Shahem AlQudah dons his White Coat with an assist from Orlando Regional Campus Dean Mark Chaet, M. D., while classmates, from left, Divya Arora, Michelle Arroyo and Sihini Atalugama await their moment. Behind them sit the recently pinned members of the Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
The evening ceremony at the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall centers around the celebration of the medical students’ completion of the rigorous first semester of medical school, which began in late May. Not coincidentally, it also includes the induction of select fourth-year medical students into the Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
“ To say that Dr. Edwards is the personification of all the good things FSU has to offer and is the embodiment of its mission, vision and values, is an understatement.”
GHHS members are chosen by peers and faculty for best demonstrating humanism in their care for patients through compassion, respect, empathy, integrity and clinical excellence. They are role models for the future physicians who are just beginning their medical education.
Sixteen members of the M. D. Class of 2026 were selected for GHHS induction, with 11 participating in the pinning ceremony that preceded the featured event. One of those inducted, Katelyn Cornelius, shared an important message with those soon-to-be-coated first-year students seated in the audience.
“ As I reflect on medical school, I’ ve realized that the most impactful lessons often don’ t come from textbooks or lectures,” said Cornelius, who anecdotally shared a few of her own clinical training experiences for illustration.“ They come from people, patients, classmates and mentors who teach us compassion, vulnerability and trust.”
Dean Littles followed with the introduction of alumnus Marlisha Edwards, M. D. as the keynote speaker:
Marlisha Edwards( M. D., ' 11) delivers a story-filled keynote address, continuing the College of Medicine tradition of an alumnus handling those duties at the annual White Coat Ceremony.
A College of Medicine graduate, Edwards practices family medicine in Tallahassee with the Southern Medical Group / TMH Physician Partners, instructs third-year medical students as a member of the college’ s clerkship faculty and is president of SMG’ s executive committee.
Her path to becoming a leader in the medical profession mirrors the vision the College of Medicine’ s founders had when developing multiple programs that would encourage and support
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