{"id":13670,"date":"2025-07-17T16:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/?p=13670"},"modified":"2025-08-22T10:52:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T15:52:03","slug":"und-welcomes-m-d-class-of-2029-distributes-white-coats-and-stethoscopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/2025\/07\/17\/und-welcomes-m-d-class-of-2029-distributes-white-coats-and-stethoscopes\/","title":{"rendered":"UND welcomes M.D. Class of 2029, distributes white coats and stethoscopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Color Kaleb Card very impressed.<\/p>\n

Two weeks in at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences and the first-year medical student is loving how team-oriented his medical training has been to date.<\/p>\n

Faculty have \u201creally emphasized the importance of working together and how medicine requires teamwork throughout the care of every patient,\u201d acknowledged Card, one of more than 70 first-year students in UND\u2019s M.D. Class of 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just working with other physicians but also individuals of other medical specialties. We have time just about every day when we work in small groups to learn how to solve problems or help teach each other concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Card is referring to the School\u2019s award-winning patient-centered learning (PCL) curriculum, which emphasizes case-based team training wherein students of different programs actively help teach each other biomedical, diagnostic, and therapeutic concepts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all striving towards a common goal \u2013 patient care \u2013 but none of us really knows all there is to know about how to get there yet. All we know is that it will take a lot of time, teamwork, and effort,\u201d continued Card, who does know one thing: he has wanted to be a physician since fourth grade. \u201cEvery day, I strive to make at least one person\u2019s day one percent better. If I am able to do that, then I\u2019ve helped someone every day and will reach thousands of people throughout my practice and my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Never been happier\u2019<\/h3>\n

UND medical students\u2019 first week is dedicated to orientation, including an introduction to UND\u2019s nationally recognized, four-year, PCL curriculum where biomedical and clinical sciences are taught in the context of an inter-professional setting. Special emphasis is placed on students\u2019 new roles and expectations of them as health professionals.<\/p>\n

Orientation week concluded with a White Coat Ceremony last Friday, wherein Card and his classmates recited the Oath of Hippocrates and received their first white coats, which\u00a0were provided by donors to the School and subsequently personalized by the\u00a0North Dakota Medical Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Posing for a picture in her white coat at the ceremony, Wisconsin native Nina Johnson almost had to pinch herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first 10 days of medical school have been nothing short of amazing!\u201d gushed Johnson, who earned her undergraduate degree from UND and worked as a standardized patient in the School\u2019s Simulation Center. \u201cThis is truly all I have ever wanted to do in life, and I have never been happier. I am excited to start my days early in the morning, excited to come to school, and excited to learn new material. I feel more motivated than ever and know that UND is and always will be my perfect fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she pledges to remain open-minded, Johnson said that where specialization is concerned, her \u201cheart lies in obstetrics and gynecology,\u201d specifically reproductive endocrinology.<\/p>\n

\u201cOb\/Gyn is a very vibrant specialty because while 100 women may have the same \u2018diagnosis\u2019 \u2013 pregnancy \u2013 each of them are experiencing that diagnosis very differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drinking from a firehose<\/h3>\n

Ranging in age from 20 to 32 years, and with an average age of 23, the vast majority of this year\u2019s entering students are from North Dakota and Minnesota. The cohort comes to UND\u2019s medical school with experience in an array of fields, including anthropology, biochemistry, biology, biomedical engineering, business administration, chemistry, computer science, finance, health studies, mechanical engineering, medical laboratory science, neuroscience, nursing, physics, psychology, and theatre arts.<\/p>\n

Some of these first-year students already hold advanced degrees, including graduate degrees in histotechnology, physiology, and public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White Coat Ceremony is always meaningful for our medical students,\u201d added Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, dean of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences and UND\u2019s vice president for Health Affairs. \u201cYou can feel how excited everyone is to be here \u2013 including students\u2019 families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining how this year\u2019s students represent UND\u2019s fifty-first official M.D. class, Jenkins thanked White Coat Ceremony keynote speaker Dr. Pat Moore, who graduated with UND\u2019s first M.D. cohort in 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifty years is an incredible milestone,\u201d said Jenkins. \u201cWe certainly wouldn\u2019t be where we are without the support of so many groups and individuals across North Dakota, including legislators, clinical faculty, and alumni like Dr. Moore. This is the people\u2019s medical school and we take our mission of improving the lives of all North Dakotans very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1905, the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences is North Dakota\u2019s only medical college. It also represents the most comprehensive collection of health sciences programs in the state, graduating more than 300 physicians, physician assistants, physical and occupational therapists, medical lab scientists, athletic trainers, researchers, and public and Indigenous health professionals annually.<\/p>\n

Since establishing its four-year M.D. program 50 years ago, the School has worked hard to help North Dakota \u201cgrow its own\u201d healthcare providers. This has meant not only recruiting students primarily from the state but partnering with the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and area health systems on initiatives designed to retain graduates for practice in North Dakota.<\/p>\n

It was one of these initiatives that caught LaMoure, N.D., native Donnie Bentz\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

Calling the School\u2019s Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) and RuralMed tuition waiver programs \u201cvery appealing,\u201d Bentz confessed to an interest in rural medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming involved in the community was incredibly fulfilling during my undergraduate study, and doing something similar at the med school level with a program like ROME is one of my priorities, and part of what drew me to UND,\u201d said Bentz, who is considering a variety of specializations. \u201cI went to my undergrad out-of-state, but I was born here and graduated high school here. Even though a large chunk of my life was spent outside [North Dakota], I\u2019m still a small-town kind of person at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Characterizing his first few weeks of medical school as akin to \u201cdrinking from a firehose\u201d \u2013 \u201cThey weren\u2019t joking about information overload!” he said \u2013 Bentz smiled at the challenge ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sine qua non<\/em> for a medical student is studying, but it seems to be more of a constant and consistent review of material compared to undergrad studying,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cIt\u2019s essential that we don\u2019t try to learn all of the content because it is simply impossible considering the high volume of material. So gleaning a majority of the content in large overviews so we can later apply it to clinical settings is crucial.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it’s challenge Bentz is looking forward to facing.<\/p>\n

The UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences M.D. Class of 2029:<\/strong><\/p>\n