June 4, 2025 — Taking the stage of the Health Professions, Nursing, Pharmacy auditorium on Friday, David Bloom, Ph.D., reminded doctoral candidates in the University of Florida College of Medicine that “philosophy” comes from the Greek word for “love of knowledge.”

“Today’s celebration marks the next phase of these students’ journies as driven by their love of the pursuit of knowledge,” said Bloom, the college’s associate dean of graduate education.

At the second annual UF College of Medicine Ph.D. Advancement to Candidacy Ceremony, 40 doctoral candidates received personalized white lab coats to mark their transition from doctoral students to doctoral candidates. This milestone in their graduate studies takes place when the students pass their qualifying exams, which test a candidate’s understanding of their chosen field and their capacity to conduct high-level research.

Last year, doctoral candidates spearheaded an opportunity to celebrate this event with a white coat ceremony. Now in its second year, the ceremony represents a new tradition for the college, said interim Dean Jennifer Hunt, M.D., M.Ed.

“In many ways, this marks the end of an era for you,” she said. “It’s a time when you need to think about shifting your mindset because you have been a learner of knowledge, and you have been absorbing all the things that were taught to you. Now you will move into becoming a creator of knowledge. You will be defining the science that students who come after you are learning. You are moving from a pure learning phase to a creation phase and to the part of your career where you are truly part of science’s evolution.”

Doctoral candidates elected Lynn Wecker, Ph.D. ’72, as the ceremony’s keynote speaker. Wecker, a distinguished professor emerita at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, shared with students that she originally intended to have a career as a chemistry teacher, but that sometimes serendipity creates other plans.

“You don’t choose a path; a path chooses you,” she said.

Wecker said while the present environment for scientific research may challenging, it’s important to remember a Ph.D. opens many doors for career opportunities.

“You have to remain optimistic,” she said.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the candidates recited the doctoral oath, written by the organizers of last year’s ceremony and evoking the Hippocratic Oath taken by new physicians.

Photos by Charles Poulton