The Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest asks medical and nursing students to engage in a reflective writing exercise that illustrates an experience where they or a healthcare team member worked to ensure that humanism was at the core of care.
Hope Babette Tang-Goodwin, MD, was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, whose devotion and generosity to the care of the children and infants with HIV infection in New York City was an inspiration to her colleagues and her students. Her approach to medicine combined a boundless enthusiasm for her work, intellectual rigor, and deep compassion for her patients. In sum, Dr. Tang-Goodwin was an exemplar of excellent, compassionate, and respectful patient care.
For the 2023 Hope Babette Tang Humanism in Healthcare Essay Contest, medical and nursing students were asked to reflect on the following quote from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón in her poem “How Far Away We Are”:
“I want to give you something, or I want to take something from you. But I want to feel the exchange, the warm hand on the shoulder, the song coming out and the ear holding onto it.”
2023 Essay Contest Winners
2023 Medical Student Winners
First Place | “The Nail Salon”
Federico Erhart
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
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Second Place | “I See You”
Riley Plett
University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine
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Third Place | “The Gift of Grief”
Emily Otiso
Wayne State University School of Medicine
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2023 Nursing Student Winners
First Place | “The Window”
Courtney Polimeni
Washington State University College of Nursing
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Second Place |“The Unspoken Language of Compassion”
Leah Rothchild
MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing
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Third Place |“The Momentum of Human Kindness”Nicole Diddi
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
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