Mount Sinai Welcomes New Students in White Coat Tradition
One hundred forty new students comprising Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s class of 2016, today participated in the symbolic White Coat ceremony.
One hundred forty new students comprising Mount Sinai School of Medicine's class of 2016, today participated in the symbolic White Coat ceremony, receiving white coats and stethoscopes to mark their entry into the medical profession.
Watch video from the 2012 White Coat Ceremony
"The 100-year-old white coat ceremony represents the beginning of a bonding process, a mentorship experience, with the Mount Sinai Family…a relationship that will last not just the four years of medical school, but a lifetime," said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center in his welcoming remarks.
The class of 2016 is an unusually diverse group selected not only because of their passion for medicine and their character, but their ability to balance a grueling study schedule with outside interests. They include a champion rock climber, an economist from the Federal Reserve, a varsity football player, a varsity soccer captain and a Teach for America leader. The students were chosen from among a record 5,149 applicants.
Keegan Cole, for example, is a four-time member of Team USA Rock Climbing and a two-time National Speed Climbing Champion who also enjoys road running, cycling, camping, and playing piano. He was drawn to medicine because "the gap between biomedical engineering, the patient, and effective care that is bridged by physicians was one I saw myself filling."
Alexandra Douglas is a yoga teacher and ceramicist, who enjoys trekking and camping. For two years, she was program manager of an HIV clinic for women in East Africa. After college, she was drawn to medicine because "these experiences demonstrated to me my interests in the clinical aspects of medicine, in addition to the social determinants of disease."
The students come from around the world and around the block. They range in age from 21 to 39, and have career goals that include medical research, and providing medical care to underserved populations. Forty-five percent are women and 19 percent are minorities.
"This ceremony is arguably the proudest day of medical school," said David Muller, MD, Dean of Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "It's the moment when the brightest people in the county devote themselves to a lifetime of learning, caring, and scientific investigation, all in the name of a greater good. We couldn't be more proud of the class of 2016."
Held in the Stern Auditorium at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, the ceremony included an information session for parents and families about medical school, a keynote address by Michael Marin, MD, Chair of Surgery, a speech by Dr. Charney, and the donning of the white coats on stage, after which the students filed off stage to be presented with a gift bag including a stethoscope and scrubs.
Twenty-eight of the students come from a unique early acceptance program, called Humanities and Medicine, in which exceptional college students apply to Mount Sinai in their sophomore year and, if accepted, attend an on-campus summer program at Mount Sinai while still in college. Eleven of the students are in the rigorous MD/PhD program, which develops future physician-scientists and promotes cutting edge research.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 14th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation's top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and by U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.
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About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 10 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2025-2026.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.
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