Fifth-Annual White Coats-4-Care Reception Raises More Than $45,000 To Benefit FAU Charles E. Schmidt College Of Medicine’s Incoming Class

From left: Shaheer Hosh, Mike Yaghy, Pat Howard and Rick Howard

Bonnie Kaye, Dr. David Bjorkman, Dr. John Kelly, Dr. Michael Dennis and Jon Kaye

Mayor Susan Haynie, Deputy Mayor Robert Weinroth, Former Mayor Susan Whelchel and CRA Chairman and Councilman Scott Singer

Dr. Daniel Man, Ingrid Fulmer, Linda Petrakis and Yaacov Heller

Jon Kaye, Bonnie Kaye, Alisa Cohen and Dr. Richard Cohen

Event Presented by Kaye Communications and Hosted By Waterstone Resort & Marina
As Part of Greater Boca Chamber 2015 Annual Festival Days

More than 230 civic, business, healthcare and community leaders along with several current and

Dr. Stuart Markowitz, Waterstone GM Roseann Grippo, Co-Chairs Bonnie Kaye, & Jon Kaye with Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine students at White Coats-4-Care

incoming students attended the recent fourth-annual White Coats-4-Care (WC4C) Reception that raised more than $45,000 to embrace and “dress and equip” FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine’s newest class for healthcare career success. Founded, sponsored and presented by Kaye Communications, Inc., the event was co-hosted again by the Waterstone Resort & Marina that provided bountiful hors d’oeuvres and themed food stations, wine, and champagne in the resort’s penthouse level Atlantic Ballroom with sweeping views of the Ocean and Lake Boca Raton.

Admission to the reception was a donation for underwriting white coats, need-based scholarship funds, named seats in the medical education auditorium, and/or named medical school student scholarship funds to support the incoming class to the first and only medical school in Palm Beach County. With this year’s proceeds, the annual WC4C receptions have generated more than $255,000 in funds to benefit incoming classes.

Guests were welcomed by Jon and Bonnie Kaye followed by a program including an update on the medical school achievements by its dean Dr. David Bjorkman, words of appreciation for community support from FAU President
John W. Kelly, Ph.D., and personal stories shared by two new incoming medical students, who are FAU graduates and scholarship recipients, on what drew them to their career path as future physicians. Guests included a dedicated cross-section of the greater Boca Raton community, including donors; sponsors; physicians; FAU Foundation and medical school leadership including Dr. Michael Dennis, chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board; representatives from partnering hospitals; Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie, Deputy Mayor Robert Weinroth, and Council Member Scott Singer; Greater Boca Raton Chamber Executive Vice President Sarah Pearson, former Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel who served during the development and launch of the medical school and former Deputy Mayor Constance Scott.

For the fifth year, the WC4C “awareness and fund” raising reception was part of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce’s month-long “2015 Greater Boca Raton Festival Days” that pairs nonprofit Boca Chamber members together with for-profit Chamber members to raise awareness and vital funds for the nonprofit member’s philanthropic efforts. For Chamber Trustee Member Kaye Communications, a South Florida-based strategic integrated marketing and public relations firm, pairing with FAU’s new medical school was a natural fit. Firm President and Chief Strategist Bonnie S. Kaye serves on the boards of directors of both the Chamber and the FAU Foundation, and firm Chief Operating Officer and Marketing Strategist Jon Kaye was a founding member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the FAU medical school.

Following the week, in annual tradition, the 64 young men and women of the incoming class received their white coats that represent integrity, compassion and trust and symbolizes their shared commitment to serve patients and their own oath (code of conduct) that they recited in unison and will follow throughout medical school and when they are physicians. The incoming class has a cumulative GPA of 3.7 and an average MCAT score of 33.1, which is above the national average. Most of the major colleges in Florida are represented including 5 students from FAU in addition to Florida Gulf Coast, Florida State University, University of Florida, University of Central Florida and University of Miami. Other students in the class attended undergraduate institutions such as Columbia University, Dartmouth, Duke University, George Washington University, John Hopkins, Notre Dame, New York University, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, Vanderbilt University, University of Ohio, The US Air Force Academy and University of Michigan.