The University of Kentucky College of Medicine students celebrated a break from their studies with food, music and dancing at the 2025 Caduceus Ball.

The Caduceus Ball, also known as Med Prom, is an annual event that allows medical students to decompress and get together with their peers. On Friday, Jan. 17, students gathered in the Harper Hall venue in downtown Lexington, Kentucky for the “Mystical Masquerade” themed event.

“Caduceus” refers to the commonly used medical symbol “bearing a representation of a staff with two entwined snakes and two wings at the top,” according to Merriam-Webster. 

Conner Hall, a first-year medical student at UK, said events like this are important as they help maintain a “work-life balance.”

“I think a lot of times you kind of just need this separation,” Hall said. “Medicine is a big part of our lives, and when you get a break like this it’s very nice, and it’s fun to not focus on anything medicine-related.”

This “separation” was a goal for Caduceus Committee Co-chair Katie Boroughs, as she said the event was a good opportunity for students to spend time with their friends outside of the classroom, as well as meet new students in the College of Medicine. 

“There’s around 150 to 200 people per class, so it’s like almost 800 students in the whole thing,” Boroughs said. “It’s a good way to meet people in the other classes because it is kind of hard.”

According to Boroughs, the ball also served as a way for students from different professional backgrounds to get to know each other better.

“Some students came straight from college, and they might be like 22 or 23, and then some students had a full career and then went to med school,” Boroughs said. “It’s just cool to meet those people.”

Chloe Embry, fellow Caduceus Committee Co-chair, said the ball not only brings students from diverse backgrounds together, but also gives students from the College of Medicine’s “satellite campuses” a chance to spend time with their peers.

UK’s College of Medicine has three “satellite campuses” for students to complete their studies at Northern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University and one in Morehead, Kentucky to address “the shortage of physicians serving in community settings across the state,” according to the college’s website.

Embry said with different schedules across each satellite campus, it can be difficult sometimes for these students to attend events together. So, the Caduceus Ball is always planned with every campus in mind. 

“Even if they’re invited to attend, they can’t always make the travel, so we try to plan this event every year that kind of goes around exam schedules,” Embry said. “I feel like it’s a really good opportunity to be able to spend time with those students at other campuses.”

Although the ball has been a tradition for UK medical students for many years, it recently saw a revival, according to Embry.

“They used to have Med Prom years ago, and then they did away with it,” Embry said. “Jazz (Jasarae) McKinney is actually the one who fully brought it back to the med school. This is only our fourth year back doing it.”

Jasarae McKinnkey, Caduceus Committee Co-chair and third-year medical student, said she was asked to organize the Caduceus Ball her first year in medical school and has been involved in planning ever since.

According to McKinney, before she was a medical student at UK, she attended the Caduceus Ball as someone’s date, allowing her to see firsthand the impact the ball had on attendees. 

After being inspired by her own experience at the Caduceus Ball, McKinney said she was passionate about bringing students the same joy the event brought medical students the year she attended. 

“I really wanted to make sure that …we had a night of just being able to be ourselves, and step away from the academics, and remember that we’re still human beings who deserve to have fun,” McKinney said.

McKinney said when she first started organizing the ball as a first-year medical student, the process was overwhelming.

Since then, however, McKinney said the event has grown with more people becoming involved each year. According to her co-chair, Embry, this is the first year since the ball’s return that they received funding from UK’s Student Government Association. 

“More people attend each year, the decorations get better each year,” McKinney said. “It’s just really aging well, and I’m really happy about that.”