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A Welcome to the Medical Profession

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 185 new medical students and their proud families gathered with Einstein faculty and leadership in Robbins Auditorium for the “On Becoming a Physician (OBAP)” ceremony. OBAP is an annual tradition dedicated to welcoming new students to the medical school, guiding them in their first steps on their journeys to becoming doctors. During the ceremony, the first-year students are “cloaked” in the white coat that symbolizes the medical profession.

The evening began with welcoming remarks from Dr. Allison Ludwig, associate dean for student affairs, and Dr. Allen M. Spiegel, Einstein’s Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean. Dr. Spiegel emphasized the crucial roles physicians play as advocates for health in their local communities and beyond.

The event’s keynote speaker, Dr. Jonathan Alpert, Einstein and Montefiore’s new chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, offered the class of 2021 his perspective on “The Seven Principles of Doctoring.” He noted: “You have chosen to study medicine in a place that embodies the ideals of science and humanism, a medical school community wrapped in the double helix of discovery and social justice. You have selected a noble profession requiring nothing short of the utmost devotion to service and integrity in exchange for the most intimate possible engagement with the human condition. By virtue of character and scholarship, you have been granted by society one of the greatest privileges of all, the privilege of translating your caring and steadily growing expertise into better lives for your neighbors here and around the globe. In the words of Albert Einstein, you have chosen to pursue a ‘life lived for others’.”

Several teams of Einstein alumni then placed the white coats on the students. Once all class members were cloaked and had returned to their seats, they recited the class oath they had crafted together earlier in the week, declaring their dedication to the humanitarian goals of medicine and their shared commitment to providing compassionate and effective patient care.