The Arnold P. Gold Foundation illuminated the importance of humanism in healthcare at the 2024 Learn Serve Lead in Atlanta, the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), with dynamic sessions, several awards, and more.
Gold President and CEO Dr. Kathleen Reeves, Gold Co-Founder Dr. Sandra Gold, and multiple Gold staff and Board members were fixtures throughout the conference, making new friends and greeting long-time supporters.
Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award Luncheon features Dr. Caroline Harada and her view of humanism as a clinician and a family caregiver
Dr. Caroline Harada speaking in Atlanta at the AAMC Annual Meeting.
The humanism festivities kicked off on Friday, Nov. 8, with a special Organization of Student Representatives luncheon to honor the 2024 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award recipient, Dr. Caroline Harada. This honor is presented each year to a faculty member who exemplifies humanism in their teaching and care of patients.
Dr. Harada is Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Director of Project Advancing Health Equity through Alabama’s Doctors (AHEAD), the longitudinal health equity curriculum at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine (UAB Heersink SOM). She is a geriatrician and Founder and Director of the school’s office of service learning.
In a deeply personal talk, she shared her experience as the news of her national award emerged. Her view as a clinician witnessing the power of the human connection, the joy of student mentorship, and the heartfelt acknowledgment of her peers was juxtaposed with her view as a caregiver, navigating the challenging health system for a loved one. The comparison revealed how difficult and broken the system can be, even with the best care and the best of intentions.
As her loved one’s condition resolved, Dr. Harada’s world realigned, leaving her with renewed commitment to humanistic care — providing it to patients, and teaching and mentoring students to do the same.
Dr. Harada ended her talk with hope: “The reason I feel hopeful is all of you students. I choose to spend my non-clinical work with you because each of you has so much potential and so much goodness. People don’t come to med school if they don’t want to help people. I see confirmation of this from our students every day.”
Learn more about Dr. Harada and her award.
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2025 Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award at the AAMC. Deadline: March 30. Learn more and submit a nomination.
Dr. Kimberly Manning delivers a heartfelt 2024 Jordan J. Cohen Humanism in Medicine Lecture
Dr. Jordan J. Cohen and Dr. Kimberly Manning, two extraordinary Gold Trustees
At the annual Jordan J. Cohen Humanism in Medicine Lecture, a signature session from AAMC and the Gold Foundation, Dr. Kimberly Manning had the overflowing room roaring with laughter and tearing up from her stories about the human connection in healthcare. She shared heartfelt stories and lessons she has learned from patients and colleagues alike — all about being present and connected.
“Don’t run up here and check on me if I begin to cry,” she warned at the start. “This is on brand, y’all. Humanism and the kindness of our patients and what they teach us, and this immense privilege that we have to care for human beings— it’s sometimes something to cry about. And we have to normalize emotions other than anger, dark humor, sarcasm. I think that crying can be a really beautiful and cleansing thing.”
It was not long before nearly everyone in the room was fishing around in their pockets for tissues, as she shared vivid stories of human moments with her patients. Her takeaways included: “There is always an occasion for humanism” and “Three minutes is a little but it can mean a lot.”
Dr. Manning is a Professor and Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine at Emory University, an internist/hospitalist at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and a Gold Trustee.
The lecture is named after Dr. Jordan J. Cohen, who was the President and CEO of AAMC for many years, served as the Board Chair of the Gold Foundation, and is now a Gold Trustee. He is also a mentor and hero of Dr. Manning, and he was in the audience, too.
Read a longer story about Dr. Manning’s talk.
“Humanism in the Community” workshop features two case studies of community-engaged education
Gold CEO Dr. Reeves, standing behind the workshop speakers: From left, Cierra Walker; Kimberly Birdsall; Dr. Radhika Jain; Dr. Carmela Rocchetti; and Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier.
Later on Sunday, the Gold Humanism Honor Society hosted a workshop on “Humanism in the Community: From Community Service to Service Learning,” showcasing examples of community-engaged projects at two different medical schools: Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Both are members of the Gold Partners Council.
Speakers included:
Kathleen Reeves, MD – President and CEO, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation
Radhika Jain, MD – Co-Director of Health Equity and Justice, Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis
Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier, MSW – Co-Director of Health Equity and Justice, Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis
Ciearra “CJ” Walker, MPH – President and CEO, St. Louis Community Health Worker Coalition
Kimberly Birdsall, MPH – Executive Director, Health Coalition of Passaic County
Miriam Hoffman, MD – Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Carmela Rocchetti, MD – Assistant Dean of Community Engaged Medical Education, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
The Community Health Worker Coalition began collaborating with Washington University through the Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. Community Health Workers are trusted community members who are trained in health education and can help patients access care. When this partnership began, Ms. Walker explained, “we were very, very clear that our highest asset is the respect and trust that we hold to community.” They spent several years engaging more than 3,000 students and more than 300 faculty and clinicians to build toward a meaningful service-learning relationship.
As a new school, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine had the opportunity to design the longitudinal curriculum from the beginning to be integrated with the community. Pairs of students are matched with families for the entire four years of training. Students are immersed in the communities to understand both the local assets and the challenges, and then develop partnerships and programs to address specific needs.
Just as Dr. Manning had said a few hours earlier, the human connection is really the goal of community-engaged medical education. Dr. Rocchetti explained: “The interactions must be meaningful. It’s not a one-off, one-time community service. There’s an interdependence between the school and the community, and the community and the leaners work together to solve problems in the community.”
Connecting human-to-human in the Exhibit Hall
And there was even more beyond the sessions! For the first year, the Gold Foundation hosted a booth in the Exhibit Hall, a great spot to meet Gold Humanism Honor Society members and other advocates of humanism. So many people shared beautiful stories of how they had first became connected with the Gold Foundation — or how they would love to get involved now.
As Dr. Reeves said, “Medicine is about stories. They are not the soft side of medicine. They are actually what medicine is. They are the narrative. And when medicine works, when the stories are engaged and complete and filled with connection, what we have is superb healthcare.”
We’ll be back at Learn Serve Lead in 2025 — see you in San Antonio!
