The School of Medicine welcomed its newest class of future physicians with a White Coat Ceremony held on the Health Sciences Center Campus Aug. 10.

The ceremony is an annual rite of passage for first-year medical students, who are presented with white jackets that symbolize their dedication to patients, colleagues and the medical profession. Students also pledge to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct and respect for human dignity.

This year’s class is the second-most accomplished in school history, officials said, with average exam scores and undergraduate GPAs that are surpassed only by last year’s incoming class of medical students.

Edward Halperin, M.D., M.A., dean of the School of Medicine, welcomed the 155 matriculating students to “the company of educated women and men who chose to devote their lives to the relief of pain, the amelioration of suffering and the avoidance, when possible, of premature death.”

“Remember,” Halperin said during his address, “that life is short. The art is long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience is delusive. Judgment is difficult. Godspeed on this part of your journey, young doctors of the University of Louisville."