LUCOM Class of 2029 prepares for medical school journey at annual White Coat Ceremony

The 12th annual White Coat Ceremony for the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine was held on Saturday at the Center for Music and the Worship Arts, Concert Hall, welcoming 163 student-doctors to their advanced medical education and encouraging them for their upcoming four-year journey.

The ceremony, held at many medical schools across the country, is a symbolic gathering for new students as they begin their medical school journey. Before the student-doctors donned their coats, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine Dr. Robert “Skip” Hagan explained the purpose and significance of receiving white coats at the start of medical school.

“Today, this White Coat Ceremony is the induction into a new focus, a new pursuit, a new passion, and a new life,” he said. “Your new, short white coat symbolizes the academic journey and educational accomplishments that each of you has achieved to this point. I firmly believe that this class of student-doctors has the academic prowess, resilience, and fortitude to enter the field of osteopathic medicine.”

As the keynote speaker for the ceremony, LUCOM Dean Joseph R. Johnson, DO, FACOOG (Dist.), began his address by recognizing the aspiring doctors’ journeys thus far.

“Welcome to medical school — and congratulations,” he said. “I know you folks have dreamed, worked, sacrificed for this moment you’ve worked toward for many long years. You have been able to go through everything that you needed to go through to be accepted, and while you accepted us, we are so thankful that we also accepted you.”

Johnson then recognized the families and friends of the incoming class, who he said have also sacrificed and worked hard to support the student-doctors, and he remarked on how their relationships to the student-doctors will continue to be vital.

“We welcome you and commend you for your love and prayers through the years … and ongoing support of your loved one who has decided to enter into one of the most difficult yet rewarding careers in the world,” he said to the family and friends. “Don’t allow (your support) to waiver. They will need your love and prayers in the days and months ahead.”

Medical school is an undeniable challenge, Johnson said, but the faculty and staff of LUCOM are dedicated to helping and spurring them along over the next four years.

“On behalf of myself, our faculty, and staff, we firmly believe in the Class of 2029 because you have accomplished and you have proven yourself, and you have been accepted by very qualified faculty leadership,” Johnson said. “You will become, as our motto is here at Liberty University … Champions for Christ. This is obviously an adventure for the next four years, but it will be a life-changing endeavor. You will emerge at the end of it being motivated, prodded, taught, and encouraged, but most of all, we want each and every one of you to know that you are loved, because love conquers all.”

Johnson noted that while these students are being trained in medicine, they will also actively help others locally and around the world. In this past spring alone, students have taken medical missions trips to Eswatini, Kenya, and El Salvador to provide health screenings and treatments (under professor direction) and demonstrate God’s love to underserved people groups.

The ultimate physician, Jesus Christ, is the model by which LUCOM trains its student-doctors, and Johnson explained that the school’s philosophy of medicine focuses on patients’ spiritual and mental care along with physical health.

“We believe that the body is designed by God to be healed and seek health,” he said. “We realize as osteopathic physicians that it is more than just the body (that needs care), but also the mind and the spirit. Those healing efforts are designed by God in an effort of restoring the physical body to full function of health.”

“You will understand the design of the human body from a Creation standpoint,” Johnson added. “You will learn to lean on the perfection of the Finisher of our faith. The motto of Liberty University is ‘Training Champions for Christ,’ in all endeavors. You hold the highest endeavor of being a healer, carer, and mentor to your patients. We seek to train up physicians for Christ. We follow Jesus Christ as our Great Physician who is the Healer of people physically, mentally, and, most importantly, spiritually.”

The Class of 2029 consists of over 162 students representing 31 states as well as 13 international students. The top five states represented are Virginia (39), Pennsylvania (17), New York (10), Florida (9), and New Jersey (9). The incoming class has 28 students entering from Liberty University, including 10 – the most ever – from within the LU MED 3+1 Accelerated Biomedical Sciences BS/DO program.

As is tradition at LUCOM’s White Coat Ceremony, 32 students were separately coated by family members who are either practicing or retired medical professionals carrying a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or Doctor of Medicine (MD). The symbolic gesture acknowledges their families’ histories in the medical field and the legacy they are continuing.

The ceremony concluded with all coated student-doctors reciting the Osteopathic Oath, a pledge of loyalty and responsibility to the osteopathic profession and its principles.

Instituted by The Arnold P. Gold Foundation in 1993, a White Coat Ceremony is celebrated at almost all medical schools in the United States, as well as in 19 other countries. As an international nonprofit organization, the foundation works with physicians in training and in practice, as well as other members of the healthcare community, to instill a culture of respect, dignity, and compassion for patients and practitioners.

Watch LUCOM’s White Coat Ceremony and view other photos on LUCOM’s Facebook page.