On 8 April the OCU Faculty of Medicine held its 2015 White Coat Ceremony.

　Students at the Faculty of Medicine study for 4 years to obtain the basic medical knowledge and skills to become a doctor. At the end of their 4th year they need to take the OSCE exam, held at all Japanese medical universities. If they pass that successfully they receive the title of Student Doctor from the Association of Japanese Medical colleges and are allowed to start clinical practice as 5th year students at a university hospital.?To mark this important moment each student receives a white doctor’s coat. The ceremony serves as an official start of the clinical training and students are once more reminded of their responsibility now they are one step closer to becoming official doctors. At the same time it is a good opportunity to show the outside world that a new generation of qualified students is about to start the clinical practice part of their studies and to ask for the cooperation of the patients.

　The ceremony started with a welcome speech by Dean Arakawa of the Faculty of Medicine, followed by a word of congratulations for the doctors to be from the OCU Medical School Alumni Association Chairman Ikuno.

　As representatives of their fellow students, four students received their brand new white coats and a firm handshake from the Dean of the Faculty, the Director of the University Hospital, the Chairman of the Education Committee and the Chairman of the Alumni Association. 5^th year student Mika Houjou and 6^th year student Rei Kamue then gave a short speech, expressing their strong will and passion to succeed in the tough period of training that lay ahead.

　For the first time this year, the white coats will bear an emblem on the right sleeve. The emblem design was selected in a competition in which 9 designs had been submitted.The winners of the design competition were 6th year student Gaku Kanemoto and 5th year student Reiko Takemura. They incorporated into their design the Rod of Asclepius, the universal symbol for medicine of a snake entwined staff from Greek mythology. The symbol is combined with the book and medicine bowl standing for the three values of the Faculty of Medicine: wisdom, blessing and bravery, entwined by laurel. The emblem has been adopted as the official logo mark of the OCU Faculty of Medicine.

Group photo taken in the first floor entrance hall after the ceremony