FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                           

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

 

High School Students Don White Coats on Completion of  

Determined to Be a Doctor (DDS) Program at

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

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Memphis, Tenn. (June 13, 2012) – On June 2, more than 25 Memphis-area students received their white coats for completing the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s (UTHSC) Determined to be a Doctor Someday Program.  Created by UTHSC alumna, Christina Rosenthal, DDS, the program encourages minority and underrepresented students’ interests in pursuing careers in professional health care.  Through a series of Saturday-morning sessions, the program exposes qualified participants to the different health care doctorate degrees available.

UTHSC donated the space for the weekly sessions, provided meals, and purchased the white coats for this first-ever presentation.  Donning a white coat is a traditional symbol for entry into professional health care practice.

Guest speakers for the ceremony included Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford, Jr., EdD, and Mayor A C Wharton.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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