BIDDEFORD — Nadine Byers, daughter of Dr. Ray Byers of Cary, Maine, and Jill Godlewski of Star Junction, Pa., a first year student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM), recently participated in the College’s annual White Coat Ceremony to formally recognize the transition students make from lay persons to those assuming the responsibility of physicians.
The evening ceremony was held at the University of New England Harold Alfond Forum on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013. In keeping with tradition, the 175 medical students were presented their white coats by members of the physician community. UNE President Danielle N. Ripich, Ph.D., UNE Board of Trustees Chair Mark Doiron, and Maine Osteopathic Association President Leigh “Jack” Forbush, D.O. ‘01, joined UNECOM Dean Doug Wood, D.O., Ph.D., FACOI in welcoming the first-year students into the house of medicine.
Nadine Byers
The White Coat Ceremony was an idea conceived by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to create a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in medicine. The first White Coat Ceremony took place in 1993 at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Since then, more than 100 other medical schools in the U.S. and abroad have initiated a similar ceremony.
