The Outlook - Western University of Health Sciences

White Coats Donned at Annual CeremonyAMID CHEERING AND APPLAUSE from family andfriends, the 105 members of the new CVM Classof 2015 received their white coats during theannual White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 6 at OntarioConvention Center.Keynote speaker John Payne, president and chiefexecutive officer of Banfield, The Pet Hospital, toldthe more than 500 people assembled in BallroomA that veterinary medicine “is the greatestprofession on Earth.” To the new class he saidthey have an “awesome responsibility … to makeveterinary medicine even better than it is today,and it’s already fantastic!”He intoned the incoming class to take care ofthemselves during the next four years of rigorousstudy so they may go on to become healthy,productive veterinarians. He noted that the facultymembers at WesternU’s CVM “are here to help andguide you.”“The demand for veterinary medicine has neverbeen stronger and will continue to be strong,” hereported. “This is a great time to be a vet, and infour years’ time, it’s even going to be better. Youhave a great future ahead of you.” He urged theclass to “do everything you can to make sureveterinary medicine grows and flourishes.”The White Coat Ceremony followed the Convocation, whichpacked about 3,500 people – incoming students fromWesternU’s nine colleges, plus family and friends – into themain Exhibit Hall of the Convention Center. The keynoteaddress was delivered by Herb Schultz, who was appointed in2010 by President BarackObama to serve as theRegion IX director for theUS Department of Healthand Human Services. Thediverse Region IX coversArizona, California, Nevada,and Hawaii; the territoriesof American Samoa,Commonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islands,CVM’s Class of 2015and Guam, and the freely associated states of the FederatedStates of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Republicof Palau. Previously, Schultz served as a senior health policyadvisor to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Such diversity is important to Schultz, who noted during hisaddress that WesternU’s academic diversity, as well as thesociocultural diversity of its student body, is a tremendous assetin the health-care world.“One of the things I love about WesternU is that you representAmerica. You represent the people you will serve,” he said.Remembering that those patients are what matters mostshould allow all involved in the health-care debate to look pastpartisan politics and find a clear path to better health care foreveryone, he concluded. “Politics to me is about working withyou to make change happen.”WesternU Enrollment Sets RecordThemorethan1,100first-yearstudentsatWesternUniversityofHealthSciencesmarkthelargest-everenteringclassinWesternU’shistory,whichbeganin1977andincludedaninitialclassofjust36osteopathicstudentsin1978.Thesizeoftheincomingclassoffutureosteopathicphysicians,pharmacists,nurses,veterinarians,physicianassistants,physicaltherapists,dentists,optometrists,podiatristsandbiomedicalscholarspushedtheUniversity’stotalenrollmentpast3,200forthe2011-12academicyear–anotherrecord.4