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Pharmacy holds white coat ceremony 

The College of Pharmacy began the new academic year with a special event expected to become a tradition. 

On Aug. 21, the 60 members of the first-year doctor of pharmacy class began their immersion in the profession by receiving their white coats during a formal ceremony attended by more than 200 family members, friends, faculty and staff.

“We bestow symbols on the things we value,” said Kelly Ragucci, Pharm.D., in her remarks to the students during the college’s first-ever white coat ceremony. Ragucci will serve as a faculty advisor for the class of 2005 during their four years in the college.

“Symbols give us something concrete on which to pin our feelings. Symbols give us an ideal, a goal, a vision of ourselves,” she said.

“We want to establish a sense of pride in their chosen profession early in their academic career,” said College of Pharmacy Dean, John Cormier, Pharm.D. He said that the ceremony reaffirms their commitment to the profession. 

There, in front of family and friends, the new students signed the Code of Ethics of the American Pharmaceutical Association after receiving their white coats. All the pharmacists in attendance were then invited to join with the class in reciting the Oath of the Pharmacist from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The students were also treated to a keynote address by James Robert (Bobby) Bradham, R.Ph., a 1977 graduate of the college and currently manager of Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Services in the MUSC Medical Center. Bradham shared his thoughts on professional entrepreneurship. 

On the significance of the white coat, Ragucci said that she once asked a patient what he thought when he saw someone come into his room with a white coat. He replied, “What I think of when I see a white coat is ‘trust.’ ”He added that he trusts that he will be given the right medicine and correct information. “I trust that they will do right by me.”

She said that the white coat “is intended to impress upon all incoming students the importance of compassion and humility in the midst of the high-tech, bottom-line oriented practice of today’s health care environment.”

Following the ceremony, an open house and reception were held in the college. Harold Davis, R.Ph., (class of 1982) a representative of Pfizer Inc., provided support for the reception.

Cormier said that although the white coat ceremony is a first for the MUSC College of Pharmacy, it is not uncommon among pharmacy schools in the U.S. 

He said that the feedback has been so overwhelmingly positive that there is no question that this is the beginning of a tradition.