The journey through medical school starts with the proper attire

On Friday, August 14, medical students in the Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan University were honored with a traditional White Coat Ceremony.  The Class of 2030 consists of just over 100 students, selected from more than 8,200 applicants, and includes 87 Michigan residents, six of whom received their undergraduate degrees from CMU.  The ceremony marked the conclusion of orientation week for these future physicians, during which they accepted their white coats and recited the Declaration of Geneva, making a commitment to providing compassionate care throughout their careers.

Welcoming this incoming class was the college’s new dean, Joshua Nosanchuk, M.D., who began his role with CMU in July of this year. In his remarks, he highlighted four aspects of being a physician that he hoped the students would regularly reflect upon during their journey through medical school. As clinicians, they will learn to be astute observers and diagnosticians with the skills to determine whether a person is well or ill. As investigators, they will link patient care to scientific inquiry, and they will have opportunities to develop innovations that improve the human condition. As educators, they will continually educate patients, but they will also teach their peers, medical students, residents, physician assistants, and they must never stop learning themselves. Finally, as humans, he shared the words of Mahatma Gandhi, who said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” and reminded them that medicine, at its heart, is a profession of service.

“Ultimately, medicine is not about earning degrees, passing examinations, or achieving professional recognition,” Nosanchuk said.  “It is about serving others with competence, integrity and compassion. That responsibility is why your education never truly ends”

The ceremony also featured guest speaker Kristen Carillo-Kappus, M.D., an alum from the college’s Class of 2020.  Carillo-Kappus attended medical school as a National Health Service Corps Scholar. She then completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University and served as North Carolina’s Junior Fellow Chair for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where her research on the impact of Medicaid expansion on emergency gynecologic care earned her the North Carolina Obstetrical and Gynecological Society Resident Research Award. Currently, Carrillo-Kappus practices at Isabella Citizens for Health, where she provides comprehensive women’s health care and is expanding access to advanced gynecologic surgery through robotics.

As she addressed the students, Carillo-Kappus said, “Medicine will rarely unfold exactly as you planned. Your patients don't read the textbook, and emergencies won't happen at convenient times. Technology and health care will continue changing; your careers will almost certainly include challenges none of us can predict today. The physicians who thrive won't necessarily be those who always know the answer. They'll be the ones who continue learning.”

She ended with a few words about what the white coat represents, “It is not a symbol of status, or a symbol of superiority. It is not permission to believe you're more important than anyone else. It is a reminder that you have been entrusted with something extraordinary: the opportunity to serve. Wear this white coat with gratitude. Wear it with humility and always wear it proudly.’

The tradition of the White Coat Ceremony was started by Dr. Arnold P. Gold at Columbia University in 1993. Gold was a professor, pediatric neurologist, and passionate advocate for humanistic health care. He believed the oath taken by new physicians at the end of medical school came too late and envisioned the White Coat Ceremony as a ritual to emphasize the importance of compassion in patient care at the start of medical training. Through the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the White Coat Ceremony has expanded worldwide.  Now, nearly every medical school in the United States hosts a similar event for incoming students.

The Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan University was founded in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, in 2010 and was named by Covenant HealthCare in 2025.  The college will soon be moving to its new home in the MyMichigan Health CMU Medical Education building on the MyMichigan Health campus in Saginaw.