Medical students in white coats blue circle

WHITE COAT CEREMONY

THE FIRST STOP ON THE WAY TO EARNING YOUR MD

The White Coat Ceremony is a time-honored event that marks the official entrance of matriculating AUC students into medical school and the medical profession. In the presence of family and friends, students receive their first white coat—a symbol of bestowed trust to carry on the tradition of doctoring.
 

A TRADITION TO WELCOME INCOMING MD STUDENTS TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF THE CARIBBEAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

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VIRTUAL WHITE COAT CEREMONY

FRIDAY, FEBUARY 5, 2021  
3:30 PM EASTERN, LIVE BROADCAST

AUC School of Medicine invites you to join our White Coat Ceremony on Friday, February 5, 2021 at 3:30pm ET | 4:30pm AST. This time-honored event marks your official entrance into medical school and your commitment to the profession of medicine.

With the COVID-19 pandemic changing how our usual celebrations and rituals are conducted, this semester’s ceremony will be hosted online. We look forward to celebrating this important tradition with you virtually.
 


 

VIRTUAL WHITE COAT CEREMONY INFORMATION

PROGRAM

The program can be viewed here.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Nirmish Shah

White Coat Ceremony Speaker

Nirmish Ramesh Shah, MD ‘00

Nirmish Shah, MD, currently serves as an Associate Professor at Duke University with a joint appointment between the Division of Adult Hematology and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He has spent much time and effort focused on the care and research of both pediatric and adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). He has a specific emphasis on clinical and translational research, narrowing his concentration on novel therapeutic interventions, transition from pediatrics to adult medicine, and exploring the use of mobile technology for patients with SCD.

Dr. Shah earned his Medical Doctor Degree (MD) from American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) in 2000, and went on to complete his pediatric residency at East Carolina University. He then completed fellowships in Adult Hematology/Oncology and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at East Carolina University and Duke University School of Medicine, respectively.

In addition, Dr. Shah is the Director of Clinical Research in Benign Hematology with a focus on SCD research, leading multiple sponsor-, NIH-, and investigator-initiated studies. He has worked hard to specialize his expertise, using it in collaboration with multiple investigators and integrating mobile health applications and wearable devices into healthcare studies. Over the past five years, he has been successful at securing multiple funding sources, including distinguished grants, to support each of his research efforts. These awards comprise an increasing focus on innovative approaches toward technology, collaboration and mentoring.

Notably, he has worked closely with Sicklesoft to develop disease-specific mobile apps to obtain subjective symptoms, use wearable devices to passively acquire objective data, and explore various analytic methods to understand and predict outcomes. This collaboration resulted in the development of an oncology-focused mobile application (TRU-Onc) and previously developed apps (TRU-BMT, TRU-PBMT and TRU-SCD), which were designed with input from patients, families and providers. Dr. Shah and his collaborators’ apps and wearable studies have performed successfully at five academic institutions in various research studies and have led to numerous publications, including:

JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Journal of Pediatric Nursing
British Journal of Haematology
Pediatric Blood & Cancer
Journal of Computational Biology

Dr. Nirmish Shah is proud to be a graduate of AUC School of Medicine. As he puts it:

“We will always look back on our time at AUC with a smile. It is amazing how much support we received from all the friends we made. We are thankful for the path it led us down.”

LIVESTREAM

Join Live from Facebook or YouTube

Instructions for Students

1. Purchase your white coat as soon as possible. White Coats are available for purchase online via the University Bookstore, or on campus in Sint Maarten:

  • Purchase your white coat on campus in Sint Maarten at the Campus Service Center. 
  • To purchase your white coat online, visit bookstore.aucmed.edu and log in with your student email and password. You can create a new account if needed.
  • Select the “White Coat Ceremony” course under the February 2021 Courses header.
  • Choose your gender and coat size using the size chart as guidance.
  • Ensure you enter your current address for delivery. Keep in mind that orders ship from the US, and international shipping charges will apply for orders being delivered outside of the US. For students who are based in Sint Maarten purchasing from the Campus Service Center may be the best option.

2. Submit your photo and a recording of your name.

To be able to honor each of you individually at our virtual White Coat ceremony, we would like to showcase your photos during the live event. You will receive an email (to your AUC email account) from our partners at Name Coach. Please follow the instructions in that email, and upload your photo and a recording of your name by Tuesday, January 19, 2021.

  • Photos should be headshots (taken from the waist up), in business formal attire and your White Coat.
  • Hold your camera or phone horizontally so your photo is landscape and make sure you are in a well-lit area and against a plain background.
  • If you are unable to get your white coat in time, please submit a photo in business formal attire.
  • Please note that only students who submit their name and/or photo via Name Coach will be featured in our virtual presentation during the ceremony.

If you have any questions, please contact aucevents@aucmed.edu.