HMSOM White Coat Ceremony Welcomes Seventh Cohort of Students
July 18, 2024
The group includes 168 students
The journey begins. The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine welcomed its newest class of 168 students with a White Coat Ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark yesterday.
The aspiring doctors donned their distinctive coats during the ceremony, as they started their journey toward acquisition of a Medical Degree (M.D.), which will be completed in three or four years, depending on their selected academic track.
“This medical school continues to admit, and train, some of the brightest and best in the country,’’ said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. “Our intention in creating this medical school was to do things in a new and better way. Each year we see how this unique institution is making it happen.’’
“We are realizing our mission and our vision, with every new cohort and class,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., president and dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.
About 5000 students applied to join this year’s class.
More than half (50.6 percent) of the new students are from New Jersey. They speak 21 languages other than English. Thirty-two members of the cohort are from groups categorized as under-represented in medicine (URiM).
The School admitted its first class in 2018 with 60 students. Subsequent years brought an increasing number of students, leading to this seventh year of admissions. The largest graduation yet ushered 102 new doctors into their residencies across the country last month.
Students have the opportunity for a three-year path to residency, or an optional fourth year which offers combined master’s degree or graduate certificate programs, intense clinical immersion, or focused research. Defining features of the curriculum include the Human Dimension, a longitudinal course which pairs students with people out in the community to foster real-world clinical skills outside a hospital or doctor’s office.