LLU | 07-29-21 School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so so [Music] so it's my pleasure to welcome you to the white coat ceremony special welcome to the students you made it you worked hard got here and we're very pleased to have you here we'd also like to welcome many family members and friends to this special service i want to tell you about the class of 2025 they there are 176 members and they were accepted out of a pool of 6864 students so there are 89 men and 87 women and the average age is 23. they come from 25 different states 51 percent from california we have 16 international students who come from canada great britain guatemala indonesia kenya mexico myanmar nigeria rwanda south korea and zimbabwe many additional countries are represented in the heritages of the students including brazil china colombia costa rica croatia cuba dominican republic ecuador ghana guyana haiti honduras india iran jamaica japan lebanon malaysia peru the philippines romania sri lanka syria trinidad and tobago and vietnam it's like a meeting of the united nations here and 25 students have parents who are alumni of the school of medicine and 10 of them have both parents that are alumni of the school of medicine students have degrees from 59 different colleges and universities most of the students have a health or science major but 14 of them have at least one of their majors in a non-science area and these include engineering piano performance business art mathematics history film and theater studies psychology english religion and foreign language there have been members of phi beta kappa honor society tri beta honor society alpha chi honor society and many other honor societies they've received almost every type of honor imaginable they've been on the dean's list president's list highest gpa award and many other awards and these include awards not just for academics but they've received them for research sports service leadership and music they've had health care experiences shadowing physicians in just about every specialty everything from infectious disease to interventional radiology they've worked as health educators lifestyle and health coaches emts nursing home volunteers scribes hospice volunteers surgical technicians medical assistants ophthalmic technicians dental hygienist cpr instructor phlebotomists and behavior technicians they volunteered at health fairs they worked as nurses and clinical laboratory technicians they've done research in about every area imaginable oncology pulmonary genetics cardiovascular infectious disease ophthalmology pain mental health and neuroscience they've had publications and done presentations at local and national meetings they're also a very musically talented class they're students who've written music we have many that play the piano many are vocalists others play the violin viola chella guitar saxophone clarinet french horn trumpet and trombone we also have students that play the organ percussion and hand bells and they've won musical competition so these people are not just practice occasionally they're good musicians the athletic ability of this class is very impressive there are marathoners swimmers basketball and flag football players volleyball players rock climbers soccer players skiers snowboarders tennis players softball and baseball players people who do acrobatics ice skating spike ball pickle ball ping pong hiking backpacking lacrosse water polo surfing weight lifting scuba diving ultimate frisbee martial arts cycling badminton golf i hope they have time to go to class they have had many interesting experiences they've written short stories published a book climbed mount kilimanjaro climbed the face of half dome worked as a manager at an ice cream store done photography played on a college national championship volleyball team worked as a manager at a bakery won an award for drawings in an art museum been firefighters been horseback rider instructor been a member of a rowing team i've been an advertising manager for used car lot worked in real estate and construction fished in alaska worked in aerospace engineering been a member of team usa and synchronized ice skating done scorpion venom research rattlesnake venom research black widow spider research tarantula research they've been a baggage service agent been a model been an an archaeology dig in the middle east run the boston marathon biked 580 miles from the pacific ocean to montana been a breeder of poison dart frogs taken pilot training and done paragliding i'm glad you live to get to medical school and parents we want to assure you that we will keep them so busy they won't have time to do these kinds of things again they've also demonstrated leadership ability by serving as class officers and officers of many clubs on their college campuses they've been student senators community service organization leaders chaplains assistant deans and resident assistants they've held church offices preach sermons and coach sports teams and as impressive as all of these things are the thing that stands out most is that these students have demonstrated in many ways that they have hearts for service they've been involved in church and civic organizations they fed the homeless volunteered in orphanages nursing homes and prisons done refugee work tutored students been involved in fundraising served as an emt in new york city at the height of the pandemic served in japan after the earthquake and tsunami they volunteered for many organizations including the red cross unicef samaritan's purse read across america special olympics and the salvation army they've served internationally on short term mission trips and also longer term as student missionaries they've served in mexico belize costa rica honduras guatemala