![\"dental](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Courtney-_Chandler_IMG_1061-scaled.jpeg\")
\u201cAs you receive your new white coats, I ask that you take time to reflect on the same guiding principles that we spoke about 566 days ago at the first white coat ceremony\u2014a commitment to the oral health of individuals and to society, a commitment to serve others, and a commitment to do your best to make a real difference in the lives of individuals,\u201d said Dr. Steven Lepowsky, dean of the School of Dental Medicine.<\/p>\n
The UConn School of Dental Medicine\u2019s unique tradition includes two white coat ceremonies\u2014one at the beginning of dental school, and a transition ceremony before students begin their clinical phase of training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might be the only school that holds two separate and distinct white coat ceremonies,\u201d Lepowsky said.<\/p>\n
Dr. David Remiszewski\u2014who completed his undergraduate degree at UConn in 2013, his D.M.D. in 2017, and his prosthodontics residency in 2020\u2014delivered the alumni greeting.<\/p>\n
Remiszewski shared four main principles that he learned in his journey: be bold, get comfortable being uncomfortable, be confident and prepared, and be human.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever stop learning, never stop asking questions,\u201d Remiszewski concluded.<\/p>\n
Kathlene Gerrity, executive director of the Connecticut State Dental Association (CSDA), also shared a few words with the students on behalf of the CSDA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the best job ever because I get to look at you as the future and learn from you what you want to do with your career, where you see your profession taking you, so I can make sure that barriers don\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Eric Bernstein, associate dean for academic affairs, shared remarks on professionalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour white coat is a white coat, it is not a red cape, it does not make you a super hero, you must always have the humility to recognize that, and to know and respect the limitations of your level and training,\u201d Bernstein said.<\/p>\n
Associate dean for clinical affairs, Dr. Sophia Saeed, spoke about ethics and patient care.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will face ethical challenges everyday\u2014some will be small and seemingly inconsequential, others will seem daunting and keep you up at night,\u201d Saeed said. \u201cThe next few years will be the time during which your professional identity as a doctor will form, the choices you make will solidify your character as a doctor, a care provider, and a healer. If you revisit the reasons why you chose this career path, they will help ground you through difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Donna Paoella, associate dean for admissions, recited the School\u2019s honor code that the students first signed when they entered dental school. Dr. Sarita Arteaga, associate dean for students, finished the ceremony by reciting the professional pledge\u2014officially kicking off the student\u2019s transition into the clinical phase of their dental school training.<\/p>\n
The students are looking forward to this next chapter of seeing patients.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting, and it\u2019s also a little overwhelming and surreal because we will actually be working on patients soon,\u201d said Tima Vinca. \u201cAll this book learning becomes applicable to real patients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to start seeing patients\u2014especially Hispanic patients,\u201d said Luis Romero. \u201cI look forward to treating them in English or Spanish, and helping them out.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UConn School of Dental Medicine celebrates a big milestone for second-year students during the annual White Coat Transition ceremony<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":210827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2166,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2177],"class_list":["post-210820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sdm","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 06:31:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210820"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235927,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210820\/revisions\/235927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/210827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210820"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=210820"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=210820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"dental](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Courtney-_Chandler_IMG_1098-scaled.jpeg\")