Jefferson Medical Students Begin ‘Extraordinary Journey’ at White Coat Ceremony

Claudia Boettcher knew she wanted to be a physician from a young age. Born with a congenital heart defect, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, she saw the role doctors played in her life.

“I’ve grown up going to a lot of hospital visits and doctor appointments,” Boettcher says. “I want to positively impact my patients the way my doctors impacted me.”

As a research associate during her undergraduate years in Ohio, she studied genetic variants that contribute to hypoplastic left heart syndrome and won an American Heart Association award for her work. The rewarding experience helped her connect the patient to the science.

She now joins 280 classmates as part of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) Class of 2030.

“It feels surreal still,” Boettcher says. “The younger me would be so proud. This has always been my goal. It’s finally here, and I’m taking that big step.”

At a special July 31 ceremony in Philadelphia’s Crystal Tea Room, members of the new SKMC class received their white coats, marking the official start of their medical school careers. With loved ones in attendance, students recited the Hippocratic Oath and heard words of inspiration from Jefferson leadership, faculty, and fellow students.

“Today marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey for you,” says Said Ibrahim, MD, the Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean of SKMC. “One that will challenge you, inspire you, and ultimately shape you into the physicians of tomorrow. At SKMC, our mission is not only to provide you with cutting-edge medical education but also to foster an environment where compassion, integrity, and collaboration thrive. Medicine is both an art and a science, requiring precision, empathy, and continuous learning.”

Congratulating the Class of 2030, Thomas Jefferson University President Susan Aldridge, PhD, reminded them they won’t be making this journey alone, thanks to the support of Dr. Ibrahim, SKMC faculty and staff, and their classmates.  

“I have no doubt that you are ready, given your obvious intelligence and exceptional work ethic, as well as your desire to make a difference in the lives of the patients you will serve by delivering the best care with empathy, integrity, and professionalism,” she says, noting that medical school will be equal parts challenging and rewarding. “We all have tremendous faith in your success as stewards of the future of patient-centered healthcare.”

Jefferson CEO Joe Cacchione, MD, a cardiologist, called the White Coat Ceremony one of his favorite University events.

“Medicine is a way of life, it’s a calling,” he says, stressing that students embrace the high-touch aspect of healthcare along with the inevitable tech advances in the years ahead. “You will remember the patients far more than any technology.”

He also urged the Class of 2030 to remain curious and stay humble. “You don’t know it all,” Dr. Cacchione says. “Humility will allow you to listen and be approachable.”

As a sixth grader, new medical student Daniel Adili-Khams vividly remembers being with his dad — a physician in rural Delaware — when they bumped into one of his dad’s patients at a local restaurant.

The raw gratitude the patient expressed to his dad stuck with him. “It fascinated me from the jump,” says Adili-Khams, a Lewes, Del., native.

Before starting at Jefferson, Adili-Khams took a gap year and worked in a surgery center in Jackson Hole, Wyo. There, he saw how patients would sometimes drive five hours to receive care.

“Rural medicine is somewhere I could see making an impact,” says Adili-Khams, who enters Jefferson through the Physician Shortage Area Program and the Delaware Institute of Medical Education and Research Program.

Classmate Anthony Paul Lisi initially envisioned a career in chemistry and therapeutics. However, after shadowing physicians as an undergraduate, he realized medicine would allow him to combine his scientific curiosity with meaningful patient relationships.

“My mentors noticed that my eyes lit up and the joy I felt being alongside them,” says Lisi, a first-generation college student with a black belt in karate. “They took me under their wing.”

His sister Brianna, a doctoral student in Jefferson’s Neuroscience program, encouraged him to attend the University. At last year’s Weinberg ALS Center open house, he watched Brianna present her amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research with her lab members to patients and their families.

“It showed me how Jefferson elevates their researchers and allows them to make an impact on people’s lives to move humanity in the right direction,” Lisi says. “It was inspiring.”

This year’s White Coat Ceremony marked the start of a new tradition, explained Wayne Bond Lau, MD, interim senior vice provost for student affairs at SKMC.

Since the 2019 ceremony, roughly 2,000 SKMC students have received naloxone, the lifesaving medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Now, each member of the Class of 2030 — and future generations of Jefferson medical students — will also receive their own stethoscope courtesy of Nancy Czarnecki, MD, the first woman to matriculate at and graduate from Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College) in 1965.

“God bless you on your most unbelievable journey,” says Dr. Czarnecki, who joked that she couldn’t find her old white coat. “Study hard so you can become the best physician you can be.”

Dr. Bond Lau thanked her for creating the Czarnecki Family Stethoscope Endowment Fund and, speaking to students, noted the importance of what the white coat represents: hope.

“It must, because patients rarely meet you on the best day of their lives,” says Dr. Bond Lau, interim vice dean of student affairs and career counseling at SKMC. “They meet you on the day they can’t breathe. The day a test comes back positive. The day their child develops a fever that won’t go away. On the worst day of someone’s life, you will walk into the room. Consider how truly extraordinary that is — what a privilege.”

He told the med students to never forget this ceremony and hold on to this first white coat, one of many they will own throughout their careers.

“Wearing this white coat is not a privilege because of what it says about you,” Dr. Bond Lau says. “It is a privilege because of what it asks of you.”

In the ceremony keynote, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics Charles Pohl, MD, who recently retired after 33 years at Jefferson, reminded the Class of 2030 that they’re entering a profession built on relationships, grounded in trust, and defined by the human touch.

“You are SKMC students,” he says. “You will be exceptionally well-trained. I want you to trust yourself, trust your education, and trust the support of your classmates as you embark on this journey.”