White Coat Ceremony marks transition for Class of 2024

The Class of 2024 assembles at the Mitchell Center for the White Coat Ceremony.

Members of the Class of 2024 at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama were cloaked with white coats in a ceremony on Thursday, June 16, marking the transition into their clinical training.

During the ceremony, 74 third-year medical students took the Medical Student Oath, a promise to uphold the human aspects of medicine such as sensitivity, compassion and respect for patients. They were led by Chris Semple, M.D., president of the USA Medical Alumni Association, which provides the white coats.

Class President Carey P. Johnson addresses his classmates.

Carey P. Johnson, class president, addressed his fellow students. “With all the exams, the quizzes, the interviews and the caffeine-induced migraines, I thought, ‘Why would somebody continue down the path to do this?’ One word came to mind: passion,” said Johnson, who would be helped into his white coat by his wife, Angela Mosley-Johnson, M.D., an OB-GYN resident at USA Health.

“As I stand up here and look out at you, Class of 2024, I know that you are capable. You answered the call, and you endured,” he said.

Phillip K. Henderson, D.O., assistant professor of internal medicine and assistant professor of surgery at the Whiddon College of Medicine, delivered the keynote address.

Henderson urged the students to learn from humiliation, bad decisions and human tragedy, and to become an advocate for their patients. “I don’t care if you’re a third-year medical student or a third-year professor, being an advocate for your patients – there’s no better honor that you could ever have,” he said. 

During the ceremony, senior medical students, residents and faculty were inducted into the USA Chapter of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society (GHHS), a national society that celebrates compassionate, patient-centered care. They also received GHHS pins.

Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society
inductees receive pins.

The inductees included:

• Kasey Andrews, student
• Donavon Dahmer, student
• Baylee Edwards, student
• Sarah Fillingim, student
• Mengjie Hu, student
• Natalie Kidd, student
• Ashley Nguyen, student
• Hailey Selikoff, student
• Mary Vansant, student
• Nicholas Viyuoh, student
• Rennan Zaharias, student
• Elizabeth Minto, M.D., assistant professor, department of neurology
• Justin Grimes, M.D., resident, department of surgery
• Sana Ozair, M.D., resident, department of internal medicine
• Macy Vickers, M.D., resident, department of obstetrics and gynecology

View more photos from the ceremony on Flickr.

Medical students and residents win at regional emergency medicine conference

From left, Christopher Musselwhite, M.D., emergency medicine chief resident; Kyle Johnson, M.D., emergency medicine resident; medical students Nicholas Viyouh and Payal Patel; and Michael Sternberg, M.D., professor of emergency medicine, display the awards they won at the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Emerald Coast Conference.

The USA Health Department of Emergency Medicine, with the support of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine, sponsored four medical students and two emergency medicine residents in a 10-state regional poster competition at the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Emerald Coast Conference. The meeting was held in Destin, Florida, last week; and awards were presented on
June 8.

Medical students Payal Patel and Nicholas Viyouh

“We competed against multiple medical schools and established emergency medicine residency programs throughout the Southeast and ended up winning two of the three awards given,” said Michael Sternberg, M.D., professor of emergency medicine and medical student clerkship director, who has taken many students to the competition during the past 10 years. “We have established a reputation for academic excellence at this conference that greatly influences our ability to place our medical students into their top choices for residency.” 

Emergency medicine resident Kyle Johnson, M.D.

Mentored by Sternberg, third-year medical students Payal Patel and Nicholas Viyouh won first place in the clinical case series with a presentation on a patient with acute myelogenous leukemia and thrombocytopenia, which is a deficiency of platelets in the blood. 

Kyle Johnson M.D., a second-year emergency medicine resident, also won in the category for his presentation of a case of Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disorder, that presented as blindness in a pregnant patient. He was assisted by Christopher Musselwhite, M.D., a third-year chief resident.

USA Medical Alumni Association hosts reunion weekend

Members of the Class of 2010 and their spouses enjoy the All Class Celebration at The Hope Farm.

Alumni and their families came together for the 2022 USA Medical Alumni Association Reunion, held June 10-12 at The Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama.  

Members of the Class of 1981 meet at the 

home of Anne and Albert Haas.

As part of the reunion activities, alumni toured the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine. For many, it was their first time back on campus since they graduated. They also heard a lecture from Steven Stokes, M.D., a 1980 alumnus of the College of Medicine and a member of the USA Board of Trustees. 

Alumni of all ages connected at the All Class Celebration at The Hope Farm in Fairhope. More than 130 people attended the event. 

Anna Claire Parks, associate director for medical alumni relations, said this year’s reunion served as a trial run for next year – the 50th anniversary of the College of Medicine. Next year’s celebration is set for June 9-11, 2023, at The Grand Hotel.

View more photos from the reunion on Flickr.