Derek Landon Ramsey of Lewisburg received a white coat at the Physician Assistant Program Class of 2017 White Coat Ceremony at Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) in Harrogate, Tennessee, on June 25. Ramsey is a second-year physician assistant student at LMU-DCOM. Prior to enrolling in the Physician Assistant Program at LMU-DCOM, Ramsey attended Marshall University. The first White Coat Ceremony was held in 1993 at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and is now a standard ritual in physician assistant programs as well as allopathic and osteopathic medical schools across the country. The White Coat Ceremony is an important, public demonstration of a student’s commitment to patient care and professionalism. During the ceremony, each physician assistant student is presented and “robed” with his or her short white laboratory coat. The ceremony is considered to be a rite of passage, in that an individual has demonstrated the qualities and abilities to provide competent care and can move on to the next phase of his or her training.