el salvador nicaragua panama the dominican republic haiti bolivia brazil colombia ecuador guinea-bissau guyana peru ethiopia kenya malawi rwanda senegal south africa tanzania zambia zimbabwe greece the ukraine india china cambodia laos indonesia malaysia nepal taiwan thailand japan south korea the philippines fiji and micronesia they've certainly followed jesus command to go ye into all the world these students are obviously very bright very talented and they have great potential and when you look at what they've already accomplished it is staggering to think about what they will be able to do when they are physicians this evening is a special one as they begin their medical school experience they're being dedicated to a sacred profession they will receive a white coat a symbol of someone who has dedicated his or her life to the healing profession but here at loma linda they are not being trained just for profession but for a ministry they will acquire knowledge and develop skills that will equip them to continue the teaching and healing ministry of jesus christ let us pray as we begin this service our dear heavenly father we come to you tonight with hearts filled with gratitude for each of these students and for the way you've guided in their lives and brought them to loma linda we pray that you will be with each one of them as they embark on their medical studies be with them as they face the challenges of learning the material in all the classes be with them as they interact with each other and they make new friends we pray that your holy spirit will fill them as they start to see patience and that they will reflect your love the love of the great physician we know you have a plan for the life of each student and pray for your continued guidance in their lives we ask for your presence tonight at this service as the students are being dedicated to the healing ministry may their time here at loma linda prepare them to go out into the world and continue jesus teaching and healing ministry these things we ask in jesus name amen [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good evening we'd like to welcome everyone here tonight we're so happy you're here i am going to introduce to you our speaker for tonight dr shamma williams dr williams was born in bermuda to a family with eight brothers his parents were very influential in his growth and development and his mother's work as a nurse really influenced his interest and his success in medicine he learned humility sacrifice and hard work from them he completed his undergraduate work at oakwood university with a degree in mathematics and in biology he completed his md degree at loma linda university school of medicine in 2011 and did a residency in internal medicine at the university of alabama birmingham he followed that with a fellowship in cardiology at loman university medical center he is now embarking on an interventional cardiology fellowship he has boards in internal medicine and cardiac disease in nuclear cardiology in cardiovascular ct in echocardiogram so students don't count on your testing stopping in the future [Laughter] as you can see dr williams is a rock star he as a student as a physician and let's throw in he has experience in this past year in teaching our medical students cardiology and i have to say he more than excelled in that area too we at the school of medicine are very proud of dr williams who has distinguished himself in so many ways but we're actually more proud of the person he is with his heart for service and the ways that he can impact people around him we're the most proud of so welcome dr williams dr thomas thank you so much for those kind words what a warm and kind introduction i'm truly humbled to be able to stand here this evening and speak to each and every one of you to our distinguished faculty and deans who join me on the stage it's an honor to be able to share this moment with you and to the many parents and friends family well-wishers all the people who are here today those that have given wise counsel those that have given phone calls those that have given visits prayers financial blessings and encouragement you truly are the rock stars tonight it was john dunn a british scholar poet and cleric in the church of england who penned the following in his book devotions upon emergent occasions in 1623 no man is an island entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent a part of the main students please join me in giving a standing ovation to your parents to your friends and to your well-wishers tonight without them this would not be possible and now that we have taken care of the preliminaries i want to turn my attention to each and every one of you good evening graduating class of 20 25. welcome welcome to the loma linda family i see so much excitement hope promise and potential as i look around this room tonight we celebrate each and every one of you and all of your accomplishments we also stand with you in support of everything that you will be as you become a physician one of the most noble and one of the most character building professions on earth today i want to share with you just a few reflections in hopes that it will help you to better understand the calling that is being placed on your life full disclosure when i was invited to speak i was told that i would have 15 minutes and being a math major that equals about 900 seconds so when it comes to running races and things like that i'm someone who tends to be rather slow if you consider the hair and the tortoise i'm more like the tortoise but here's the thing i always make sure that i finish the race so we will try to stick within the 15-minute window but please understand that my tortoise tendencies may come out tonight make me a servant