For the first time in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy’s history of hosting white coat ceremonies for its Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students, two entire classes received their coats on Oct. 1. First-year PharmD students in the Class of 2025 and second-year students in the Class of 2024 – who missed their ceremony in Fall 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic – walked across the stage in UMB’s Leadership Hall to receive their white coats – a symbol of the health care professions and a decades-old rite of passage for pharmacy students across the country.
“As you sit here now, I’m sure it’s hard to envision that in a few short years, you will walk across another stage to receive your Doctor of Pharmacy degree,” said Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FAAPS, FCP, dean and professor of the School of Pharmacy in her remarks. “That degree will allow you to be part of one of the most rewarding careers in health care – pharmacy.
Eddington reminded the students and those watching online about the important role that pharmacists play as an integral – and often the most accessible – member of a patient’s health care team. “As a medication expert, a pharmacist provides valuable information on pharmacotherapy, drug-drug interactions, and potentially dangerous side-effects,” she said. “Pharmacists are directly involved in patient care through chronic disease management, where they sit down with their patients to educate them about their disease, help them understand their medications, and ensure adherence to their therapy. And by administering life-saving immunizations, as demonstrated by their heroic efforts delivering COVID-19 vaccines this year.”
With pandemic restrictions still in place, nearly 2,000 of the students’ families and friends watched via a live stream and offered congratulations, love, and praise in the broadcast’s chat box.
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