The most recent PhD white coat recipients from the Class of 2024-2025 pose for a group photo in the Jacobs School building atrium.
Students Match to Their Labs in PhD White Coat Ceremony
By Dirk Hoffman
Published May 29, 2025
The Office of Biomedical Education conducted its ninth annual white coat ceremony to recognize 27 students matching to their doctoral laboratories.
Those honored included 21 students from the Class of 2024-2025 in the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PPBS) and six students who were directly admitted by their departments.
Scientists Encouraged to Embrace Their Roles
John C. Panepinto, PhD, senior associate dean for biomedical education and professor of microbiology and immunology, offered opening remarks.
He noted that Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, often states that it is the school’s mission to advance the health and well-being of people in Western New York and beyond.
“Basic science research is a huge component of that. We don’t often see the fruits of that in a day, or a week or a year, but it is the foundation of health care advancement,” Panepinto said.
He also noted the white coat serves a dual purpose: “it is an important symbol of our profession, but it is also an important component of keeping us safe in the lab.”
Panepinto also spoke a bit about the changing health care landscape.
“The world looks a little different right now. No one in this room understands how the dust is going to settle and what biomedical sciences are going to look like once the dust settles,” he said. “One of the hardest things to do is to sit in that uncertainty, but you have a cohort of colleagues here to support you, so that’s important.”
Panepinto then encouraged the students to embrace the roles they are entering.
“You are at the point of opportunity to become the best version of the scientist that you are,” he said. “And to take the next several years of your time to grow your skills in communication, in critical thinking and in experimental design — all the things that we are here to do. No external force can keep you from continuing on that path.”
“We are at a moment of reckoning for our field and we have to be steadfast and stand strong,” Panepinto added. “This is your moment to have and to hold because you are our future. And we need you all to be that beacon of rigor, and truth and trust in science.”
Students Match into Research Laboratories
Andrew M. Gulick, PhD, professor of structural biology and director of the PPBS program, announced the students’ names for the cloaking ceremony.
The students are listed below, with their department and mentor matches.
Mentoring, Financial Support Provided
The PPBS provides an entry portal and a common first-year curriculum, mentoring, hands-on opportunities and financial support.
With its laboratory rotation system, students can explore a variety of disciplines before committing to their specific area of research.
The white coat ceremony was conducted May 22 in the Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD ’62 Auditorium in the Jacobs School building. A brief reception in the building’s atrium followed the ceremony.
The ceremony was sponsored by UB’s Medical Alumni Association.