Capturing a moment at a past UVM Larner College of Medicine White Coat ceremony. Courtesy photo.
Vermont Business Magazine Larner College of Medicine Class of 2029 White Coat Ceremony, first-year medical students will receive their first white coats. At the end of the ceremony, Larner Dean Richard Page, M.D., will lead the students in reciting “The Oath,” which reads in part, "I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or chemist's drug."
WHEN: Friday, October 10, 2025, 1:00 p.m.
WHERE: Ira Allen Chapel, University of Vermont. The event will be livestreamed so that those not in attendances can enjoy the ceremony.
WHY: For the past quarter-century, the White Coat Ceremony has been a ritual at U.S. medical schools, one that officially welcomes students into the medical profession and emphasizes the responsibility they carry as they don the traditional physician’s white coat.
WHO: The Class of 2029 is comprised of 122 first-year medical students representing 22 states, fluent in 16 languages beyond English, and arriving from 72 universities and 42 different majors. The following first-year medical students will be available for interviews:
Meelad Karami - grew up in Seattle, born to Iranian immigrants. His mother was a nurse, and he often spent his time after elementary school at her workplace. Seeing the dedication with which she served her patients was Maleed’s initial catalyst to pursue a career in health care. After college, he worked as a nursing assistant at the very nursing facility where his mother had worked. Helping out his local community during the COVID pandemic was a full circle moment for him and he knew from then on, he wanted to become a physician.
Anna Paritsky - a first-generation college student studied neuroscience at Middlebury College. After college graduation she traveled the world working as an environmental educator. While raising sails and teaching kids about watershed science, she realized that home, and her heart, were back in Vermont, so she returned to work in the field of poverty relief and food insecurity. During the early COVID-19 pandemic she trained to become an Emergency Medical Technician and discovered a passion for medicine.
William Ung – a first-generation college student and Cambodian American who grew up in Long Beach, California, after his family had narrowly escaped the Khmer Rouge. Raised by his mother and grandmother, he witnessed firsthand how cultural and financial barriers create obstacles to care. These experiences shaped Ung’s commitment to pursue medicine and bridge the gaps that often prevent people from receiving the treatment they need.
About the White Coat Ceremony:
Initiated on August 20, 1993, at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, this annual ceremony or a similar rite now takes place for first-year medical students at about 90 percent of schools of medicine and osteopathy in the United States and is supported by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. According to the Gold Foundation, the White Coat Ceremony helps establish a psychological contract for the practice of medicine. Physicians dressed in black until the late 19th century, due to the association of black attire as formal. Physicians adopted the white coat as a symbol of purity at the beginning of the 20th century. *
*Source: Mark Hochberg, M.D., “The Doctor's White Coat—an Historical Perspective,” American Medical Association Journal of Ethic’s Virtual Mentor website, April 2007
About the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont
Founded in 1822, the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont is the seventh oldest medical school in the nation. The college is dedicated to developing exceptional physicians and scientists by offering innovative curriculum design, state-of-the-art research facilities, and clinical partnerships with leading health care institutions. The college’s commitment to excellence has earned national recognition, attracting talented students, trainees, physicians, and researchers from across the country and around the world. With a focus on inclusive excellence, the Larner College of Medicine prides itself on cultivating an environment that uplifts and supports its faculty and student populations while advancing medical education, research, and patient care in Vermont and beyond. uvm.edu/larnermed
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