Cameron Keomanivong "cloaked" at annual white coat celebration

2022 Aug 23

Cameron Keomanivong of Mount Pleasant, IA was one of more than 150 students new to the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine who was ceremonially "cloaked" at the College's annual Arnold P. Gold Foundation White Coat Ceremony staged earlier this month in Iowa's Hancher Auditorium. The 2022 event was the 28^th in the history of College.

The White Coat Ceremony is a celebrated experience as students enter medical school. In the presence of family, guests, and faculty members, students are welcomed into the medical community by leaders of the medical center and ceremonially "cloaked" with their white coat. Then, dressed in white, they stand to take the ancient Oath of Hippocrates, traditionally sworn at graduation.

By establishing this meaningful ritual at the beginning of medical school, we hope students will become aware of their responsibilities from the first day of training. The ceremony is intended to impress upon them the primacy of the doctor-patient relationship. It encourages them to enter into a psychological contract in which they accept the obligations inherent in the practice of medicine: to be excellent in science, to be compassionate, and to lead lives of "uprightness and honor." It is designed to clarify for students that a physician's responsibility is to take care of patients and also to care for patients. The message transmitted is that doctors should "care" as well as "cure."

Enthusiasm for the White Coat Ceremony continues to grow. In 1994, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation sponsored three ceremonies. In 1995, entering students at four additional medical schools including the University of Iowa participated in White Coat Ceremonies sponsored by The Gold Foundation. Currently, a White Coat Ceremony or similar rite of passage takes place at 97% of AAMC-accredited schools of medicine in the United States and Canada. The Foundation's goal is that medical schools will make the White Coat Ceremony the highlight of their student orientation programs.

The Class of 2026 By the Numbers

152 students

• 84 women
• 68 men
• 16 first-generation college students
• 101 from Iowa
• 51 from out-of-state

Undergraduate Colleges

• University of Iowa - 39 (25.7%)
• Iowa State University - 9 (5.9%)
• University of Northern Iowa - 2 (1.3%)
• Other Iowa Colleges - 24 (15.8%)

• Colleges Outside of Iowa - 78 (51.3%)

Academics

• Undergraduate GPA Mean: 3.79
• Undergraduate GPA Median: 3.825
• MCAT Mean: 513
• MCAT Median: 513.5