Tuesday, July 23, 2019
  Media Advisory

By Marci Caltabiano-Ponce

  • WHAT: School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony
  • WHEN: 10 a.m., Saturday, July 27, 2019
  • WHERE: The UTRGV Performing Arts Complex Auditorium, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg 78539

EDINBURG, TEXAS – JULY 23 2019 – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine will welcome its fourth class of medical students into the medical profession with a White Coat Ceremony, 10 a.m. Saturday, July 27, at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex Auditorium, 1201 W. University Drive in Edinburg.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. David L. Lakey, vice chancellor for Health Affairs and chief medical officer for The University of Texas System.

This class has the largest number of students to date from the Rio Grande Valley, with 24. Of those, 15 are graduates of UTRGV.

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation started the White Coat Ceremony in 1993 to welcome new medical students to the healthcare profession. Almost all medical schools in the United States today, as well as schools for other healthcare professions, perform such ceremonies.

Students, each carrying a white coat, walk across the stage and the school leadership helps them don the white coat for the first time.

White Coat ceremonies serve as a rite of passage for medical school students. In addition to having medical school officials help with the robing process, students also take the Hippocratic Oath, which acknowledges their primary role as caregivers.

The ceremony will be available via live stream at www.utrgv.edu/live.

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CONTACT

Sofia.Hernandez@UTRGV.edu

UTRGV School of Medicine Chief of Staff / 956-296-1995



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.