With White Coat Ceremony, a new class joins the profession
Gathering backstage for their official white-coat portrait, members of the Pharm.D. Class off 2022 joke and laugh. Photo: Dan Buth
WATCH: Pharm.D. students try on their white coats for the first time
By Greg Weatherford | VCU School of Pharmacy
The Pharm.D. Class of 2022 received their white coats and took the Oath of a Pharmacist for the first time Saturday in an annual ceremony that underscored the excitement and responsibility of the profession.
“The white coat … is a time-honored symbol,” Dean Joseph T. DiPiro told the new pharmacy students, joined by family and faculty in the packed auditorium of St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Henrico County. “It symbolizes trust, compassion, empathy, altruism, integrity and respect. It recognizes that pharmacists are entering our profession as a vocation and as a commitment to service to society.”
One by one, K.C. Ogbonna, Pharm.D., associate dean of admissions and student services, read out the names of the students. One by one they walked onstage to receive their coats.
The incoming students took different paths to the White Coat Ceremony.
Natasha Boyette came to the VCU School of Pharmacy from Virginia Beach, where she worked in a nonprofit resource center for the LGBTQ community and saw firsthand the importance of medicine and compassion.
“VCU’s pharmacy school really cares about their students,” added Boyette, who was pre-med at University of Virginia. “And it’s in the forefront of the pharmacy revolution. Having such an impact within the field is very important to me.”
Joel Wagner had been working in Richmond as an organic chemist after receiving his chemistry degree from William & Mary. He was drawn to health care and pharmacy in part because as a child he had been treated successfully for leukemia. VCU appealed to him, he said, because of its compounding center and strong reputation among physicians and technicians he knew.
Faatihah Meunier came to VCU from Georgia as the daughter of Haitian immigrants who taught her early to value both traditional remedies and medical care. After earning an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Valdosta State, she set her eyes on VCU for pharmacy school.
“I love that the faculty here are really focused on community service,” Meunier said to explain her choice.
Patrick Kiley came from Virginia Beach, pursuing a career in health care after years as a beach lifeguard and in emergency medical services. Inspired by his uncle, a pharmacist, he hopes to pursue clinical pharmacy.
Despite their differing backgrounds, all confessed to some anxiety about starting pharmacy school.
“We already feel behind,” Kiley said.
Judging from their track records, they are up to the challenge. The average undergraduate GPA for the Class of 2022 is 3.43. Also notable: Of the 139 accepted students in the latest Pharm.D. class, 19 percent identify as traditionally underrepresented minorities. Three-quarters of the class members are from Virginia; two-thirds are female; their average age is 23, though ages range from 19 to 35.
In her keynote, longtime faculty member Patricia Slattum, Pharm.D, offered 10 lessons from her 35-year career in pharmacy (see the list of lessons here).
“We need pharmacists more than we ever have,” Slattum said. “We need your passion, your creativity, your caring … and your intellectual strengths.”
Slattum, who this year added Preceptor of the Year to her long list of accolades, is retiring from VCU after this semester.
“Pharmacy has been an absolutely wonderful career for me,” Slattum said. “I’m excited to see what it can do for you.”
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