humble and meek lord let me lift up those who are weak and may the prayer of my heart always be make me a servant make me a servant make me a servant [Music] today that's the very first sulu that i sang when i grew up in bermuda as dr thomas has already stated i grew up on one of the greatest places on earth as a matter of fact if you were to look on a world map and try to identify where bermuda is located you would have to start off by finding heaven and then you'd have to look just a little bit south of heaven at that place south of heaven is where bermuda resides growing up i was number six of eight young men born to my mom a registered nurse and my dad who was a mason he built houses needless to say my mother is a survivor and she deserves an olympic medal growing up my mother personified compassion and sacrifice my father embodied hard work and excellence in all undertakings on occasion we would get to go and work with my mom or with my dad but i truly appreciated the times when i got to work with my mom at those times we would have the opportunity to go into the hospital king edward vii memorial hospital in bermuda where we would sit and talk with patients we would sing with them we would feed them and we would simply be there as a support but here's the thing as a kid i didn't have a white coat yet my presence in the room was still bringing healing so here's the thing the white coat doesn't make you it's the virtues of the one who wears the white coat that makes all the difference compassion humility respect integrity self-sacrifice and thankfulness are all words that come to mind when i consider attributes that define an excellent physician in preparing to talk with you today i reminisced about my own white coat ceremony way back in 2000 like many of you i felt so much pride in what i had achieved slaying giants like calculus 1 2 three physics general chemistry organic and even the mcat well actually i didn't really slay the mcat it kind of left me a little better than bruised maybe a little bloodied and bludgeoned but nonetheless i survived and then there were the primary applications the secondary applications and then the interviews and last year interview season was very different for you guys for the first time rather than going to every medical school you interviewed it you interviewed on zoo like who would have thought of that two years ago it's amazing how things have changed it cannot be overstated however today is about you but from tomorrow on it's all about your patience as you study during your first two years of medical school think about the awesome privilege and responsibility that you have your knowledge will be pivotal in influencing future clinical decisions so study hard study like someone's life depends on it during the third and fourth year your time will be spent predominantly in the hospital your greatest asset to the to the patient and to the team will not necessarily be your depth of knowledge it might actually be you your personality your thoughtfulness your attention to detail and your compassion the oxford dictionary describes compassion as the feeling or emotion when a person is moved by the suffering or distress of another and by the desire to relieve that pain and that distress i like the way that maya angelou said it i've learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel compassionate care in medicine requires that you understand that when most people come into the hospital it's not their greatest day as a matter of fact it's probably the scariest and worst day of their life wouldn't you want a doctor to be kind and gentle to be knowledgeable and above all just to sit down and talk with you and be attentive to you wouldn't you want to feel like your doctor actually cared life has made us so busy sometimes we forget the essentials like listening case in point in 1984 and again in 1999 studies were performed looking at the length of time that a patient would speak when on a physician visit and how long it would take before that physician interrupted them so take a stab at it how long do you think let's hear it this is medical school that means it's interactive so i hear some 10 seconds seven seconds four seconds wow two seconds gee where's all right well actually the median time in that study was between 18 and 23 seconds before interrupting and then additional studies were done in 2019 and published in the journal of general internal medicine and actually the median time decreased to 11 seconds how can we understand who our patients are and what their chief concerns are if we're not willing to listen class of 2025 my challenge to you be better as medical students you will be the people on the team who actually have the most time please spend time getting to know your patients and getting to know their families it will help to endear you to your patients and help to endure your patience to you listening is not the only form of compassion however consider what's transpired over the last year the covet 19 pandemic it has completely changed our world for an entire year we as healthcare workers have been dawning which means putting on and doffing which means taking off personal protective equipment to fight an invisible foe despite these actions more than 3600 u.s health care workers and over 600 000 people in the united states have lost their lives to curb at 19. many of the healthcare workers in this room cared for people with this disease we set up video calls so that families could see their loved ones and celebrate it when our patients would leave the hospital some healthcare workers even continued to work in the very units the very intensive care units where their loved ones resided to ensure that somebody else's loved one would have a fighting chance we held