ECU welcomes the most diverse class of medical students in its history

First-year medical student K’Shylah Whitehurst smiles as Dr. Amanda Higginson, assistant dean for student affairs, helps her into her white coat during the Brody School of Medicine’s annual White Coat Ceremony Aug. 3.

The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University officially welcomed the most diverse class of medical students in its 42-year history during its annual White Coat Ceremony on Friday morning.

In front of a crowd of more than 400 people, the incoming class of 86 medical students – all North Carolina residents – were formally presented with the white coats they will wear in patient care areas throughout their time at ECU.

More than half of this year’s students (51 percent) are non-Caucasian and 33 percent are from minority groups – African-American, Native American and Hispanic or Latino – that the Association of American Medical Colleges considers “underrepresented in medicine.”

The class is also 55 percent female, ranges in age from 21 to 44 and collectively speaks at least 14 different languages.

“Because of this mix, we now have the ability to reach out to our own students to help us understand new languages, new customs, get new understandings or fix misunderstandings about what we do as medical doctors,” Dr. Claudia Daly, president of the Brody School of Medicine Alumni Society, told the students. “This class will be better prepared than any class we have ever had to care for the citizens of North Carolina.”

Ke’Asia Craig, an African-American student from Ahoskie, said that the diversity of this year’s class was particularly meaningful for her.

“I feel that by training diverse physicians, we’re better able to treat diverse patients,” Craig said. “You’re able to treat a population that you might not have been able to treat as well before, just because people are more comfortable with people they can relate to.”

Not only does Craig want to help North Carolina’s diverse population upon becoming a doctor, she said she wants to practice in the rural areas of eastern North Carolina.

“Those are the most underserved areas. There’s not a lot there and usually they don’t get a lot of attention when it comes to health care. So I feel like the more people that you put into the community to work on the community, the better,” said Craig, one of four students from this year’s class accepted into Brody through ECU’s Early Assurance Program.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker – Dr. Toni Johnson, vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Brody – told the students that their experiences in medical school will change them in ways they never would have imagined.

“You’ll have an opportunity to actually become a better person along the journey. Don’t waste this unique experience,” Johnson said. “Yes, you’re on your way to becoming a physician. The white coat is a symbol of our profession; wear it with pride. More importantly, it’s a cloak of compassion. So every time you put it on, please remember … it is a privilege to see what we see, it is a privilege to hear what we hear and it is a privilege to do what we do.”

First-year student Duy Huynh, of Charlotte, said that having his white coat put on him on Friday was realization of something that he had been working toward for most of his life and that Brody’s mission to serve the underserved populations of North Carolina will now help him work toward becoming a good physician.

“I think Brody is one of the few schools where the mission really aligns with what it means to be a physician. It’s not just about medicine, it’s about being a part of the community and being more compassionate about the patients,” Huynh said. “Here they don’t just treat one patient or just their patients, they’re trying to help the entire community.”

The first 20 months of medical school at Brody are classroom-based and encompass foundational sciences including core science coursework, bioethics and an introduction to doctoring, which features clinic-based primary care experience. Year three consists of a series of predetermined clinical clerkships, and the fourth year allows for more individualized clinical experiences. Much of the clinical training occurs away from Brody in rural health care settings across eastern North Carolina.

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