Vanderbilt University School of Medicine welcomed 96 first-year students Friday, July 25, during its annual White Coat Ceremony, which marks the beginning of the students’ journeys to become physicians and physician-scientists.
“Welcome to the 2025 rendition of the White Coat Ceremony,” said Donald Brady, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Health Science Education and Executive Vice President for Educational Affairs. “This is the 100th anniversary of this medical school being on this campus … I’m glad you can all be a part of it, and I’m glad everyone is here.”
The members of the VUSM Class of 2029 are 83 MD students, 12 Medical Scientist Training Program students and one oral and maxillofacial surgery student. Forty-nine colleges and universities are represented by the class, and the students’ undergraduate degrees were earned in 25 majors. The first-year medical students hail from 24 states and five countries.
Brady likened the medical students’ entry into medical school to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, known as March Madness. Large or small, public or private — the teams all enter the tournament as equals and their past accolades are immaterial. Unlike March Madness, Brady told the students he looked forward to celebrating 96 winners at VUSM.
“I care about two things: your head and your heart,” he said.” Medical school is not easy; there’s a lot of knowledge to gain, so you’re going to work hard. So, you need to use your head to learn. Then, interestingly, the other thing I need you to do with your head is to learn to say, ‘I don’t know.’ … Don’t stop there. You’ve got to say, ‘I don’t know, but I’m going to find out … You’re going to follow through.”
But using your head as a physician is not enough, Brady told the audience. He read a passage written by John Willis Hurst, MD, one of his former mentors and a physician to former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Hurst opined that patients don’t judge a doctor by their academic standing in medical school or by what honors hang on their wall.
“Patients don’t seem to worry about those things,” Hurst wrote. “They judge you in quite another way. They understand if you are kind and thoughtful to them and their families. They can sense if you care about them, and that is how they judge you. They assume you know what you’re doing … Physicians must care about their patients, and they must constantly improve their scientific knowledge about disease. To care and not know is dangerous. To know and not care is even worse. Caring and knowing must be combined to succeed in doctoring.”
Having witnessed the group’s compassion already in their first week of class, Brady told the medical students they were on the right path.
“When you wear these white coats, let them be a reminder that it’s both your head and your heart that your patients want out of you, that we expect out of you, and that I know will be what makes you great doctors moving forward.”
Brady thanked all the VUSM alumni, family and friends for their unfailing support of the medical students. He also expressed gratitude to the more than 330 white coat donors whose contributions provided the coats, as well as support for programming for student well-being throughout their medical school experience.
Faculty members also participating in the white coat presentation were Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of VUSM; William Cutrer, MD, MEd, senior associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education; Amy Fleming, MD, MHPE, senior associate dean for Medical Student and Alumni Affairs; Kim Vinson, MD, associate dean for Medical Student Affairs; and Cathy Pettepher, PhD, assistant dean for Medical Student Assessment.
Ban Allos, MD, and Luke Finck, EdD, MA, co-chairs of the Class of 2029 Admissions Committee, read the names of the white coat recipients. Mentors of the four colleges of VUSM led the faculty and medical students in a recitation of the Oath for Teachers and Learners at the conclusion of the ceremony.
