In this room, we are not only witnessing the donning of lab coats; we are witnessing the birth of future pioneers, innovators, and visionaries. Whether your passion lies in unraveling the complexities of certain disorders, creating innovative approaches to detect or diagnose disease, or developing life-saving treatments to cure disease…know that the world eagerly awaits your contributions.

Dean Melina Kibbe, MD

The University of Virginia School of Medicine celebrated its first-year Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program students at the 2024 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony on March 29. This event marks the students’ transition to the next phase of their graduate careers when they embark on their mentored research projects.

Family, friends, faculty, and staff gathered in McLeod Auditorium — and also remotely — to recognize 57 students in the following disciplines: Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (4), Biophysics and Physiology (9), Cell Biology (6), Experimental Pathology (5), Microbiology (16), Neuroscience (10), and Pharmacology (7). The class is 63% female and 26% of the total students are from underrepresented minorities (URM).

Each student received a personally embroidered lab coat as a gift from the UVA Medical Alumni Association. To highlight the critical role of mentorship in our programs, faculty mentors for each discipline coated their students.

During the ceremony, five Medical Scientist Training Program students who completed their pre-clinical medical school classes and their Step 1 exams were recognized as they transitioned to their research labs to begin the PhD portion of their studies.

Speakers included: Dean Melina Kibbe, MD; Janet V. Cross, PhD, associate dean for graduate and medical scientist programs; Barry Collins, associate dean for medical alumni affairs and executive director of the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation; and Adrian Halme, PhD, assistant dean for graduate research training.

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Coverage from the UVA School of Medicine, including more photos and video