the hands of the weak and the dying and we comforted one another when our tears began to fall but compassion doesn't end there the pandemic once again laid bare in health socioeconomic and opportunities disparities between the haves and the have-nots it further revealed how these same disparities fall along racial and ethnic lines it is not enough to know that disparities exist compassion is an action word it requires us to move and you class of 2025 are uniquely positioned to accept the challenge and to change the status quo you are equipped to manifest the very essence of micah 6 8 to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with our god i want you guys to take a moment and look at the people that are sitting next to you look at the people sitting behind you too [Music] share their faces sear their faces into your mind like your patients each of these people have intrinsic value get to know them and especially get to know people who don't look like you or people who don't run in your usual circles listen to their stories invite them to your home the people beside you are actually the ones who can best understand the medical school journey and help to support you along every step of the way since it's olympic time i want to leave a story with you that actually comes from the olympics back in the year 2000 now some of you weren't born back in 2000 and i've aged myself a little bit here tonight but that's okay your parents might remember the sydney olympics it was a rather strange time at that point during the women's gymnastics the vote was set about two inches too low and over ten gymnasts stumbled as they did the vault during that year there was also a gentleman by the name of eric eric the ill mozambique he actually came from the country of equatorial guinea a small country in the center of africa he began swimming after he completed high school however in his country there were not a lot of opportunities for swimming because they didn't really have swimming pools and so he found one swimming pool that was about 13 meters long he was given about one hour three days a week to prepare for his journey to sydney and the other times that he had he would go to the beach or go to the rivers where fishermen would teach him how to move his arms and legs without drowning after he arrived in sydney he was able to go to the olympic village and while there he saw for the first time an olympic-sized pool i bet it blew his mind he was probably like what am i doing here some of us might be feeling that way too but here's the thing eric the eel stood up and he dove into the water and he ran stroke by stroke by stroke doing the 100 meter freestyle and after one minute and 52 long seconds eric the ill came up as the winner of his heat now the reason why he won is because two people who were supposed to swim with him were disqualified as they derv into the pool before they were supposed to and there were no other people in his heat that being said the principle is still important because had eric decided not to dive into the pool we would not know his name and we would not know his story so class of 2025 dive into the pool and remember finding nemo dory said just keep swimming congratulations to you class of 2025 i wish you well along this academic journey all right we're going to ask the coders to go ahead and come on up okay all right i'm going to introduce our coders and it's going to i'm going to start from your left out in the audience and dr debbie currit is a assistant professor in anesthesiology next to her dr shirley tan is assistant professor in medicine and practices internal medicine next to her dr david kim it looks like we have a good representation of internal medicine here tonight dr kim works as a hospitalist in internal medicine we have a little variety dr eleka clark who's a head of our general pediatrics dr williams you have met previously who is assistant professor in medicine and practicing as a cardiologist dr scott nelson in front of me is an associate professor in orthopedic surgery and practices sometimes here and sometimes in haiti dr bonnie chilam who is an associate professor in preventive medicine dr leonard specht who is an assistant professor in medicine and practices critical care medicine and dr denise townsend who also is an assistant professor in internal medicine so we would like to thank all of our coders and we'll give them a brief hand collectively um so adam butler luke thomas [Applause] jordan counsel neville trich daniel chi mark keon [Applause] rachel borbaugh joshua lee marina al-nasser reina son [Applause] caldora blackburn tori lee [Applause] toby clark [Applause] colin lee nathan o'neil [Applause] cassie megan louie charisma eballio [Applause] diana luna valdez nicholas andre bellyard hansu park michelle cartwright jeffrey bryce peak tommy wanashi sharon goma [Applause] alex nelson daniel kravis [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bong alexis townsend i'm gonna be okay ethan hyunsu kim marissa wilson [Music] bella warren emerald norman nicolette babae brandon shin isabel bishop yasmine segun marie bellosiro ashley weissong did you jonathan clique [Applause] rachel spect curtis grossheim celeste richardson alexander cashew levi miles aaron conley agape nihil daniel the chance felicia nan [Applause] jordin daly aaron reader peace iowa day leanna tough joseph hector win passaribus newbie archer alex riel nasser salah okay stephanie arsenault ryan for young roe alyssa johnson nicole lerner [Applause] thomas kim bridget lee hannah curtis [Music] jaina mauricio lee joelle choi alyssa liegmann thank you thank you garrett cooper q park [Applause] melody joy plantain drummond [Applause] [Music] [Applause] zion she deandre winston brown joshua lum [Applause] chloe