Gold Humanism Scholars at the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators - The Arnold P. Gold Foundation

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is sponsoring partial scholarships of $5,000 for up to two Gold Humanism Scholars at the Harvard Macy Institute 2021/2022 Program for Educators. We seek to support medical and nursing 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.

This highly interactive faculty development program trains participants in innovative methods to teach and assess health professional learners. We select healthcare educators whose work helps develop or evaluate educational projects focused on achieving humanistic patient care that can be replicated across a variety of healthcare delivery settings.

At HMI, Gold Humanism in Medicine Scholars join a community of international educators, and their interest in humanism permeates the educational environment of the Institute and facilitates new collaborative relationships moving forward.

2021 Gold Humanism Scholars

Hetty Cunningham, MD, of Columbia University, whose project focuses on “Empowering an Anti-Racist Educator Community of Practice to Support Training in High-Quality Interprofessional Collaboration”

Efrat Lelkes, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, whose project focuses on “Embedding Narrative Ethics into Pediatric Training”

Who is Eligible?

Faculty from an accredited school of medicine or nursing 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:

1) Cultivate humanism, effective interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism;

2) Are longitudinal, ideally encompassing more than one year of training;

3) Integrate specialties and disciplines within healthcare, and are inter-professional;

4) Include a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism;

5) Are required (vs. elective);

6) Contribute to best practices in the education of future caregivers (potential to be replicated);

7) Provide evidence of support by the home institution.

How to Apply

The deadline for the 2021-2022 Gold Humanism Scholars has passed.

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 August 1st 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.

Applicants must submit:

Biosketch including full contact information, academic affiliation and position, Educational and professional experience, scholarly accomplishments, personal background and interests. (limit to 1 page)
Personal essay discussing their professional values and commitment to humanism in healthcare (limit to 2 pages)
Proposal (limit to 2 pages) that includes:
- Project title and two sentence project description.
- A definition of 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?
- A prediction or hypothesis of what changes you can make that will result in an improvement. Identify barriers to implementation and necessary resources for your project.
- An evaluation plan to assess your project’s impact.
- A strategy for disseminating the project and outcomes to the health professions education community.
- A brief description of how participation in the HMI will be of particular benefit to this project and to your professional development.
- A statement that you are able to participate fully in the course as scheduled.
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 related forums or events.
Download the RFA using the following link Gold Scholars at HMI 2021 Application.

Reporting Requirements

Gold Scholars will be required to submit a 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 forums

Final reports should be a narrative report that includes an update on the following items:

Describe your experience at the Harvard Macy Institute and the impact of the HMI on your project
State original/current objective/goals of project and whether/how they have evolved
Describe project activities to date or plan of action for implementing project – include as appropriate the following: project managers/principal investigators, activities, participants and beneficiaries (include #s), publications, evaluation techniques and tools, results and conclusions
What are the next steps for this project?

Support from the Foundation

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 2021 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.