Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine’s will move its annual White Coat Ceremony to a virtual platform for the first time in its history. The event is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 20.
WSU’s first-year veterinary students have received their clinical white coat at the ceremony for 20 years. This year, to protect faculty, staff and students, the coats were mailed to students and the ceremony will be streamed live on the college’s YouTube channel.
The White Coat Ceremony was established by Dr. Arnold Gold at Columbia University Medical School in 1993. The event was later adopted by WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999, the first in the nation to do so, under the guidance of Dr. Gil Burns, the WSU CVM associate dean of students at the time.
The ceremony highlights the veterinarian-patient-client relationship. The event also acknowledges among graduate veterinarians, these students are now becoming peers in the profession. Upon taking the Veterinarians Oath, the ceremony encourages veterinary students to accept the obligations inherent in the practice of veterinary medicine; to be excellent in science, compassionate, and lead lives of uprightness and honor.
