{"id":217589,"date":"2024-08-23T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=217589"},"modified":"2025-09-19T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T16:01:00","slug":"uconn-welcomes-school-of-medicines-class-of-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/08\/uconn-welcomes-school-of-medicines-class-of-2028\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Welcomes School of Medicine\u2019s Class of 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Aug. 23 UConn School of Medicine celebrated its incoming medical students in the Class of 2028 with the traditional annual White Coat Ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Class of 2028 has 112 new students selected from over 4,600 applications.\u00a0 Eighty-one percent of the students are from Connecticut, and 32% earned their undergraduate degrees at the University of Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The excitement of the incoming class beginning their four-year medical school journey at UConn Health was in the air and upon the smiling faces of these future doctors-to-be, along with their families, and the School of Medicine faculty set to train them.<\/p>\n

\"Kitty
Incoming UConn medical student Kitty Crosby at the 2024 White Coat Ceremony in the Academic Rotunda at UConn Health (Photo by Michael Fiedler).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI am so excited,\u201d shared Kitty Crosby, 25, of Darien who attended the University of Michigan for her undergraduate degree. \u201cI love Connecticut, and I want to ultimately serve my home state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby has a personal mission in wanting to become a UConn-trained physician.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be a doctor ever since my cousin got leukemia and Connecticut doctors saved her. I want other people to have similar success stories,\u201d says Crosby. \u201cWe learn about leukemia in our first block of medical school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gaganjot
Class of 2028’s Gaganjot Bedi is a double-husky.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gaganjot Bedi, 24, of West Hartford is thrilled to be starting UConn medical school. He attended UConn Storrs as an undergrad and is now a proud \u201cdouble-husky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is really a full circle moment,\u201d says Bedi who served as a volunteer at UConn Health in high school, and even shadowed its clinicians. \u201cI hope to become a Connecticut physician to give back and care for the Connecticut community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful for UConn,\u201d says Fabio Saccomanno, 24, of New Fairfield who is also a proud double-husky too. He served in the student government as an undergrad at UConn. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be doctor. I have had excellent mentors at UConn. UConn supports students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saccomanno adds, \u201cIt was important to me to stay in-state for medical school to give back to Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Class of 2028\u2019s Ellen Fuller, of West Hartford, is carrying on her family\u2019s legacy at UConn School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so grateful to be here,\u201d Fuller said after the White Coat Ceremony. \u201cI\u2019m so excited for the next four years here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fabio
UConn School of Medicine Class of 2028 Fabio Saccomanno, a double-husky, receiving his white coat (Photo by Michael Fiedler).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fuller is following in the medicine career footsteps of her father Dr. Robert Fuller, the chair of Emergency Medicine at UConn Health, sister Dr. Sarah Fuller a SOM \u201823 graduate now in residency training to become an emergency medicine doctor like her dad at the University of Miami, and also sister Julia, an emergency room charge nurse at Dartmouth Medical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy white coat feels amazing,\u201d exclaimed Marc Merriman, 24, from New Orleans and a graduate of Louisiana\u2019s Xavier University. \u201cI am looking forward to my first interactions with patients. UConn puts a lot of focus on the importance of medical students early-exposure to patient care experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Merriman is not new to UConn Health. For the last two years before medical school, he\u2019s served as a scholar in the\u00a0Young Innovative Investigator Program (YIIP). It is a unique and intensive 2-year program of the\u00a0Cato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like research,\u201d says Merriman who had the exciting opportunity to assist Laurencin and his lab in its major limb regeneration research underway in the Hartford Engineering a Limb Project (HEAL).<\/p>\n

\"Marc
First-year medical student Marc Merriman (Photo by Michael Fiedler).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to officially welcome the Class of 2028,\u201d shared Marilyn Katz, M.D.<\/a>, assistant dean for Medical Student Affairs at UConn School of Medicine\u2019s 2024 White Coat Ceremony. \u201cThe White Coat Ceremony is the epitome of the start of medical school. From this point forward, you are not just a student \u2013 you are on your way to being a physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to UConn!\u201d exclaimed Dr. Bruce T. Liang, dean of UConn School of Medicine for the last decade. \u201cYour education is in excellent hands. You are the future of medicine for our state and our country. Remember to listen to your patients, they will teach you so much. As future physicians, always remember to give your patients hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liang added, \u201cHere at UConn we have been producing Connecticut\u2019s health care workforce since 1972. We are the number one producer of Connecticut\u2019s health care workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dr
The future Dr. Ellen Fuller is following in her Dad Dr. Robert Fuller’s footsteps at UConn Health, and her sisters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thomas Regan, M.D<\/a>.<\/a><\/strong>, assistant dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, concluded \u201cCongratulations to the incoming class. You are now students of medicine, and always will be. Enjoy the journey!\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, SOM Alum from the Class of 1990 served as the ceremony\u2019s keynote speaker and shared that in each new white coat\u2019s pocket there was a note from a UConn SOM alum cheering on each new medical student and sharing how they are here for the student anytime.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all worked hard to get here. Soak it all in,\u201d shared Dr. David Karas, the VP of the Medical Alumni Board. \u201cUConn emphasizes its students and student education more than any place. Students are the focus of UConn. I look back fondly on my time here. UConn is a very unique place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome and congrats to the UConn School of Medicine\u2019s Class of 2028.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Aug 23 2024, 11 26 08 AM<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div>\"White<\/a>
White Coat Ceremony 2024<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>