White Coat speaker stresses importance of navigating patient care, self-care

On Sept. 11, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) celebrated the 220 members of its newest class of medical students with a ceremony that marked the beginning of their commitment to the osteopathic profession and a life spent serving patients.

The White Coat Ceremony served as an official welcome to WVSOM’s Class of 2030, with students’ families and friends gathering to see them receive the coats they’ll wear throughout their years in medical school.

The class includes 82 students from West Virginia — the highest number of in-state students in the school’s history. Twenty-six members of the class are graduates of WVSOM’s Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences degreeprogram.

Dara Aliff, D.O., was the ceremony’s keynote speaker. A West Virginia native and WVSOM Class of 1999 alumna, she founded Premier Women’s Health Specialists PLLC, a Charleston, W.Va., OB-GYN practice that has provided care to tens of thousands of women since 2009. She has advocated on issues related to the health of rural and underserved women at the state and national levels and was inducted into West Virginia Executive magazine’s Health Care Hall of Fame in 2025.

Aliff pointed out that she personally delivered at least one member of the Class of 2030. She told new medical students that they don’t necessarily have to know what their futures hold.

“The young woman sitting at WVSOM in 1995 had no idea where her education was going to take her. I could never have imagined standing here 31 years later, looking at my classmates and professors and watching the next generation — including a child I delivered — begin this same journey,” she said. “Some of you have no idea what kind of medicine you want to practice, and that’s OK. You will have opportunities you can’t anticipate, people you haven’t met yet, causes you don’t know you care about yet and moments that will change the trajectory of your life in an instant.”

Aliff, who served as class president and student body president while attending WVSOM, said many doctors of her generation were trained in a culture that misguidedly treated exhaustion as evidence of commitment.

“We worked when we were sick. Sometimes we believed asking for help was weakness. Physicians from our generation and before tell stories that are ridiculous today — rounding with an IV running, working extraordinary stretches without sleep, ignoring illness, grief and exhaustion because that’s what good doctors did. We should not romanticize that. We paid a price for that culture,” she said.

At the same time, she said, it’s important for aspiring physicians to acknowledge that they have a profound obligation to others.

“I also want to challenge you not to make the opposite mistake,” Aliff said. “You matter, but you are not the only person who matters. Medicine will ask you to put someone else’s needs ahead of your own again and again. There will be days when you’re tired and you want to go home, but your team needs you. There will be times when someone else’s emergency disrupts your plans. … I think the answer is responsibility — to your patients, to your colleagues, to your families and to yourselves. Those responsibilities are sometimes going to compete.”

James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., WVSOM’s president, said in his address that remarkable students like Aliff have helped the school grow far beyond what its founders envisioned more than 50 years ago.

“We have WVSOM alums in every state practicing in every specialty and subspecialty. We have a growing research and sponsored program enterprise. And we are making a difference in the lives of others through our many community engagement initiatives. You, the members of the Class of 2030, now enter into this rich tradition and will become a part of WVSOM’s legacy,” he told students and their families.

Nemitz presented a Distinguished Service Award to Samuel Muscari Sr., D.O., who founded a clinic in Mullens, W.Va., in 1964 that he continues to oversee today. Two of Muscari’s sons and three of his grandsons earned medical degrees from WVSOM, and his great-granddaughter received a white coat during the ceremony as a member of the Class of 2030.

“Dr. Sam Muscari Sr. is a legend in southern West Virginia, widely recognized as one of the area’s long-serving coal camp doctors — a testament to his dedication to rural health care,” Nemitz said. “Dr. Muscari, along with other D.O.s in the state, was an unsung hero in the early days, literally helping to keep the lights on at WVSOM.”

Other White Coat Ceremony speakers included Gail Swarm, D.O., the school’s chief academic officer; Frederick Morgan, D.O., chair of the WVSOM Board of Governors; and Jessica Smith-Kelly, D.O., secretary and treasurer of the WVSOM Alumni Association.