Eighty-five percent of the students in the UT Tyler School of Medicine second class have ties to East Texas. (UT Tyler School of Medicine/Contributed Photo)

The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine held a White Coat Ceremony for 40 new students comprising the school’s second class. The ceremony was presented by UT Health East Texas and Christus Health System.

“This White Coat Ceremony is a rite of passage that marks a profound milestone for our students,” said Dr. Julie V. Philley, UT Tyler president. “It signifies the beginning of their journey into the medical profession and all of the responsibility that comes with it.”

During the event, students were presented with a white coat and a Humanism in Medicine pin. The keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP, former UT Tyler president, followed by the recitation of the Physician’s Oath, led by Dr. David Rice, the School of Medicine Phase One director. The tuition of the class was funded by a generous gift from an anonymous donor.

According to the School of Medicine, 85% of students in the second class have ties to East Texas counties, including Smith, Gregg, Rusk, Harrison, Henderson, Cherokee, Wood and Lamar.

“It’s our mission to recruit people from the community to serve the community,” said Dr. Brigham C. Willis, School of Medicine founding dean. “We are incredibly proud of these future physicians, whose dedication and excellence embody the vibrant spirit of East Texas.”

Students are from Forney, Flint, Gilmer, Nacogdoches, Tyler, Marshall, Longview, Lindale, Jacksonville, Kaufman and Kilgore. Of the students, 80% of the incoming class are women, Willis said in a previous interview with the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

The class has 40 students because it helps ensure individual relationships with instructors and students, while also ensuring the students are well supported in their pursuit of practicing medicine, according to previous reporting.

The White Coat Ceremony was initiated in 1993 at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons by Dr. Arnold P. Gold. Gold, an advocate for humanistic health care, believed that the oath taken by new physicians at the end of medical school came too late. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation has expanded the White Coat Ceremony around the globe.

The medical school was founded to address the health needs of East Texas. The inaugural class began in 2023.

From the incoming class, students showed interests in various specialties in medicine including family medicine, OB/GYN, surgery, internal medicine and pediatrics.

“The majority of the students and applicants are interested in primary care, because that’s the focus we need to have to really change health outcomes in East Texas,” Willis said in a previous interview.

The future medical education building, located on Beckham Avenue, will be five stories tall and almost 248,000 square feet in the heart of Tyler’s medical district in midtown.

The building will include classrooms, simulation labs, clinical and operating room training spaces, and multipurpose event and lecture spaces for the UT Tyler School of Medicine and graduate medical education programs.

The state-of-the-art building is expected to be completed in 2025.

The UT Tyler School of Medicine was announced in 2020 to accommodate a growing, critical need of more physicians in East Texas and has since continued momentum to become the first of its kind in the region.

It is a graduate medical school of UT Tyler, and is the first medical school in East Texas, the seventh medical school in the University of Texas System and 16th medical school in the state of Texas.

Since the beginning, the UT Tyler School of Medicine has received overwhelming support, including significant financial gifts, from the community.