The following remarks were delivered by Dean Harrington to the Class of 2028 during the White Coat Ceremony on August 13, 2024.
This week starts your professional journey. As a physician, you'll have the opportunity to develop your talents in many exciting ways here at Weill Cornell Medicine. This is an institution that supports a tripartite mission to care, to discover, and to teach. And to that tripartite mission, I always add a fourth mission of community, the community of which you're here to serve.
Today's ceremony is a rite of passage marking the start of your lifelong commitment to patient care and ethical practice. The physician's white coat and the stethoscope are the most visible symbols of our honorable profession. This afternoon, I'm going to tell you a little bit about why the white coat is unique and profoundly different from any other uniform that you have ever worn. But before our faculty help you put it on, I would like to take a moment to review some incredible statistics about you, our class of 2028.
You've come from many places. Your residents of 20 US states, and you attended 59 different undergraduate colleges. You were born in 15 countries and many of you have studied and lived abroad. Eleven of you attended Cornell University and are now seeking to become what is known as "double red". Nine students have already earned master's degrees. Collectively, you have been involved in 250 research experiences and have contributed to over 40 publications, 10 of participated in NIH, National Institute[s] of Health sponsored research. From your passion in scientific research, there's been acknowledgement of that. Two of you became Goldwater scholars and three of you of Fulbright Scholars.
And this next statistic is, I think, one of the most amazing and really reflects what we're trying to accomplish here at Weill Cornell Medicine. Nearly half of you, 49%, are bilingual or multilingual, and incredibly, every third person in the class of 2028 is a first-generation student.
Now, Dr. Stewart noted that I'm a first-generation college student as well. I was raised by a single mother living next door to her parents. My grandfather, who I still refer to as the smartest person I ever met, had an eighth grade education, but he was committed. He was an Italian immigrant, and he was committed to the notion that his grandson would get an education. And so instead of spending my summers on the roof with him, he was a roofer and a carpenter, he made sure that I was studying and that I had every opportunity. And I think about him often in a ceremony like this, as I look out at you and as I look out at the families. And I hope that as students, you remember how much your family, how much your supporters, how much your friends have sacrificed so that you can be here with us today.
You are impressive, and I'm also impressed as a cardiologist at how active you are. Thirteen of you played an intercollegiate sport. Two of you previously served in the military, and this is a really amazing statistic: one of you – and I'll leave it to you to find that person – performed as a dancer in the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. Now these activities among many others round out your lives. But what I like about it is that it's going to help you with important skills like teamwork, partnership, and time management. And I hope that as your medical student journey begins, you continue to find time for your outside passions outside of the classroom.
Now let's turn our attention to the coat. And you may have wondered, do we really pay all this attention to a coat? And in fact, we do. With a little digging, the faculty have been commenting, you may discover that this ceremony is a recent invention.
Most of us did not have a white coat ceremony that is sitting on this side of the audience, and it's one of the reasons we're thrilled to be here today. The first recognized white coat ceremony took place across Manhattan at Columbia in 1993. Why? What changed? Why was this practice instituted? A pediatric neurologist, Dr. Arnold Gold, was worried that some of the humane aspects of medicine were being de-emphasized. He gathered medical school deans at the time to find a way to reinforce at the beginning of training those fundamental qualities that medicine requires. Ethics, morality, compassion, honor. And so the white coat ceremony and what it symbolized quickly became a widespread medical tradition. Dr. Marc Hochberg in the AMA Journal of Ethics called the coat, "The other critical part of students' medical education, a standard of professionalism and caring and emblem of the trust they must earn from patients."
At last year's white coat ceremony, Dr. Linnie Golightly, another alum (from the class of '83), spoke of superpowers that you may feel when donning your white coat. But like all good superhero stories, she warned that those powers are not always good, and that with great power comes great responsibility. Today, let me reflect on that a bit. You'll appear as a superhero from the moment that coat finds its way to your shoulders. Every time you wear that white coat, the world will view and treat you differently.
