More than 60 first-year students in Mercer University’s School of Medicine will receive their white coats and be welcomed into the medical profession Saturday at 10 a.m. in Willingham Auditorium on the Macon campus.
 
“The white coat ceremony is a tradition that marks the beginning of a course of transformative education leading to the title of physician. It implies the acceptance of great responsibility, trust, compassion and a call to service,” said Jean R. Sumner, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine.
 
Daniel Gordon, M.D., a 2014 graduate of the School of Medicine and family physician in Hartwell, will be keynote speaker.
 
Dr. Gordon was one of the first two graduates of the medical school’s nationally renowned Accelerated Curriculum Track, which allows students interested in a career in family medicine or general internal medicine the opportunity to complete their coursework in a three-year program of study.
 
Guy D. Foulkes, M.D., a 1989 graduate of the School of Medicine and board certified orthopaedic surgeon at OrthoGeorgia in Macon, and Patrick Roche, M.D., associate dean of student affairs and associate professor of family medicine, will cloak the participants.
 
“OrthoGeorgia is a proud, longtime sponsor of this ceremony that marks a very significant milestone in the lives of future physicians,” said Dr. Foulkes.
 
In addition to support received from OrthoGeorgia, SunTrust provided support for the School of Medicine’s white coat ceremonies in Macon and Savannah. The Savannah campus ceremony was held last Saturday with Dr. Gordon also serving as its keynote speaker.
 
“On behalf of the SunTrust Foundation, we are proud to continue the long history of supporting education in our local communities in ways that directly align to SunTrust’s purpose of ‘Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being,’” said David Karr, senior vice president of SunTrust Medical Specialty Group. “Our partnership with Mercer University’s School of Medicine continues that long tradition and helps this dedicated group of future healthcare professionals take a step toward financial confidence.”
 
The white coat ceremony was designed by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation as a way to welcome new medical students and set clear expectations regarding their primary role as physicians by professing an oath.
 
Today, the ceremony emphasizes the importance of compassionate care as well as scientific proficiency. The first white coat ceremony took place in 1993 at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Since then, more than half of the nation’s medical schools have had some form of white coat ceremony.