The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is proud to announce that the 2024 Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Humanism in Healthcare Award is presented to Dr. Elizabeth Gaufberg. A consummate educator and transformative leader, Dr. Gaufberg has devoted her career to guiding a generation of healthcare students, resident physicians, and faculty on their path to becoming humanistic clinicians. Her unwavering commitment to putting human connection at the heart of healthcare education and practice has enriched countless lives and transformed the culture of healthcare locally, nationally, and internationally.
Dr. Elizabeth Gaufberg
An Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Gaufberg has been a member of the medical staff at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) for three decades. She was drawn to CHA for its commitment to health equity and the provision of excellent, compassionate care for underserved patients and communities. At CHA, Dr. Gaufberg completed residencies in both medicine and psychiatry, cared for marginalized patients with combined medical and psychiatric illness, and currently directs the CHA Center for Professional and Academic Development.
Over time she discovered her professional calling in educational innovation and leadership. She has taught and mentored countless healthcare professionals at all levels of training and practice. Her academic focus has been on the relational and cultural aspects of medicine, including patient-centered communication, and the hidden cultural forces that impact professional identity formation.
“Dr. Gaufberg has made an extraordinary impact on healthcare through her deep empathy and nuanced understanding of human perspectives,” said Dr. Kathleen Reeves, President and CEO of the Gold Foundation. “Through her teaching and mentorship of medical students and resident physicians, and her ability to tap art and creative expression to increase human connection, she has changed our world for the better – just as Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz did. We are honored to be celebrating Dr. Gaufberg.”
The Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Award for Humanism in Healthcare honors a woman who exemplifies humanism and has advanced health equity and kind, safe, trustworthy healthcare through her scholarship, advocacy, and leadership. Through this annual award, the Gold Foundation honors the spirit of Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz, who was inspired by her son to create change for children with disabilities. This honor was established in 2014 through a generous gift from Dr. Ronald Arky, Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at the Harvard Medical School.
“Truly, I’m blown away by this honor. Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz is one of my heroes, an exemplar of courage and perseverance,” said Dr. Gaufberg. “I have been awed by past awardees’ vision and on-the-ground advocacy for inclusive, humanistic healthcare, and am humbled to join their ranks.”
The Path That Led to Humanism in Healthcare
Prior to residency training in medicine and psychiatry, Dr. Gaufberg studied both philosophy and public health, motivated by deep recognition that multiple lenses are required to understand the personal and social determinants of health and illness
Dr. Gaufberg’s journey with the Gold Foundation began in 2007 when she received a grant to develop a creative arts curriculum for medical students to learn to empathically navigate common professional boundary challenges. That work led to additional engagement in the Gold Foundation’s Residency Ritual Oath Project in which new residents crafted a collective oath that they recited to their new community at an inaugural ceremony.
Her significant contributions were further recognized when she was awarded a Gold Foundation Professorship, which supported her research on the Harvard Medical School Cambridge Integrated Clerkship, a world-renowned longitudinal relational model of medical education. Dr. Gaufberg led the integration of reflective practice and social sciences into the curriculum.
Dr. Gaufberg then joined the Gold Foundation staff in 2012 to establish the Arnold P. Gold Research Institute. As the Jean and Harvey Picker Founding Director, she spearheaded efforts to spark research focused on the value of compassionate care, to disseminate findings showing its impact, and to cultivate a vibrant community of over 400 educators, researchers and advocates.
Teams from across the United States and Canada received seed funding to engage in the Mapping the Landscape (MTL) Initiative, which allowed them to investigate a topic of interest with a comprehensive literature review, and use that as a foundation to design further research or curricular interventions. The works were presented creatively and passionately at a vibrant MTL symposium, and many projects led to impactful scholarship.
In addition, three programs that received start-up grants from the Gold Foundation are still active at the Cambridge Health Alliance: the CHA-Gold Innovation Fellowship, the CEO-CLER small grants program to empower trainees to become change agents in the clinical learning environment, and the CHA Center for Mindfulness and Compassion.
Integrating Arts & Humanities into Medicine
Early in her career journey, Dr. Gaufberg recognized the power of the arts and humanities to catalyze meaningful conversation and augment the teaching of the core skills of doctoring, including close looking, awareness of biases, cultivation of empathy, clear communication, and teamwork.
Dr. Gaufberg co-founded — and continues to co-direct — the Harvard Macy Institute Art Museum-Based Health Professions Education Fellowship, an international and interprofessional initiative that helps educators hone skills to use the rich museum environment in curriculum development and teaching.
Additionally, as a senior consultant for the Association of American Medical Colleges’ FRAHME (Fundamental Role of the Arts and Humanities in Medical Education) Initiative, she had a leading role in the AAMC’s multi-faceted efforts to integrate the arts and humanities in medical schools across the nation.
Celebrating Great Impact and Contributions
“The Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Award is not just a recognition of my individual journey,” said Dr. Gaufberg. “I have been blessed to walk this journey with so many inspirational and loving role models — Sandra and Arnold Gold, Ron Arky, and my colleagues at the Cambridge Health Alliance among them.”
Under the leadership of President and CEO Dr. Kathleen Reeves, the Gold Foundation’s work is evolving to further its focus on creating practical solutions for humanistic care, benefiting both patients and clinicians. In past years, the Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Award has been open to nominations. In line with this pivotal moment in the Gold Foundation’s evolution under Dr. Reeves and the aim of the Hurwitz Award, the Gold Foundation team, with the support of Dr. Arky, designated this year’s honor to an inspiring woman leader who embodies the spirit of this award and has directly helped move the mission of the Gold Foundation forward. The award will return to an open nomination period in 2025.
Dr. Gaufberg and the Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Humanism in Healthcare Award will be featured at the 2025 Gold Humanism Summit, which will be held in Baltimore in September.
