{"id":5435,"date":"2026-04-21T14:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?p=5435"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:58:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:58:44","slug":"2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The UVA School of Medicine celebrated first-year students in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at the 2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony on April 17. This event, which is co-sponsored by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and the BIMS Program, marks the students\u2019 transition to the next phase of their graduate careers when they begin their mentored research projects.<\/p>\n<p>Family, friends, faculty, and staff gathered in McLeod Auditorium to recognize 64 students in the following disciplines: Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (5), Biophysics (10), Cell Biology (8), Experimental Pathology (7), Microbiology (17), Neuroscience (11), and Pharmacology (5).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe path you all have chosen is important and meaningful. Medical research advances knowledge, saves lives, creates new companies, industries and jobs. It is a big part of what makes America great,\u201d said School of Medicine Interim Dean Colin Derdeyn, MD, in his remarks to the students.<\/p>\n<p>Each student received a personally embroidered lab coat as a gift from the UVA Medical Alumni Association. To highlight the critical role of mentorship in our programs, faculty mentors for each discipline coated their students.<\/p>\n<p>During the ceremony, eight MSTP students who completed their pre-clinical medical school classes and their Step 1 exams were also recognized as they transitioned to their research labs to begin the PhD portion of their studies.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Derdeyn, speakers included Janet V. Cross, PhD, associate dean for graduate and medical scientist programs; Barry Collins, associate dean for medical alumni affairs and executive director of the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation; and Adrian Halme, PhD, assistant dean for graduate research and training.<\/p>\n<p>Following the ceremony, the students, families, mentors, and other guests enjoyed a reception. Congratulations to all of our BIMS graduate students for advancing in their scientific journey!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/photos.app.goo.gl\/a9o3YT9BGgJC6xLNA\">Photo Album<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/ul5rUccU7v4?si=MI3KjAn7c4-CCw6e\">Watch the livestream recording<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"image-grid\" data-images=\"3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uvamedalum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uvamedalum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uvamedalum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<div data-images=\"3\"><\/div>\n<div data-images=\"3\">Originally posted April 20th, 2026 in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvamedalum.org\/newsroom\/\">UVA Medical Alumni Association Newsroom<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UVA School of Medicine celebrated first-year students in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at the 2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony on April 17. This event, which is co-sponsored by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and the BIMS Program, marks the students\u2019 transition to the next phase of their graduate careers when they begin their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2214,"featured_media":5436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-white-coat"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UVA School of Medicine celebrated first-year students in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at the 2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony on April 17. This event, which is co-sponsored by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and the BIMS Program, marks the students\u2019 transition to the next phase of their graduate careers when they begin their [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amc3yu@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"amc3yu@virginia.edu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"amc3yu@virginia.edu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5\"},\"headline\":\"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":310,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"White Coat\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/\",\"name\":\"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/img-2026-bims3.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/\",\"name\":\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\",\"description\":\"University of Virginia School of Medicine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5\",\"name\":\"amc3yu@virginia.edu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"amc3yu@virginia.edu\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/author\\\/amc3yuvirginia-edu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","og_description":"The UVA School of Medicine celebrated first-year students in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at the 2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony on April 17. This event, which is co-sponsored by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and the BIMS Program, marks the students\u2019 transition to the next phase of their graduate careers when they begin their [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/","og_site_name":"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","article_published_time":"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"amc3yu@virginia.edu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"amc3yu@virginia.edu","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/"},"author":{"name":"amc3yu@virginia.edu","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5"},"headline":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers","datePublished":"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/"},"wordCount":310,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg","articleSection":["Community","White Coat"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/","name":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-21T18:53:12+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-21T18:58:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2026\/04\/img-2026-bims3.jpg","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/2026-bims-lab-coat-ceremony\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2026 BIMS Lab Coat Ceremony Marks Transition to Next Phase of Graduate Careers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#website","url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/","name":"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program","description":"University of Virginia School of Medicine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/#\/schema\/person\/04dfd1e9dffba7133a63ffcb935dbad5","name":"amc3yu@virginia.edu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/14b7fd4ac1415b0f4430fd13352b7565baec1c8cde504b3154183d83d9c35a25?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"amc3yu@virginia.edu"},"url":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/author\/amc3yuvirginia-edu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5435"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5438,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5435\/revisions\/5438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}