The Temple/St. Luke’s School of Medicine Class of 2030 was honored Friday, Aug. 7, during the 2026 White Coat Ceremony at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Forty-three first-year medical students who will complete all four years of their medical education at Bethlehem-based Temple/St. Luke’s received their white coats, a longstanding symbol of their entry into the medical profession and commitment to patient care.
Among this year’s class are several students with deep ties to the Lehigh Valley, including Saucon Valley native MacKenzie Johnstone and Northampton native Anthony Aulisio. Both students bring personal experiences that inspired their pursuit of medicine and, ultimately, their decision to train close to home.
Johnstone, who was born with the rare genetic condition Kartagener’s Syndrome, received much of her medical care through St. Luke’s while growing up. Those experiences helped shape her interest in medicine and fostered an appreciation for the physicians who guided her care.
“I am incredibly excited to begin medical school in the community where I grew up. Training at St. Luke’s is especially meaningful because it gives me the opportunity to learn within the same health system that has cared for my family and me for many years,” shared Johnstone. “I look forward to learning from outstanding physicians, serving the Lehigh Valley community, and developing the knowledge, skills, and compassion needed to become an excellent physician.”
For Aulisio, the journey is equally personal. Born at St. Luke’s, he first discovered his passion for medicine while serving as an EMT at a summer camp for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additional volunteer work in Honduras, where he helped provide health education in a community with limited access to care, reinforced his commitment to serving others.
“This is a full-circle moment for me,” echoed Aulisio. “Serving these vulnerable populations is what inspired me to continue on my path to medicine, a selfless field dedicated to serving others.”
As the Lehigh Valley’s first and only medical school, Temple/St. Luke’s provides aspiring physicians the opportunity to complete their medical education close to home. By cultivating students such as Johnstone and Aulisio, the program is helping build the next generation of physicians who will serve communities throughout the region.
“The White Coat Ceremony marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey toward a career devoted to healing and improving lives,” said Shaden Eldakar-Hein, MD, MS, FACP, Senior Associate Dean of the medical school. “We are excited to welcome these future physicians and help prepare them to meet the evolving health care needs of our communities with skill, empathy and excellence.”
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows. Additionally, the St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.
In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke’s received the highest quality score of the nation’s recognized three highest performing health systems. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network’s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare’s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A’s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
