Our Vision
Healthcare will be dramatically improved by placing the interests, values and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice.
Our Mission
The Gold Foundation champions humanism in healthcare, which we define as compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care. This Gold standard of care embraces all and targets barriers to such care. We empower experts, learners, and leaders to together create systems and cultures that support humanistic care for all.
How We Fulfill Our Mission
Our work focuses on changing the world in three ways:
- By Setting Standards – Recognizing and celebrating humanism across healthcare
- By Sparking Action – Supporting innovation and creating tools and events to empower more people to elevate humanism in healthcare and build an equitable system
- By Building Community – Bringing together diverse students, clinicians, healthcare leaders, and advocates to support each other in amplifying humanism in healthcare
A Community of Caring
Keeping Healthcare Human requires persistent and determined efforts dedicated to maintaining the human connection in modern healthcare.
Our Gold community is made up of doctors, nurses, students, healthcare team members, corporate healthcare leaders, patients, and their families who all support humanism in healthcare and who want a place to connect, share, and advocate for our shared mission.
We define humanism in healthcare as care that has 3 elements:
- compassion
- collaboration
- scientific excellence
When skilled clinicians build caring, trusting, and collaborative relationships with patients, studies reveal more appropriate medical decisions, better patient adherence with treatment plans, and less costly healthcare outcomes.
What We Do
Our History
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was founded in 1988 to support humanism in healthcare for all.
Drs. Arnold and Sandra Gold
Dr. Arnold P. Gold was a world-renowned pediatric neurologist, a Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a master diagnostician who became an international leader and advocate for humanism in healthcare. Dr. Gold died in 2018 at age 92. Read a tribute to his remarkable life and impact.
Dr. Gold and his wife, Sandra, co-founded The Arnold P. Gold Foundation with an aim toward sustaining the human connection in medicine and ensuring all patients received compassionate care. The organization’s programs, such as the White Coat Ceremony and the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), are now found in nearly every medical school in the country. More than 45,000 physicians and medical students are members of GHHS, having been recognized by their peers for their compassionate care.
As the Gold Foundation’s first President and CEO, Dr. Sandra O. Gold guided the nonprofit organization through its first 25 years of growth. She continues to serve on the Gold Board of Trustees and is a sought-after speaker at White Coat Ceremonies and Gold Humanism Honor Society inductions.
The Legacy of Dr. Arnold P. Gold
This tribute to Arnold chronicles his early life and his entry into the field of medical, and the conditions that sparked the creation of a new nonprofit organization to champion the human connection in healthcare.
Our Logo
The Gold Foundation logo — featuring a golden Mobius loop — symbolizes the continuous bond of trust, respect and communication that connects healthcare professionals with their patients when humanism is at the core of healthcare.
This loop, full of symbolism, is also on our White Coat Ceremony pins (shown here; the red pin is for nursing students) and the Gold Humanism Honor Society pin.
How You Can Join Us
We welcome your help in this mission. Here are 10 ways you can support our work:
- Sign up for our newsletters for the latest news, events, and updates.
- Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Threads.
- Share our mission with healthcare professionals, students, and leaders you know.
- Connect with your doctor or nurse. Ask them how they are doing. About 50% of clinicians report at least one symptom of burnout. Studies have shown that the human connection adds to their sense of meaning in this work and improves patient care and outcomes.
- Donate to support our work. Gifts of all sizes are very appreciated.
- Consider giving to the Gold Foundation in your will as a lasting legacy and support of humanistic care in the future. Reach out to Director of Development Kerry Richardson-Ford at kerry@gold-foundation.org or 201-308-6919.
- Attend a Gold event, such as the 2024 Gold Humanism Summit in Atlanta or our Annual Gala, which is typically held in June in New York City.
- Take one of our free NextGenU.org courses: Dismantling Structural Racism to Advance Health Equity or Humanism in Health and Healthcare.
- Listen to our Gold Connection podcast for episodes with compassionate clinicians and students.
- Access our Gold Database of Research and our Practical Applications of Humanism Database for tools and studies to support humanistic care.