Students, residents, and faculty selected to become members of GHHS should be recognized in a formal induction ceremony. This ceremony may be held at any point between the completion of the selection process and graduation.
Induction Ceremony
Most institutions host an induction ceremony soon after the selection process is completed. This usually entails an hour-long ceremony followed by lunch, dinner, or reception for new members and their invited faculty, family, and friends. Schools that have a medical school chapter of GHHS are encouraged to jointly induct their medical students and residents/fellows in one induction ceremony. We encourage a formal program with remarks from the Dean of the Medical School, the Dean for Education, the Chapter Advisor, and/or an invited speaker.
The Chapter Advisor should contact the GHHS office to obtain personalized certificates and GHHS pins for all new members. During the ceremony, each new GHHS member can be invited to come forward to receive his/her certificate and pin. Newly inducted members may choose to recite together the GHHS Oath, or another oath or reading of their choosing. A copy of the oath is also below. (The GHHS Oath is included with the pins and certificates and can be copied and placed in the induction ceremony program or in each new member’s certificate folder.)
Chapters holding their inaugural induction ceremony are awarded a one-time grant of up to
$2,000 to defray the costs associated with the first induction ceremony.
Suggestions for induction ceremonies:
1. Have your new GHHS members make a procession into the room at the start of the ceremony.
2. After the formal remarks, have your Master of Ceremonies invite each new GHHS member individually to the front of the room to receive his/her certificate and pin.
3. Consider creating a PowerPoint presentation that has a photo of each new member with a quote or two from the member or a person who nominated him/her.
4. You will save some time with the pinning if, once your new GHHS members are all assembled, you invite them to pair off and place the GHHS pin on one another.
5. Take a photo of your chapter members after the ceremony is completed.
Induction Procedures
When a chapter completes its selection process, the Chapter Advisor must provide the list of names with contact information to the national GHHS office. The Chapter Advisor must complete both the Induction Procedure Form and the Inductee Spreadsheet and return these forms to the GHHS national office at least three weeks prior to the induction ceremony in order to ensure that certificates and pins for the induction ceremony can be sent to the Chapter Advisor in a timely fashion.
Award Winners
If your institution participates in the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, the faculty award winner should be one of the four elected GHHS faculty members. If your institution participates in the Student Clinician’s Ceremony, the residents who are awarded the Tow Award and the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award should also be inducted at your ceremony. Please include all award winners on the inductee spreadsheet.
GHHS Member Database
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation currently uses a system called YourMembership as its GHHS database. YourMembership is a membership management system that focuses on member profiles, membership directories, event management, and online engagement. All inductees will be added to the YourMembership platform by a member of the GHHS staff.
If you have any questions about the database, please contact Stacy Morris at smorrris@gold-foundation.org .
Gold Humanism Honor Society Oath
Updated June 2016
I pledge by all that I hold dear as a Physician:
- I will Care for my patients with Compassion, Respect, Empathy, Integrity and Clinical Excellence;
- I will Listen to my patients with my whole being;
- I will Advocate for each patient as a unique individual;
- I will Serve as a role model and mentor to promote humanism in health care;
- I will Remember always the healing power of acts of caring;
- I will Dedicate myself to joining with others to make health care optimal for all.
Printable version of the oath is available here.