Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine holds White Coat Ceremony for Class of 2024

SCRANTON – Pandemic restrictions prevented members of Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine’s M.D. Class of 2024 from receiving the first symbol of their new profession when they arrived on campus in 2020. Now, as they stand on the cusp of their clinical years, they will celebrate their transition to rotations and more direct patient care by being cloaked in their white coats at a ceremony Friday, May 6 at 1 p.m. at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain.

With family and friends in attendance, the Class of 2024’s 115 future doctors will be welcomed into the medical profession with an oath acknowledging their responsibilities as future physicians and their obligations to future patients. Then they will receive their white coats — the mantle of the medical profession — provided by The Stanley J. Dudrick, M.D., and Alan G. Goldstein Endowed Fund.

“COVID-19 may have delayed the ceremony, but it has not the dampened the joy we feel in embracing these students as future doctors,” said Julie Byerley, M.D., M.P.H., Geisinger Commonwealth president and dean. “Many medical schools choose the end of the second year to hold the ceremony because, in just a matter of weeks, students will enter clinics and hospitals and begin to apply everything they’ve learned in the classroom at the bedside. It’s an exciting time in their journey and receiving the white coat and reciting their oath at this moment has particular resonance and meaning. We are especially pleased that our students’ loved ones will have the opportunity to witness this special moment.”

The Dr. Lester Saidman Memorial Lecture, a tradition at every Geisinger Commonwealth White Coat ceremony, will be delivered by Mauer Biscotti, M.D., F.A.C.S., from the University of Pennsylvania. Deans from the school’s six regional campuses will present the coats. 

ABOUT GEISINGER COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM) is a member of the Geisinger family. Geisinger Commonwealth offers a community-based model of medical education with campuses in Atlantic City, Danville, Lewistown, Scranton, Sayre and Wilkes-Barre. Geisinger Commonwealth offers Doctor of Medicine (MD) and a portfolio of graduate degrees. The school’s innovative curriculum, focused on caring for people in the context of their lives and their community, attracts the next generation of physicians and scientists from within its region, as well as from across the state and the nation. Geisinger Commonwealth is committed to non-discrimination in all employment and educational opportunities. Visit www.geisinger.edu/gcsom.