White Coat Ceremony, Class of 2013
Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine welcomed the
Class of 2013 to the Veterinary Medical Profession at the 11th Annual
Convocation, also known as the White Coat Ceremony on Friday, August 21,
2009.
History of the White Coat Ceremony
The White Coat Ceremony, established by Dr. Arnold Gold at Columbia
University Medical School in 1993, was designed to impress upon students,
physicians and the public the important symbolic role of the white coat in
patient-doctor interactions. Gold argued that students were reciting the
Hippocratic Oath four years too late-upon their graduation from medical school.
He felt the oath and the conferring of white coats would be better done at the
start of medical school, when students receive their first exposure to clinical
medicine. The White Coat Ceremony provides a mechanism by which values that are
key to our profession can be openly articulated and carefully considered in the
company of peers, parents, partners and faculty.
The College of Veterinary Medicine has embraced the spirit of this exercise.
You will find that our ceremony has been appropriately modified for
veterinary medical students. It includes an induction into the Veterinary
Medical College, whereupon each student will receive a coat, generously
donated by the Idaho and Washington State Veterinary Medical Associations.
As a group, the students recite a "Veterinary Student Oath".
Program Dignitaries
Dr. Bryan Slinker, Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Dave Rustebakke, Representative for Idaho Veterinary Medical
Association
Dr. Barry Watson, Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Dr. Peter Anderson, Keynote Speaker
Dr. Patricia Talcott, Director of Admissions
Dr. Doug Jasmer, Associate Dean
Dr. Steve Simasko, Chair, IPN
Dr. David Prieur, Chair, VMP
Dr. William Dernell, Chair, VCS
Dr. Rick DeBowes, Associate Dean, Development and External Relations
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Peter Anderson
Presentation of the DVM Class: Dr. Patricia
Talcott: Director of Admissions
Presentation of White Coats: Dr. Doug Jasmer:
Associate Dean & Dr. William Dernell: Chair, Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Veterinary Student Oath: Dr. William Dernell:
Chair, Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Keynote Address by Dr. Peter G. Anderson
Dr.
Peter Anderson is a Professor of Pathology, Director of Pathology Undergraduate
Education, and Pre-Clerkship Curriculum Coordinator of the medical curriculum at
the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in Birmingham,
Alabama. Dr. Anderson and his three older brothers grew up about 120 miles south
of Pullman in Wallowa, Oregon where his father served as the Episcopal minister
for the county. He received his Bachelors degree from University of Washington
and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University
College of Veterinary Medicine. After veterinary school Peter was selected to
participate in a Human and Comparative Pathology Residency Training Program at
the University Of Alabama School Of Medicine, where he studied human pathology
and learned about using animal models to study human diseases. He went on to
obtain his PhD in Experimental Cardiovascular Pathology at the UAB. Dr. Anderson
has been on the faculty at UAB since 1986 and has been actively involved in
research related to cardiac hypertrophy, atherosclerosis and intravascular
stents.
Dr. Anderson has been actively involved in teaching medical, dental, optometry
and graduate students. He has received numerous teaching awards from these
various student groups throughout his career. He also holds leadership positions
with the National Board of Medical Examiners, the International Association of
Medical Science Educators, the Undergraduate Medical Educators, and the Group
for Research in Pathology Education. Dr. Anderson and his colleagues developed
the Pathology Education Instructional Resource Website that has over 40,000
digital pathology, histology and radiology images, as well as other medical
education digital resources. He was recently selected as the best basic science
educator out of all the medical schools in the US and Canada. He received the
2008 Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award which honors
faculty members who have distinguished themselves in medical student education.
He was also selected as the 2009 recipient of the Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB
National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching.
Dr. Anderson, his wife and two teen aged sons live in Birmingham where his sons
play football and lacrosse. They relax during visits to the white sands and
emerald waters of the Gulf Coast and occasional trips back out West for snow
skiing and visiting relatives.
Sponsored by
Hills Pet Nutrition Inc.
Washington State Veterinary Medical Association
Idaho
Veterinary Medical Association
Veterinary Student Oath (adapted from the
AVMA
Veterinarian's Oath)
As a veterinary student in the Washington State University College of
Veterinary Medicine, I promise to work conscientiously to develop my scientific
and medical knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the
protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of
animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical
knowledge.
Throughout my time here as a student, I will conduct myself with dignity and
professionalism, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical
ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my
professional knowledge and competence.
