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Tiffany Huitt, Ph.D., left, reads the names of students as each one takes a turn at putting on their white coat.
Image by Evan Lewis
Physician Assistant, Audiology, Speech Pathology Students Don White Coats
| May often brings graduations and happy endings to the studies of many types of students.
But for the first-year students in the UAMS department of Physician Assistant Studies and fourth-year audiology students in Audiology and Speech Pathology, the month and the departments’ white coat ceremonies marked the formal beginning of the next phase of their academic lives.
Gloria Richard-Davis introduces UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson at the Physician Assistant White Coat Ceremony.Image by Evan Lewis
During the virtual white coat ceremonies, live images streamed via Zoom as faculty watched students’ friends and families at different locations help students put on their white coats.
The COVID-19 pandemic has required faculty and students to be adaptable and to continue to use video streaming for classes and virtual gatherings like white coat ceremonies.
“Your student has shown flexibility, resilience and a willingness to just pitch in and help when needed,” said Laura Smith-Olinde, Ph.D., said to the family and friends of students. “That has truly been appreciated by the faculty in the department, and it also speaks well for each of them.”
Smith-Olinde is professor and chair of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology.
Physician Assistant Studies
Edward Williams speaks to the Physician Assistant Class of 2023 before they take their professional oath.Image by Evan Lewis
“It’s sad not to have family and friends here in the auditorium to watch the students come across the stage,” said Edward Williams, MPAS, M.Ed., PA-C, chair of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies. “The flip side of that, what is so gratifying, is seeing the smiles of all of the friends, classmates and family members. It was really heartfelt. We aren’t together in one place, but we are together in the care and compassion we have for you as a class.”
The department’s white coat ceremony was May 28.
Gloria Richard-Davis, M.D., MBA, said the white coat is a symbol of professionalism, caring, honesty and trust. Richard-Davis is program’s medical director.
“Think about this every day when you slip that white coat on, what the coat means and the responsibility that you have assumed. However, the pay offs are very rewarding,” said UAMS College of Health Professions Dean Susan Long, Ed.D.. The Department of Physician Studies is in the College of Health Professions.
Although the Class of 2023 is just the eighth class of students to begin the program, health care has undergone some significant transformations since the first class, said UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA.
“You are entering a field that is much needed in Arkansas,” the chancellor said in a video statement. “We created the program to fill a need for improving access to care in Arkansas by expanding our ability to produce health care professionals to see and treat patients. In this time of dramatic changes in health care, the Physician Assistant Program is critical in achieving our mission of improving health and health care for Arkansas and beyond.”
Audiology and Speech Pathology
Smith-Olinde on May 15 kicked off the Doctor of Audiology program’s white coat ceremony for the Class of 2021.
She introduced College of Health Professions Dean Susan Long, Ed.D.
“The white coat is a symbol of the person you become in the eyes of your patients and clients,” Long said. “Please remember that. You are now dedicating your lives to the art and science of helping others. Being in health care is a privilege. From this day forward, you are going to be held to a higher standard and no one will probably hold you to higher standard than yourselves.”