Guiding Principles
Each class of students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine develops its own Guiding Principles through a collaborative process early in their first year. They honor and adhere to these principles throughout their time at the school and during their medical careers. The class president leads the class in group recitation of the Guiding Principles at significant events such as the White Coat Ceremony, the Student Clinician Ceremony and at Commencement.
We Are Diverse
We come together as one at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine from our individual paths of life, bringing our own experiences, values, and cultures to form a diverse community. We celebrate our unique perspectives as we encourage and challenge one another through our academic and personal growth in medical school. We strive to not only recognize our differences and those in the communities we serve but also understand that we are all human; humans with imperfections, struggles and emotions. Therefore, we champion diversity, equity and inclusion in aims to treat all patients in their entirety.
We Are Leaders
As future physicians, we hold ourselves to the highest moral and ethical standards, aware of the immense responsibilities we are undertaking as leaders in our communities. We will create environments that encourage camaraderie and collaboration, recognizing the importance of teamwork in advancing medicine while keeping each other accountable. We vow to a life of learning from both our patients and peers as we lead with integrity to improve the way we care for others, treat others and build trusting relationships. We are passionate for those we serve and accept the responsibility of being a source of guidance to future medical students and patients.
We Are Humble
As we take our Hippocratic oath, we promise to wear our white coats with humility. We admit we are not perfect and have so much to learn from the world around us. Therefore, we dedicate our lives to achieving excellence in our classrooms, clerkships, and practices. We always put our patients first, listening to their stories, responding to their concerns, and simply being present in their time of need. We accept that we will make mistakes and won't have the answers all the time but will always take the opportunity to learn from them as we grow in competence and compassion.
We Are Family
Together as a family, we will celebrate each other’s successes while supporting each other in times of hardship. We will be kind to one another with unconditional love. We will remind each other of how hard we have worked to get this far and of the shared vision we hold for improving the health and well-being of others.
We Are the Class of 2025
We the class of ’26 believe that our commitment to medicine is a commitment to our humanity. It is a commitment to the relentless pursuit of knowledge — to seek the impossible goal of mastering the body and mind alike so that we may help others. To learn so we might educate, to study so we might bridge the gaps that appear between medicine and the people it is intended to serve.
To be a physician is to commit to a career in the service of others, to the betterment of our neighbors and communities, to help others live to their full potential. To take on difficult tasks so others might not have to. To be a physician is to work with our patients and to be unequivocal in our pursuit of what is right.
The class of ’26 firmly believes that achieving our goals will require us to embrace our humanity, not abandon it. That we must recognize and celebrate our weaknesses as much as our strengths. We believe that the strength of our class comes from our diversity of skills, backgrounds, and experiences, and that it is our responsibility to champion each other. That our commitment to support each other and to seek support will be what allows us to succeed as students, future physicians, and as individuals.
Our class recognizes the significance of the challenges ahead, but hopes that our unity as a family of students will allow us to grow together and create change greater than the sum of our parts.
Curiosity
Curiosity is our guide for becoming compassionate and effective students and future physicians. It is what fuels a relentless pursuit of knowledge, driving us to explore the intricacies of the human body, the mysteries of diseases, and the latest advancements in healthcare. It fosters open-mindedness and critical thinking and inspires a sense of wonder that can make the practice of medicine not just a profession, but a lifelong passion for healing and discovery. We will strive to maintain our sense of wonder now and throughout our long careers.
Compassion
We lead with compassion and empathy. As a class, we believe that compassion is a force that can profoundly impact our relationships with our peers and our future patients. By conducting ourselves with sensitivity and care, we hope to foster an environment that is comforting to and supportive of our patients and their communities. As we continue on with our medical education, we vow to cultivate our skills in compassion so our future patients feel seen, heard, and truly understood.
Resilience
We are resilient. As we navigate our way through our medical education, we rise above the challenges we may face. Through our adaptability, we will uplift each other, highlighting our strengths and improving on our weaknesses. We vow to view challenges as a means of individual and collective opportunity for growth. Through our resilience, we will serve our communities and peers, standing up in the face of adversity, and creating new paths to reach our goals.
Integrity
We embody integrity. As a class, we vow to uphold the highest standards of integrity and honesty. We will ensure that our actions never compromise our integrity as physicians and that we are always honest to ourselves, our peers, and our patients. Holding our values and ethics close to our hearts will help us maintain the integrity of medicine and our own morality. Maintaining our integrity as future physicians is of the utmost importance and will make certain that our patients and communities are well served by our commitment to a high moral standard.
Humility
We vow to keep humility at the forefront, always listening before speaking and recognizing that every person we come into contact with has something to teach us. As students of medicine, we must remind ourselves that the field is vast and constantly evolving, and there will always be more to learn, study, and improve. We will never know it all. We will inevitably make mistakes, and we must be humble enough to approach our errors with a genuine desire to learn and correct them for the future. Humility is inherent to service, and at the core, our purpose is to serve.