As she sought to impart a bit of wisdom to the medical school’s newest students at the MD Class of 2028 White Coat Ceremony, Priscilla Woodhams, MD, listed off five tips and spoke of the important willingness to “bend the arc.”
“The first line about an arc came from a speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Dr. Woodhams said. “‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.’ Dr. King, no doubt, knew likely more than any of us the challenges that come from working to help people have the opportunity to live their life to its fullest. Challenges, be they at the massive level that Dr. King was facing or at the smaller level of each of you becoming physicians is facing, often appear as arcs."
MORE: Photos from the White Coat Ceremony
“Sometimes when you are at one side of the arc, all you can see is uphill, and sometimes that hill can look huge and daunting. But remember challenges are often arcs rather than insurmountable,” added Dr. Woodhams, who serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at WMed. “Hang in there … keep going when it is tough. The incredible amount of work you will do in medical school and residency is worth it.”
Dr. Woodhams served as the keynote speaker for the Class of 2028 White Coat Ceremony, which was held on Friday, September 6, 2024, at Chenery Auditorium in downtown Kalamazoo. The event was also livestreamed, allowing family members and friends who could not attend in-person to tune in to the festivities.
MORE: Watch the White Coat Ceremony
In addition to Dr. Woodhams, students and their families heard remarks from WMed Dean Robert G. Sawyer, MD, and M2 Skylar Ketteler, among others, during the ceremony.
Ketteler told the students that while the rigors of medical school can be tough at times, it is important to lean on one another and seek out “the good stuff you might not be paying attention to.”
“Congratulations and welcome to the WMed family,” Ketteler said. “One year ago, I was sitting where you are now, trying desperately not to let tears fall. It had hit me right about now that I had accomplished something monumental in my life that I had been working towards for so long, through four years of college and two years in graduate school.
“You are all one step closer to achieving your dream,” she added. “In four years, you will be back … celebrating your medical school graduation.”
The white coat for each student at the White Coat Ceremony was made possible by contributions from white coat sponsors. Each student received a handwritten note from their sponsor that was placed in the pocket of their white coat for them to read.
“Serving as a white coat sponsor is an exciting and rewarding way to support a medical student as they begin their journey to become a physician,” said Steve McKiddy, CFO of Greenleaf Trust, who serves as co-chair of the 2024 White Coat Sponsorship Campaign along with his wife Amy McKiddy.
MORE: Class of 2028 White Coat Sponsors
Before they were cloaked with their first white coats, students from the Class of 2028 heard from McKiddy, as well as M4 Tierra Jolly. The McKiddys were Jolly’s white coat sponsors at the White Coat Ceremony for the MD Class of 2025.
Jolly encouraged the medical school’s newest students to get to know their sponsors and she told the story of how her relationship with the McKiddys helped ease her transition to medical school and the move she made to Kalamazoo from Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children.
“The McKiddys were the first people in the whole state of Michigan to invite my whole family to dinner at their home,” she said. “Since then, they’ve become the people who pray for me before huge exams, who invite me and their other student sponsors to the pool, who send my kids home with books. My white coat sponsors gave me more than a very sweaty jacket that is hard to keep clean. They were my first connection to the Kalamazoo community that now I call home.”
Dr. Sawyer said the privilege of wearing the white coat is steeped in tradition and symbolism.
“Wearing a white coat is not only an expectation, but a privilege,” Dr. Sawyer said. “As you recite the Class of 2028 medical student oath, which you as a class have composed, remember the words that you pledge today before each other, the faculty, your family, and friends.”
Dr. Sawyer also told the students that he believes they – much like he has during his career as a physician – will get the chance to “see the impossible” happen.
“When I was where you are now in my time, if you were infected with a virus called HIV, you had 100 percent mortality, you were going to die,” he said. “Today, your lifespan, if you stay on appropriate therapy, should be very close to the general population … So, I have to finish by saying there is one impossible that I hope you see in your careers that I may or may not see by the time I’m done and that is for you to make disappear the inequities we see in outcomes in health for citizens of our population.
“You can do it, you all can figure it out,” Dr. Sawyer added. “It’s going to be hard but it is what we are dedicated to at this school and I challenge you to do it, but I think you’re going to see that impossible happen.”
As the White Coat Ceremony concluded, the students recited their class oath, which they wrote collectively. The oath serves as a code of conduct throughout their time at WMed and as physicians after graduation.
In her remarks to the Class of 2028, Dr. Woodhams told the students of the importance of self-care during their time in medical school and later as practicing physicians. She also – passing along a tip from her father, Dr. William H. Woodhams – reminded them they will always have the opportunity to “learn from every patient.”
In closing, Dr. Woodhams reminded the future physicians of the importance of “bending the arc.”
“What this phrase means is to bend the arc for your patients and make justice happen in healthcare,” she said. “Know you all matter with your fresh perspectives and fantastic imaginations. I cannot tell you the number of times medical students have made the world a better place. Students are amazing.”