Class of 2020 begins medical school with White Coat Ceremony

They’ve come to Buffalo from across the country, the vast majority from within New York State. Most were science majors as undergraduates, and many have conducted research in a variety of disciplines.

Fourteen already have earned graduate degrees. One was named an NIH Scholar; another was a U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and received a Good Conduct Medal.

They’ve performed hundreds of hours of community service at home and around the globe.

And, of course, they all have received numerous accolades for their academic excellence, service and other accomplishments.

The 149 members of UB’s newest class of aspiring physicians recently marked their entry into the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences with the traditional White Coat Ceremony, held in the Center for the Arts.Share This

Students were individually called to the stage during the ceremony’s “Calling of the Class,” as school officials announced their hometowns and undergraduate institutions, and presented them with white coats — a symbol of their future profession.

Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school, noted that “the white coat is a symbol for our noble profession, a symbol for excellence and professionalism in absolutely everything we do and a symbol for the trust one human being places in another.”

In welcoming remarks, he offered advice to members of the Class of 2020: “You have worked hard and have earned the right to wear it today. The good news is you must now work harder to earn the right to keep it — never forget what it symbolizes; always wear it well.”

The class was selected from a pool of 4,490 applicants, according to Charles M. Severin, associate dean for medical education and admissions.

The number of applicants is 2.9 percent higher than last year’s total of 4,362 and higher still than the 4,201 who applied in 2014.

Eighty-eight percent of the class of 2020 — 131 students — is from New York State, with 65 students from Western New York. Forty-two students earned their undergraduate degrees from UB.

Many of the students have conducted research in various disciplines, among them astrophysics, medical ethics, spinal cord injury, aphasia and stroke, eating disorders in children, organometallics and trauma triage.

One member was named a National Institute on Drug Abuse Scholar.

The vast majority — 120 or 81 percent — were science majors. Among the non-science majors were theater, business, history and economics. Double majors included community health and Spanish, broadcast communications and biological sciences, nuclear medical technology and psychology, and biology and Latin American studies.

Two members of the class have doctoral degrees — in anthropology and physics — and 12 have master’s degrees — in biomedical sciences, epidemiology, natural and biomedical sciences, nursing, nutrition science, physics, physiology and public health.

Incoming medical students received numerous accolades for academic excellence, service and other accomplishments. Students were honored with memberships in Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi (National Engineering Honor Society) and Mortar Board (National College Senior Honor Society). The class also include members who have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest ranks in scouting.

Their community service includes working as a World Health Organization intern in Geneva, Switzerland; working as an adaptive ski instructor for people with cognitive disabilities and injured military personnel; serving as a cerebral palsy equine therapy volunteer; and co-founding a group whose focus was to secure food and supplies for widowed women and children in the slums of Afghanistan.

Members of the Class of 2020 have traveled to Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Africa, Haiti and El Salvador to assist physicians caring for underserved patients. One member worked in a leprosy camp in Ghana.

They have held positions related to medicine, including EMR consultant, scribe, dietitian, eye bank technician and birthing assistant at a birthing center. Several have volunteered at free clinics, soup kitchens and a camp for children with muscular dystrophy.

One student was a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and 2008 and received a Good Conduct Medal; another is a classical violinist who was a member of the New York State All-State Orchestra and Erie County All-County Orchestra.

The guest speaker at the White Coat Ceremony, New York State Health Commissioner Howard A. Zucker, told the class it was about to embark on a journey that is like none other and noted medical school “will be both the hardest and most excruciating and the most exciting, enthralling and wonderful years of your life.”

“This is truly the most wonderful profession of all, and I have to tell you I have been a lot of places — I have been around the world and worked with heads of state — but there is nothing that can compare to knowing that deep inside you saved someone’s life,” he said.

Keynote speaker James W. Lohr, UB professor of medicine, program director of the nephrology fellowship and chief of nephrology at the Buffalo VA Medical Center, told class members it had been 40 years since he was in medical school, and thanks to major advances in technology, they will have to assimilate much more information than he did in medical school.

“Things such as CT scans, MRIs, robotic devices to assist in surgery, bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapies — none of these existed when I was going to medical school,” he said.

Lohr also noted the many resources the medical school offers, but added that much rests with the students themselves.

“All of you will graduate from medical school if you apply yourself, study hard and work hard,” he said. “Our job is to educate you in the best way we can, but ultimately your success is up to you.”

During the ceremony, Naz J. Zulqarni, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, was presented with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.

Medical students nominate outstanding role models for the award, which is sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates outstanding compassion in the delivery of care; respect for patients, their families and health care colleagues; and clinical excellence. 

Known affectionately by her students as “Dr. Naz,” Zulqarni was described by one nominator as “the most compassionate, caring, loving physician and person I have ever come across in my life.”

Zulqarni was honored with the 2016 Louis A. and Ruth Siegel Award for teaching in the clinical program and also received an honorable mention in the volunteer teaching category of the same award in 2015.