Third Class of Physician Assistant Students Receive White Coats
![Edward Williams, assistant professor in the physician assistant program, helps a student into her white coat while program director Patricia Kelly looks on.](https://news.uams.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CHP-PA-whitecoat2015-1_300px-300x244.jpg)
Edward Williams, assistant professor in the physician assistant program, helps a student into her white coat while program director Patricia Kelly looks on.
| June 11, 2015 | Thirty-four students in the third class of the physician assistant program in the UAMS College of Health Professions received their white coats in a May 22 ceremony with guidance to see it as a symbol of joining the profession, becoming a servant of the sick and the need to find a good dry cleaner.
Two weeks into the 28-month master’s degree program, the students donned their white coats for the first time then recited the Physician Assistant Professional Oath. The students pledged to be ethical, responsible, compassionate and helpful to patients and their families. Then one by one they were coated by Patricia Kelly, Ph.D., PA-C, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies and program director, and Edward Williams, M.P.A.S., M.Ed., PA-C, assistant professor.
“The path to serving others in health care is a journey, not a destination,” said keynote speaker Lee Wilbur, M.D., director of the UAMS Office of Interprofessional Education. “This is a lifelong journey that you are embarking on with this white coat and this oath.”
“This white coat is not a cloak of authority,” Murphy said. “Regard it as a sign of your role as an educated, compassionate servant and a pledge to the patients you treat that you will diagnose them responsibly and treat them as partners in care.”
Courtney Mosely, president of the Class of 2015 that will graduate in August, told the new students that the minute they put on the coat their role would change because they would be looked to for care, to listen to and keep in confidence patient information and become a representative of a profession that is still not well known in Arkansas. “Be a sponge” for the knowledge and skills taught in the program.
![The physician assistant students recite the Physician Assistant Oath.](https://news.uams.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CHP-PA-whitecoat2015-3_300px-300x196.jpg)
The physician assistant students recite the Physician Assistant Oath.
“And know that these coats are also sponges for dirt and grime, so get a good dry cleaner,” she said.
The students in the physician assistant Class of 2017:
Ashley Barksdale North Little Rock |
Jennifer Goodwin Rogers |
Rachel Neal The Woodlands, Texas |
Amy Borota Greenwood |
Samantha Gray North Little Rock |
Aaron Parsley Rector |
Alli Brooks Bentonville |
Brittany Healey Lindale, Texas |
Mira Patel Amory, Miss. |
Anne Brown Havertown, Pa. |
Haley Hobson Peaster, Texas |
Emily Rideout Fort Smith |
Mallory Burroughs Hot Springs |
Cassidy Jacobs Fort Smith |
Daniel Ring Cabot |
Kyla Byers Springfield, Mo. |
Tabitha Jaggers Sheridan |
Christina Short Little Elm, Texas |
Allen Childers Smackover |
Jesse Klein Kirby |
Kenneth Spencer Texarkana |
Catherine Chumbley Athens, Ala. |
Ashley Lunsford Dennison, Texas |
Rachele Struthers Magnolia, Texas |
Nirja Desai Clarksville |
Tyler McAnally Melbourne |
Sommer Walker Hope |
Courteney Evans Ridgeland, Miss. |
John McCormick Fayetteville |
Ryland Walt Altheimer |
Raven Falls Texarkana |
Layne Miller Tulsa, Okla. |
Wesley Wenzel Portland, Ore. |
Byrun Fulk Bridgewater, Va. |
The UAMS physician assistant program was established in 2011. Physician assistants are licensed medical providers who work with the supervision of a physician.