Class of 2028 Welcomed By Way of White Coat Ceremony

By Dirk Hoffman

The new class consists of 184 students — 180 medical students and four students who are starting in the MD-PhD program.

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, welcomed the class in her opening remarks.

Brashear had three quick messages she wanted to share with the students: “we want to welcome you here; you are now part of our UB family. Secondly, all of us here today are here to support you. Third and most importantly, all of us, the faculty, staff, students, residents and our hospital partners, are all here to improve the health of Western New York. That is our goal.”

She noted the white coat is a symbol of compassion — signifying to the world that the person wearing it is a doctor.

“When you wear the white coat, it is a symbol of your profession and all of the privileges that you have by entering the lives of your patients and their families,” Brashear said.

She also reminded the students to take care of themselves.

“Medical school is not a sprint; it is a marathon. It is demanding and requires resilience. I want to remind you to take care of yourself, your health, your sleep and your diet.”

“What I want you to remember is there has never been a more exciting time to be in medicine. You are entering medicine with an unprecedented chance at exponential knowledge,” Brashear said. “As you wear that white coat, I hope that you continue to have that excitement that you have today as you begin your journey.”

This year’s class marks the first under Fred D. Archer III, MD, who was named associate dean for admissions last October.

As each student walked across the stage, Archer read their name, hometown, undergraduate degree institution and the name of their Learning Community neighborhood in the new Well Beyond curriculum.

The class was selected from a pool of 5,828 applicants.

The average GPA is 3.7 and the average MCAT score is 510.

Fifty-one percent of the class are women and 22 percent are first-generation college students.

Eighty-eight percent of the Class of 2028 — 161 students — are from New York State and 78 (29 percent) are from Western New York. Fifty-three students (29 percent) earned their undergraduate degrees from UB.

In all, 12 states are represented.

Thirty students have master’s degrees and three have doctoral degrees.

More than 29 percent of the students identify as bilingual.

“This rich diversity is not merely a statistic,” Brashear said. “It is the cornerstone of how we craft a resilient medical workforce that mirrors and champions the communities that we serve.”

“As future physicians you are going to be called in to serve those in need, offering not just your expertise, but your heart, your presence, your compassion and your unwavering intention to make everything a better world.”

Sourav Sengupta, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, gave the keynote address. Sengupta, who is also director of the Learning Communities in the medical school’s new Well Beyond curriculum, provided some historical context for the names behind the Learning Community’s neighborhoods.

“It is an honor to be with you here today to welcome you into a profession that dates back in the historical record more than 6,000 years to the great Imhotep in Egypt, founder of the first medical school,” he said.

“Really to welcome you to a calling that has been present since humans banded together for survival,” Sengupta added. “To welcome you to those that chose to look not only to the heavens, but also to the world around them. Welcome to this calling, welcome to the healers.”

“I want to leave you with a few ideas from some remarkable individuals — change agents from right here in Western New York that you will hear Dr. Archer call out when he welcomes you to your Learning Communities’ neighborhoods for the next four years,” Sengupta told the students.

• Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, PhD, — a groundbreaking feminist historian who helped develop the women’s studies field while working for decades at the University at Buffalo. Her book “Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold,” was a foundational work in LGBTQIA+ scholarship, chronicling the lives, joys and struggles of these women at a time when their very presence largely went unnoticed.

“As physicians, we have to work hard to listen to, to be fascinated by the human being in front of us. There are treasures to discover there.”

• The Honorable Arthur O. Eve, deputy speaker of the New York State Assembly, who throughout his long and storied career in public service, always fought for working class families, for economic development and educational opportunities. He always found time to connect with his constituents.

“To understand our patients, we have to stay connected to our patients and their communities.”

• Lydia T. Wright, MD, the first female Black pediatrician in Buffalo. In addition to her devoted service to the East Side, where she cared for generations of children over decades in practice, she was elected to the Buffalo Board of Education where she was the lone voice of dissent on plans to further segregate the school system. She spoke up for integration in the schools and helped to create the magnet school system that continues in Buffalo today.

“Sometimes doing the right thing has a cost, but we must speak for those who are marginalized.”

• George Heron, past president of the Seneca Nation, an ironworker by trade, a historian, linguist and leader of his people by calling. He provided over one of the most challenging periods in his nation’s history — the forced relocation of hundreds in the 1960s as yet another treaty promise was broken. His steadfast advocacy for his people during these difficult times continues to be revered today.
  

“As physicians, we must at times be the strength that others need in difficult times. There is honor and value in that role.”

• Gerty Cori, MD, and Carl Cori, MD, who met and fell in love while in medical School in Prague. Their research tackled the subject of how the body gets energy from what is consumed, eventually elucidating exactly how the body breaks down glycogen, the main storage form of glucose in the body. For this groundbreaking work, they later won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947. And that work was done in Buffalo in what would go on to become Roswell Park Cancer Institute (now known as Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center).

“When things get overwhelming or complicated, remember to just start in a corner, shine a light, do what you can.”

”We are so excited to be here to share this next stage in your journey to becoming a physician. Welcome to the healers,” Sengupta said.

During the ceremony, Jeffrey J. Visco, MD, clinical assistant professor of surgery, was presented with the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.

“The recipient of this award embodies all of the traits that we hope to impart on our students during the time they are here with us at the Jacobs School,” said Samantha Bordonaro, MD, assistant dean for student and academic affairs, who presented the award. “They consistently demonstrate compassion and empathy in the delivery of care to patients, serve as a role model and remain approachable and accessible to our students.”

Bordonaro noted that Visco is a colorectal surgeon in Buffalo and is no stranger to UB — receiving his medical degree from there, as well as training in its surgical residency program and staying for a fellowship in colorectal surgery.

“He is a lifer, but more than a lifer, her is a leader,” she said. “Despite many roles over the years, he has remained devoted to his students, trainees, and of course, his patients.”

Bordonaro said one of the students who nominated Visco said it best: “his humanistic approach to his patients, the kind and genuine care he provides to his students and residents, and his mentorship have been pivotal to the students who have had him as a preceptor.”

Sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, the Tow Award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates outstanding compassion in the delivery of care; respect for patients, their families and health care colleagues; and demonstrated clinical excellence.

To close the ceremony, Brashear led the class in the recitation of the Oath of Medicine.

In his closing remarks, David A. Milling, MD, senior associate dean for medical education, told the students “the oath that you just took, you are also going to repeat that again when you finish walking across the stage in four years at graduation.”

“It is something we hope you will take to heart beginning today because you are members of the profession and all of the things you just said are not just words, it is now who you are,” he said. “So please just think about that in everything you do moving forward.”