The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is sponsoring partial scholarships of $5,000 for up to eight Gold Humanism Scholars at the Harvard Macy Institute 2014 Program for Educators (tuition is $5,800, travel/lodging is additional). We seek to support health profession educators working to develop and enhance educational projects focused on achieving humanistic patient care that can be replicated across a variety of healthcare delivery settings.
The Gold Foundation’s mission is to restore a more effective balance between the cutting edge science of medicine and the delivery of compassionate, patient-centered care. The Gold Foundation defines the attributes of a humanistic caregiver as one who demonstrates respect for a patient’s concerns and provides compassionate care for a patient’s physical and emotional well-being.
Eligibility: faculty from an accredited school of medicine, nursing and other allied health professions in the US and Canada. Not open to trainees. Gold Humanism Scholars should be recognized at their institution for their commitment to the mentorship of trainees in the humanistic and professional practice of medicine and care of patients. Preference will be given to candidates who embody the qualities of a humanistic educator and role model, including:
- Central role in physician and allied health professions education in home institution;
- Demonstrated commitment to fostering humanism, empathy, compassion, and the highest standards of professionalism; and
- Promise/potential as a leader in health professions education.
The Gold Foundation is most interested in supporting health profession education projects that:
- Cultivate humanism, effective interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism;
- Are longitudinal, ideally encompassing more than one year of training;
- Integrate specialties and disciplines within medicine, and between healthcare professions;
- Are required (vs. elective);
- Contribute to best practices in the education of future caregivers (potential to be replicated);
- Include a strong assessment component
- Provide evidence of support by the home institution.
Applicants must submit:
- Biosketch including full contact information, academic affiliation and position, Educational and Professional Experience, Scholarly Interests, Personal Background and Interests. (limit to 1 page)
- Personal essay discussing their professional values and commitment to humanism in medicine (limit to 1 page)
- Proposal, as Gold Humanism Scholar, to advance humanism (limit to 2 pages) that includes:
- Project title and two sentence project description.
- Define the project. What are you trying to accomplish? What is the aim?
- Describe the current problem that it addresses at your institution. Who will benefit from this project?
- Predict/hypothesize what changes you can make that will result in an improvement. Identify barriers to implementation and necessary resources for your project.
- How will you evaluate whether your project has created an improvement?
- A strategy for disseminating the project and outcomes to the health professions education community.
- Briefly describe how participation in the HMI will be of particular benefit to this project and to your professional development
- Letter(s) of Support from applicant’s Departmental Chair attesting to applicant’s qualifications, commitment to humanism, and the institution’s support of applicant’s project.
- Statement that applicant is able to participate fully in the course as scheduled.
Reporting Requirements:
Gold Scholars will be required to submit an interim and final report to the Gold Foundation; and may be asked to present the project to the Gold Foundation Board of Trustees and/or at select Gold Foundation health professions education forums.
Gold Foundation Support:
The Gold Foundation will provide, through a restricted grant to the applicant’s institution, a scholarship of $5,000 towards tuition at the Harvard Macy Institute’s 2014 Program for Educators. The applicant will be responsible for securing additional funds to cover remaining expenses associated with participation in the program.
It is the policy of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation that no dean’s tax, overhead or indirect expenses may be subtracted from the total grant amount by the administration of the school. All monies given by The Gold Foundation are to be used exclusively for the scholarship.
Dr. Elizabeth Gaufberg, Director of the Gold Foundation Research Institute, Gold Foundation Professor and Harvard Macy Faculty member will serve as a mentor to the Gold Scholars.
*Please note that the Gold Foundation will notify applicants of its decision approximately 2 weeks prior to the Harvard Macy Institute’s application deadline of Sept. 27th so that any applicant not selected as a Gold Scholar who still wishes to apply to the Harvard Macy Program for Educators will have time to do so.
