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The largest provider of physicians for the State of Maine is celebrating its newest class of medical students. The 51Ʒ�� College of Osteopathic Medicine (51Ʒ��COM) held its 21st annual White Coat Ceremony, honoring the class of 2021, on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine.

“This ceremony serves to welcome these students into the medical profession and to honor their commitment to serving the needs of their future patients.,” said Jane Carriero, D.O., vice president for Health Affairs and dean of 51Ʒ��COM. “As they wear their white coats for the first time, they join generations of physicians around the country committed to service through medicine.”

The White Coat Ceremony was an idea conceived by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to create a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in medicine. The first White Coat Ceremony took place in 1993 at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Since then, 97 percent of medical schools in the U.S. and abroad have initiated a similar ceremony.

At the 51Ʒ��COM ceremony, students were welcomed by Carreiro and President of 51Ʒ��James Herbert, Ph.D. Physicians presented white coats to the first year students as a symbolic mantle of the medical profession, underscoring their bonds as future professional colleagues.

The keynote speaker was Craig S. Boisvert, D.O., a member of the first graduating class of 1982. When the doors of Maine’s Osteopathic Medical School opened for the very first time in 1978, Boisvert was one of the 36 medical students enrolled. He is the current dean of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition to the dean position, he has assumed a number of leadership roles including past president of the West Virginia Society of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) and active board member of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA).

To learn more about the 51Ʒ��’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, visit

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