The difference between the short white coat you receive today and the long white coat you receive later in your career is just a section of cloth. To those who rely on us for curing and healing, they represent the same thing. You'll be expected to act like a medical professional now, not four years from now, but now. Your advice and your counsel will be taken seriously, even before you might want to admit to yourself that that is what's happening and before you truly know what to do. This may be stressful and maybe even perhaps a little unfair. After all, you're at the beginning of the journey, not the end. But let me provide you some advice, perhaps, on how to meet this obligation.
First, earn and maintain the trust of those seeking your care. In 1927, a famous physician from Boston, Dr. Francis Peabody, laid a foundation of clinical practice that's worth repeating: "One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient." Serve those seeking your aid with compassion and empathy. Show kindness not just in your eyes, but in your entire approach. Help patients take charge of their own health when possible and be there for them when it is not. Be extra attentive when you are dealing with patients that don't share your lived experiences: people who suffered from disasters or those from populations which have been underserved or excluded by healthcare. We have built a community at Weill Cornell [Medicine] with a bedrock of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging. So too should your patients feel like they belong in your care.
Second, always remember how much language matters. A good friend of mine from Stanford, the physician author Abraham Verghese, wrote about a character that is asked: "Tell us please, what treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?" The character responds without hesitation: "Words of comfort." In the confusion of a health crisis or in the halls of a hospital, people will look to you for words of guidance. In preparing yourself for those moments. Remember that what you say, how you say it and how you listen can change the life of a patient. This goes not just for our patients, but for those around us. Communicating with clarity, honesty, mutual respect for your colleagues will take you far. Remember, teamwork is essential and critical for the practice of medicine.
Third, serve and honor others. The practice of medicine requires selflessness. The patient is always at the center of the relationship, not the physician nor the care team. "Time, sympathy and understanding must be lavishly dispensed," Dr. Peabody advised, "but the reward is to be found in that personal bond which forms the greatest satisfaction of the practice of medicine." I imagine many people here have seen you building relationships with patients as a volunteer or assistant.
I'm an interventional cardiologist by training, and I remember taking care of patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week who'd suffered from myocardial infarction, heart attacks. In part for me, it was a way of living my life that honored my mother who died at the young age of 42 from a sudden cardiac arrest. And that was the year before I entered medical school. And I spent the last year since graduating from medical school as Dr. Stewart had noticed, trying to understand why people have heart attacks and how to treat them. And while we've made great progress, I remain committed to additional progress, and I'm going to look to many of you to help us in that journey of continuing to rid the world of diseases that can be prevented and certainly that can be treated better.
One of our most decorated faculty alums, Dr. Bill Pape from the class of '75 originally came to Weill Cornell Medicine from Haiti, and he returned there after he finished his training. Coincidentally, I had the great privilege of meeting Dr. Pape for the first time yesterday. Prior to yesterday, I had only met him via Zoom. Sound familiar these days? He's dedicated his life to reducing the death rates in his country, beginning with the AIDS epidemic, and now continuing through the study of cardiovascular disease in the economically deprived world. He has cared for many through so many challenges and what he's learned and done over the span of 40 plus years is nothing short of heroic; and he should serve as one of those role models for you as you look at a life well lived. Honor the personal bonds and remember why you entered the field.
As you receive your white coat today, you embark on this exciting and meaningful profession with a shared mission: serving our one world of humanity. Our work does not end with the responsibility to heal people who seek our help. It will last your entire career. No matter the challenges, no matter the setting. In all cases, we have an obligation to care and bring together science and humanity in equal parts. We here have great confidence in you and our faculty can't wait to share what they know with you. And I'm convinced and know from experience that we're going to learn from you as well.
Despite these high expectations, always be sure to have some fun too. You're in an incredible setting here in New York City with so much to see and do. Be sure to take time to recharge, reenergize, and relax when you need to.
We hope you wear your coats with pride, with honor and with responsibility, maybe even with a little bit of style. Although, look at all of us – it's a little tough to sometimes pull off.
Class of 2028, welcome to Weill Cornell Medicine.