FIU’s Wertheim College of Medicine to welcome 82 students to medical profession in White Coat Ceremony

Vincent Boston’s desire to be a doctor was cemented during his five years as a Navy medic.

When he applied to Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, he wrote a personal essay where he recounted one particularly harrowing experience in Iraq: He was on a helicopter on a cold, pitch black night. The helicopter was under fire and Boston was tending to two wounded Marines – one needed a blood transfusion and the other intubation. With a pen light providing illumination, Boston saved two lives that night.

“It was invigorating and rewarding,” Boston, 28, said of his service. “I gained knowledge and experience beyond my level of training, but I wanted more. I want to dedicate my life to medicine and to helping others to heal.”

On Friday, Aug. 5, Boston will formally begin his journey toward becoming a physician as one of 82 incoming medical students who will participate in the Wertheim College of Medicine’s third White Coat Ceremony. The ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. at the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center, located at Florida International University’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus (MMC), 11200 S.W. 8^th St., Miami. A reception will follow at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, also at MMC. The events are by invitation only, but open to the media.

Dr. Wanda Barfield, director of the Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be the keynote speaker. For more on Barfield, please click here.

The Class of 2015 was selected from 3,816 applicants and is the largest since the College of Medicine opened its doors in 2009. The 82 students have an average GPA of 3.6, and attended colleges across the country, including schools such as Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Duke, Georgetown, Wellesley College, Vanderbilt, Emory, UCLA, and Notre Dame. Many of the students also are graduates of FIU and other state and private universities in Florida.

“We are excited about the growth of our medical school and the quality of students who are joining us,” said College of Medicine Founding Dean Dr. John A. Rock. “These students will one day be shining examples of the new kind of doctor we are educating at FIU – doctors who are dedicated to their communities and who will practice medicine in a compassionate and comprehensive manner. Once they put their coats on, they will be changed forever.”

Reflecting the medical school’s focus on community health, several members of the new class have already had experiences in helping those in need, including a student who volunteered in Honduras as a member of a medical brigade.

The class also includes students who have overcome challenges, like Ana Peña, 25. She and her younger sister came to Miami from Cuba when Peña was 18. Their parents, both doctors, stayed behind because the Cuban government would not permit them to leave. Shortly after arriving, Peña’s grandfather, who accompanied them to the United States, passed away.  Later, her grandmother became ill and Peña cared for her while completing her studies at Miami Dade College and transitioning to FIU. Her grandmother also passed away.

Peña graduated from FIU in May with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. As an undergraduate, Peña received numerous awards and scholarships for her academic achievements and research. She is looking forward to the White Coat Ceremony, but it will be bittersweet – although her mother was able to come to the United States, her father is still in Cuba.

“This is my dream,” she said, of becoming a doctor. “I am working hard and doing my best to make my family proud.”

At the ceremony, designed to reinforce professionalism and humanistic values, each student will receive a traditional white medical coat. As is customary, the student coats are short in order to distinguish them from doctors when doing their clinical rotations at hospitals. Each student also will receive a stethoscope, donated by Leon Medical Centers, one of the school’s clinical partners.

The White Coat Ceremony will be broadcast live at: http://realone.fiu.edu/asxgen/wmtencoder/live.wmv