New Medical Students Mark School's Second Century

INDIANAPOLIS - When members of the Class of 2007 gather for a special ceremony welcoming them to the Indiana University School of Medicine, they will be making history - they will be the class that leads the School into its second century as Indiana's only medical school.

On Aug. 16, the 280 first-year students will participate in the White Coat Ceremony, a unique rite of passage marking the beginning of their education and training to become physicians. The ceremony is at 3 p.m. at the Murat Theatre, 502 N. New Jersey St.

With their families, friends, medical faculty and other guests nearby, the students will recite the time-honored Physician's Oath and will don their short, white lab coat. The students also will be presented with a special commemorative pin, recognizing their uniqueness as the School's 100th entering class. This is a first of events and activities the School has planned for its centennial year.

"The White Coat Ceremony impresses upon students the altruistic nature practicing the art and science of medicine, and encourages them to accept the inherent obligations of that calling," says D. Craig Brater, M.D., dean of the IU School of Medicine.

"More than 100 years ago, several farsighted individuals transformed a vision into a reality and established the Indiana University School of Medicine," Dr. Brater adds. "Like those who founded our School, we today pursue ideals and innovations that will carry us into a second century of service, education and research and the Class of 2007 has a role to play in that future."

That role centers largely on training physicians to better care for their patients and to serve their communities. In the ceremony's keynote speech, Thomas S. Inui, Sc.M, M.D., president and chief executive officer of the Regenstrief Institute Inc. at the IU School of Medicine, will talk about the ever-changing nature of professionalism in the medical profession.

The IU School of Medicine was established in 1903 at the IU Bloomington campus with 25 students and only a few instructors. Since that time, the School has grown to become the nation's second-largest medical teaching institution with more than 1,200 students at nine medical education centers throughout the state. First- and second-year students are divided among centers located in Indianapolis (IUPUI), Bloomington, Gary (IU-Northwest), Evansville (University of Southern Indiana), Terre Haute (Indiana State University), South Bend (University of Notre Dame), Lafayette (Purdue University), Muncie (Ball Memorial Hospital) and Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University).

In their first year, IUSM students study gross anatomy, histology, neurobiology, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology and immunology and introduction to medicine. During their second year, students take courses in biostatistics, pharmacology, medical genetics, pathology and emergency medicine.

All IU medical students complete their final two years of study at the IUPUI campus. Students receive clinical training at that time, in addition to further classroom and laboratory studies. Throughout their program the medical students will master nine core competencies, including self-awareness, effective communication skills, lifelong learning, problem-solving, professionalism, moral reasoning and ethical judgment, social awareness and its relation to health care, using science as a guide for all aspects of health care and clinical skills.

IU is the first medical school in the country to have integrated this new curriculum with the traditional medical school education.

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Media Contact: Joe Stuteville
317-274-7722
jstutevi@iupui.edu

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