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Silvia Ferretti, DO, LECOM Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, leads the College of Medicine Class of 2012 in the Osteopathic Oath of Commitment. Click here for more photos of the ceremonies.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine medical and pharmacy students marked the transition from classroom study to clinical education at the Warner Theater on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009, as students received their white coats – symbols of trust between doctor and patient, of compassion, and of the purity of a medical professional’s purpose.

Approximately 130 students in the School of Pharmacy class of 2011 and 270 students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s class of 2012 pledged to uphold professionalism and competence in the presence of their families, professors and peers.

The White Coat Ceremony initiates aspiring health care professionals into a commitment to the highest principles related to the practice of medicine and pharmacy. The white coat ceremony marks not only the entrance into medical and pharmacy school, but also matriculation into the health care professions with all of its traditions, accomplishments, rights and profound responsibilities to humankind.

Elliott Cook, PharmD, BCPS, LECOM School of Pharmacy class of 2006, delivered the keynote address during the pharmacy ceremony.

Elliott Cook, Pharm.D., BCPS, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at LECOM and a 2006 LECOM graduate, was the keynote speaker for the pharmacy white coat ceremony. He is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and completed a post-graduate Pharmacy Practice Residency at Hillcrest Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic Hospital. His current practice site is at Millcreek Community Hospital, where he is a clinical pharmacist with an internal medicine service. At the hospital, he supports an antimicrobial monitoring program, offers an Antimicrobial Stewardship Elective through the pharmacy school and is the Residency Coordinator and a preceptor for the LECOM-Millcreek Community Hospital Pharmacy Practice residency.

Dr. Cook is a member of the Scholarship and Awards Committee for LECOM School of Pharmacy, a member of Millcreek Community Hospital's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and a member of several professional pharmacy organizations both at the local and national level. He currently lectures in the Pharmacotherapeutic and the Clincial Pharmacokinetic Courses at LECOM, School of Pharmacy.

He told the pharmacy students about the importance of the white coat and what it will mean to them as professionals.

"Remember class, this is trust that you are now wearing," he said. "Live up to the trust that you will represent in the pharmacy profession and strive for excellence every day, focus on what is best for your patients, not yourself, and your career and life as a pharmacist will flourish."

John M. Ferretti, D.O., President and CEO of LECOM, headed the list of faculty and staff in attendance. Special guests at the College of Medicine ceremony included Jeffrey Lindenbaum, D.O., President of the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association, who spoke at the ceremony; and Carlo DiMarco, D.O., President of the American Osteopathic Association and professor and regional dean of clinical medicine at LECOM. Representatives of the Rite Aid Corporation, including Donna Hazel and Lou Gianotti, Managers of Pharmacy Recruitment, and Dean Hiedt, Pharmacy District Manager, attended the ceremony for the School of Pharmacy.

Janene Rigelsky, Pharm.D., Director of Admissions and Student Services and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, read the roll call of pharmacy students. Donald Tuttle, Pharm.D., Dean of the LECOM School of Pharmacy, led the class of 2010 in the Pledge of Professionalism. The Rite Aid Corporation provided the funds for the pharmacy white coats.

Erica Grazioli, DO, LECOM class of 2002, delivered the keynote address at the college of medicine ceremony.

Erica McQuone Grazioli, D.O., a member of the LECOM Class of 2002, was the keynote speaker for the college of osteopathic medicine ceremony. She is a board certified neurologist practicing with Northshore Neurosciences in Erie. She maintains staff privileges at Hamot Medical Center, Millcreek Community Hospital, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Health South Rehabilitation Center. Following graduation from LECOM, Dr. Grazioli completed an internship at Millcreek Community Hospital and joined the Neurology residency program at Hamot Medical Center, where she served as chief resident. She also served as a Multiple Sclerosis Fellow at the Jacobs Neurological Institute, Buffalo General Hospital and the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Grazioli currently serves as a faculty member of the Hamot Medical Center Neurology Residency and has served as a neurology lecturer at LECOM since 2003. She has conducted numerous clinical trial experiences and is the first author on several research articles published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences and Future Neurology.

Silvia M. Ferretti, D.O., Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, led the osteopathic medical students in the Osteopathic Oath of Commitment. The Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association provided the white coats and stethoscopes to all the osteopathic medical students.