elias [Applause] [Music] samuel martin aaron hong [Applause] emmanuel issa vivian lee posner [Applause] [Music] alex beautersa tristan pensen seth muller adrian weiss [Applause] heido campos [Applause] [Music] [Applause] sarah bushro noah manistar true cliff de guzman maverick marpa [Applause] nazarene elsadi mariah maddalena [Applause] victoria gabarde darlee magno [Applause] [Music] harmon michael kim nicole mack michaela sabah [Applause] [Music] jocelyn mercedes-huang elizabeth sewell [Applause] madeline carrett madison to [Applause] [Applause] catherine dallas wright lennox chitsky amber zimmerman erica licorice that's beautiful elise christina kazan dietrich coleman dietrich eric osac kristen ferrer michael nelson tim hua [Applause] jordan whittles jason chan jacob ward [Applause] christopher jenkins [Music] lily tran [Music] [Applause] [Music] kim justin yoon bruna alves stokol [Applause] daniel tran [Applause] [Music] brian fish corey lee [Applause] [Applause] arthur lee jayden stanley [Music] [Applause] andrew cabrera zachary wesley don reiswig [Applause] nicholas bowie [Music] preston shearsat monique harding enoch tenna [Applause] brianna egan joel pearson [Applause] corbin goodman [Applause] george wong nathaniel jones brandon talmud [Applause] frank kim andrew john williams annika lee [Applause] skylar shell esther kim daniel wilkinson thank you brandon cermay jungwoo park rick griggs [Applause] june gawani [Applause] george mathen [Applause] brianna ito stephanie zebadias [Applause] julia kim paula rosado [Applause] yeji kim kate monique leon alexandra lange [Music] matthew mendoza [Applause] zachary hoffer alison mia [Applause] [Music] nathaniel cheney amy rouse [Applause] madison bosskind weston young oh spotlight and jocelyn griffin ethan simmons okay oh there we go well i'll ask the class of 2025 to come up on the steps and line up uh and fill the steps and uh for this physician's oath and i think uh we'll give you a little time for pictures and then dr thomas will tell you when it's time to start the oath so parents family if you want to come and take pictures this is your chance oh skylar [Applause] [Music] [Applause] uh down there we would like everyone to be seated no pictures we want everyone to be seated everyone please be seated we want everyone to be seated everyone please be seated everyone please be seated everyone please be seated everyone please be seated everyone please be seated everyone please be seated [Music] everyone please be seated everyone please be seated okay class of 2025 we're gonna read in unison ready one two three before god these things i do promise in the acceptance of my sacred calling i will dedicate my life to the furtherance of jesus christ healing and teaching ministry i will give to my teachers the respect and gratitude which is their due i will impart to those who follow me the knowledge and experience that i have gained the wholeness of my patient will be my first consideration acting as a good steward of the resources of society and of the talents granted me i will endeavor to reflect god's mercy and compassion by caring for the lonely the poor the suffering and those who are dying i will maintain the utmost respect for human life i will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity i will respect the rights and decisions of my patients i will hold in confidence all secrets committed to my keeping the practice of my calling i will lead my life and practice my art with purity and honor abstaining from immorality myself i will not lead others into moral wrongdoing may god's kingdom his healing power and glory be experienced by those whom i serve and may they be known in my life in proportion as i am faithful to this oath please bow your head with me for prayer dear jesus lord we come before you with hearts full of gratitude gratitude for your blessings for the blessing of your son for the promise of eternal life for the opportunity to care for um humans that that need to know you to be your your hands and heart to them we dedicate these students before us to a life of service that begins now and we pray lord that you would surround each student with your presence send your holy spirit to lift them up give them courage and persistence and wisdom and lord we also pray for those who support them for their family and friends for their parents their spouses for their faculty that teach them and especially for the patients and the healthcare workers that they will interact with lord help us all to be a blessing to them and to just help them along in this journey and we just pray lord especially this moment that each of these students would fill your presence would know that this is a sacred calling and would know that they can make a difference in the lives of patients starting now as students and then throughout their careers lord we give all the glory to you and we ask that you would lift our eyes and keep them focused on you and we just thank you and praise you for everything and for all your goodness in your name we pray amen okay you guys can be excused you

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Keywords: lluchurch, loma, linda, university, church, lluc, 7th, day, adventist, seventh, seventh-day, sda, christian, christianity, nad, north, american, division, blessed, praise, worship, haystack, love, life, god, jesus, second, coming, advent, film, video, short, forgiveness, message, song, music, sing, play, child, children, congregation, hymn, choir, bible, religion, religious, friend, family, community, service, prayer, study, discipleship, california, usa, blue, zone, student, america, gc, general, conference, randy, roberts

Id: U_-MlhJTof0

Length: 74min 50sec (4490 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021