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► On September 27, medical students in the Class of 2022 attended an informational session for the Surgical Sub-Specialty Shadowing Program spearheaded by Class of 2021’s Katherine Callahan and Jonathan Borden (far right) and their mentor and advisor, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery Ryan Jewell, M.D.’99. They are pictured here with faculty who have volunteered for the program, including, from left to right: Robert Nesbit, M.D.; Susan Durham, M.D.; Dr. Jewell; Tamara Rimash, M.D.; Brian Irwin, M.D.; Mirabelle Sajisevi, M.D. 

Welcome Dean Rick Page, M.D.

The College is excited to have our new dean, Rick Page, M.D., on board as of Monday, October 1. Dean Page was most recently the George R. and Elaine Love Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine and a cardiologist at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. A nationally-recognized cardiac arrhythmia specialist with interest in atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest, Dean Page is a champion of patient-centered care, transformational research, and innovative educational programs. He received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from Duke University, served as a Stanley J. Sarnoff Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed a residency in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, followed by research and clinical fellowships in cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.  Read more about Dean Page here.

► Do you have family and friends who can't attend White Coat Ceremony in person? They can still watch you walk across stage on our livestream at 1:00 PM on Friday, October 5, 2018 here: https://youtu.be/NN-3EeWGV_o!

Palliative Medicine Bridge

Approximately 90 million Americans are living with serious illness, according to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, so ensuring future physicians are well-trained in this area is critically important. This week, Class of 2020 students are participating in a newly-revised Palliative Care Bridge course that blends fun and games with rigorous skill-building and serious reflection. Directed by Stephen Berns, M.D., assistant professor of family medicine and a member of the Division of Palliative Medicine, course activities include a scavenger hunt, “Family Feud” and “Heads Up” games, speed consults, medication reviews, visits to area hospice and respite care facilities, and interactions with Standardized Patients designed to train students for communicating with patients and their families about serious illness in a palliative care setting. In addition, students have daily reading assignments and “RQs” – a readiness quiz to ensure the content is sticking.  

► Be a guest on the Big Sib/Little Sib Podcast. Contact Michelle Bookless for more information.

History of the White Coat Ceremony

Until the turn of the 19th century, physicians dressed exclusively in black formal attire when meeting with patients and performing surgery. Their attire was thought to be appropriately matched to the serious and formal nature of medical encounters at the time.* Their black attire gave way to the traditional white coat we now associate with physicians at the beginning of the 20th century. The white coat was seen then as a symbol of cleanliness and purity in addition to medical authority and that understanding persists widely today. 
In 1993, the White Coat Ceremony was conceived by Arnold P. Gold, M.D., a professor of clinical neurology and clinical pediatrics at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, to reinforce a strong commitment to humanistic practice in medical students."** Now, twenty-five years later, the Ceremony has become an annual tradition for over 90 percent of medical and osteopathy schools in the United States. 
For more than two decades, the UVM Larner College of Medicine has kept this tradition alive and on Friday, October 5, will celebrate this rite of passage again when medical students in the Class of 2022 walk across the stage at Ira Allen Chapel to don their white coats for the first time. 

* Mark Hochberg, M.D. "The Doctors White Coat -- an Historical Perspective"

** Columbia University Irving Medical Center

► Explore Ethical Dilemmas on Global Health Diaries

On the Blog: Plant a Tree, Plant Your Roots

During Global Health rotations in Uganda, students are welcome to reside in the home of Dr. Samuel Luboga, where he and his wife, Christine, provide so much more than just experience in the medical field. Dr. Luboga says, “The global health participants that reside with us partake in home activities to the greatest possible extent. They eat with us, clean, wash, and iron...some have even tried to  peel matoke and pound ground nuts for sauce.”  Read the guest blog post written by him.

Contact us to learn more about writing for the Larner College of Medicine blog.

SIG Highlight: Integrative Medicine Student Interest Group

The Integrative Medicine Student Interest Group aims to expose students to various approaches to healing and holistic care. Last night, the group attended a Community Medical School lecture on “How Cannabis Affects the Body and the Brain,” presented by Karen Lounsbury, Ph.D. Professor of Pharmacology and Foundations course director and Peter Jackson, M.D, UVM Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. SIG leader Shae Rowlandson said that the group was interested in attending the lecture because “…even though cannabis is now used in allopathic medicine, its roots are not allopathic and would identify more with natural medicine. Consequently, we hope to demonstrate to other students (both from our class and from the Class of 2022) the importance natural products can have in health, culture, and pharmacology and medicine (especially with respect to drug design) and underscore how more attention needs to be given to the field of Integrative Medicine.” Contact Shae Rowlandson, Nina Dawson or Sarah French for more information.

View all Student Leadership Opportunities

View last night's Community Medical School presentation