholars commit to provide at least two years of full-time service in a Health Professional Shortage Area at an approved NHSC site.
“Today,” MacKinsey Johnson said, “we celebrate not only our individual accomplishments, but also our collective strength and determination. Together we have overcome challenges, celebrated successes and forged lasting friendships. May the light and passion to care for others shine brightly in each of you.”
Said Hills, “You are joining an elite group of Campbell PA graduates, and I think that you will find that following in distinguished footsteps is a privilege all PAs have in common. The privilege opens doors, but it also comes with a responsibility to represent this profession with the highest quality of patient care and professional integrity.
“We can be the kind of leaders that encourage the heart.”
Awards presented during the ceremony July 12:
PA Distinguished Servant Leader Award
- Betty Lynne Johnson
The Wallace Servant Leadership and Character Fellows
- Bethany Frye Bibey
- Elizabeth Jane Fogle
PI Alpha Honor Society
- Claudia Noelle Altman
- Christopher David Dye
- Karley Eaton
- Caitlyn McKenzie McInnis
- Margaret Leanne McManus
- Gabrielle Nycole Neill
- Andrea Nicole Painter
- Holden Christian Upright
Outstanding Service Award
- MacKinsey Diane Johnson
Excellence in Professionalism Award
- Holden Christian Upright
Outstanding Clinical Performance Award
- Christopher David Dye
- Jenna Blackwell Hester
Jerry M. Wallace Legacy Award
- Caroline Fountain Moore
Rodney Hipwell Spirit Award
- Sydney Leighann Newman
Director’s Award
- Claudia Noelle Altman
GRIT Award
- Hannah Marie Wagner
Excellence in Precepting Award (nominated and chosen by students)
- Stephanie Ivey, Wilmington Surgical Associates
- Darren Trafton, Wilmington Surgical Associates
- Sandhills Emergency Physicians