BIDDEFORD — Robin Kimberly Caron, daughter of Roland and Linda Caron of Portage Lake, a first-year student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM), participated recently in the College’s annual White Coat Ceremony to formally recognize the transition students make from lay persons to those assuming the responsibility of physicians.
The evening ceremony was held at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland on Thursday, Oct. 4. Event highlights included presentation of the white coats by members of the second-year class; remarks by John Peterson, D.O., UNECOM ‘82; brief remarks by second-year medical student Michael Dominello, president of the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA); and the reading of the Osteopathic Oath by Charlotte Paolini, D.O., UNECOM ‘89, president of the UNECOM Alumni Board. A reception to honor the Class of 2011 followed.
The White Coat Ceremony was an idea conceived by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to create a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in medicine. The first White Coat Ceremony took place in 1993 in Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Since then, more than 100 other medical schools in the U.S. and abroad have initiated a similar ceremony.
The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine is Maine’s only medical school and the only osteopathic medical school in New England. The College is dedicated to the education of primary care physicians and is a leader in biomedical research. The College has several times been ranked among the top 50 medical schools in the nation for primary care education by U.S. News and World Reports, and has been further recognized by that publication for educational excellence in geriatric and rural medicine.
Robin Caron
