KCU-Joplin Medical School holds White Coat Ceremony for new student doctors

The KCU-Joplin Medical held its “White Coat Ceremony” Sunday afternoon at Joplin High School’s Performing Arts Center at 2104 Indiana Avenue in Joplin.

The White Coating Ceremony marks the official start of medical school for new students as they receive their first white coats and take the Osteopathic Oath, symbolizing their entry into the medical profession and commitment to patient care.

162 new student doctors took part in the ceremony.

KCU alumnus, Chris Paynter, DO, served as keynote speaker.

A dedicated physician at SSM Health, Paynter is known for his commitment to attracting medical talent to mid-Missouri. Paynter was recently inaugurated as president of the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons.

“You will work harder than you ever have before,” Dr. Paynter told the students. “You’ll be asked to learn a new language and cram an impossible amount of information in your head and try to figure out how to make sense of it on a test only to start over again and do it again for the next block.

“Then, when you’re with me on clinical rotations, you have to take that same information and pretend you know what you’re doing in order to figure how how to save someone’s life.

“And on top of that….. you’ll be expected to carry the future of healthcare on your shoulders and be asked to fix this broken system you’re about to enter.”

KCU is the largest medical school in Missouri and the 5th largest private medical school in the nation.  The school, with campuses in Kansas City and Joplin, is the leading producer of physicians for Missouri and the second-leading producer for Kansas.

Nearly 12,000 physicians and scientists nationwide have earned their degrees at KCU.