SAD NEWS: West Virginia University announced that Garrett Greene is Leaving immediately today after Facing…..

Twenty-five students in the West Virginia University Physician Assistant program received their white coats on Sunday during the traditional ceremony.

The event marks the transition out of the classroom phase of their education and into the clinical phase where they will be part of a healthcare team.

After completing a year of clinical rotations, the students will be able to take their national board exam and officially become physician assistants.

Special emphasis was placed on the idea of giving back during the ceremony.

Executive Director for the WVU Institute for Community and Rural Health Dr. Larry Rhodes served as the keynote speaker during which he discussed the challenges and joys of the medical profession as well as the importance of giving back to where you come from.

David Baldwin is an Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Studies and was one of the instructors of the past year. He expressed his hope for the future of his students and medicine in West Virginia.

“In a lot of the rural areas in the state, there’s some disparities that face the state and our population in general,” Baldwin said.

“That’s one of the challenges overall is that we want to stick a lot of students and put students into these rural areas where they can help decrease a lot of the disparities that are out there.”