The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Class of 2030’s journey to becoming medical professionals officially kicked off August 7 at the annual White Coat Ceremony.

The yearly rite of passage is held each August at the Hippodrome Theatre, where first-year students are presented with their first white coats in front of family, friends, and faculty, and receive a formal welcome to the profession of medicine and the UMSOM community.

Donning the white coat “represents knowledge, service, humility,” said Donna L. Parker, MD,  Professor in the Department of Medicine, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education, and Chief Academic Officer for the Medical Education Program at UMSOM. “Today you are joining a community. Wear it with pride.”

More than 6,800 people applied to join the UMSOM this year, with 175 accepted. The composition of this year’s class, as with previous years, is diverse, with students belonging to a tapestry of different backgrounds. To celebrate this diversity, nearly a dozen students took turns reading portions of the White Coat Ceremony Code of Honor in their native language.

Some students are on the path to becoming the first medical professional in their families. Others were joining a lineage of physicians, including a couple of UMSOM faculty who took the stage to present their own children with their white coats.

As part of the ceremony, this year’s students added their names alongside generations of previous first years in signing the leather-bound Honor Registry, which is on permanent display in Davidge Hall. They also each received a stethoscope as a sponsored gift from the alumni of the Medical Alumni Association, along with a personalized note written by an alum with a warm welcome and words of encouragement.

While the ceremony was heavy on tradition, UMSOM Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, reminded the students about the unique challenges their generation will face as medical professionals.

“We are currently living in the zoonotic era of infectious disease, as climate change, population growth, and a highly connected world drives animal-to-human transmission of new pathogens that will drive new pandemics. We also face the non-communicable pandemics of an aging population, the epidemic of obesity and diabetes, the epidemic of addiction in all its forms, and the anguish of mental illness and violence,” said Dr. Gladwin, who is also Vice President for Medical Affairs at UMB and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean. “You will be leaders in our academic medical centers confronting these seemingly insurmountable challenges and leveraging tools that I could only have dreamed at your age.”  

When those obstacles and challenges start to seem insurmountable, Olivia Cong, an MD candidate from the Class of 2027 and a standout student that was chosen to give some peer-to-peer insights during the ceremony, advised the first-year students to think back to their “why” and reasons for pursuing medicine.

“I hope you never lose sight of the values that brought you here,” she said.

Several first-year students, like Olivia Boykin and Justin Bustamante, seemed more than eager to face the road ahead and give back to the communities that raised and inspired them.

“I was born and raised in Maryland. I love Maryland. I strongly believe the University of Maryland is going to give me well-rounded patient experience and make me a more empathetic, heartfelt physician,” Boykin said.

Bustamente echoed those sentiments.

“I’m so looking forward to discovering the physician I’m meant to be [while at UMSOM],” he said.

White Coat Ceremony 2026 Image Gallery

View gallery in Flickr

Watch the White Coat Ceremony Video