Planting the Seeds for a Better Healthcare System

I care about humanizing medicine because all patients deserve the utmost respect. When patients feel heard and understood, both the patient and the healthcare professional feel satisfied.

Dr. Scott Wright, MD Co-Lead of Center for Humanizing Medicine
Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because a healthcare system that values all humans and the human experience is necessary for patients and clinicians alike to flourish.

Dr. Kamna Balhara, MD, MA Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Associate Professor of Medicine, Science, and the Humanities

I care about humanizing medicine because a core value of mine is embracing each of our roles in helping to heal the world. Essential to accomplishing this goal is connecting with other people so they feel heard, cared for, and respected.

Dr. Jessica Bienstock, MD MPH Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics

I care about humanizing medicine because I believe that patients, families, and clinicians alike are at risk of being swallowed whole by de-humanizing administrative burden and health policy

Dr. Emily F. Boss, MD, MPH Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery

I care about humanizing medicine because health care should be focused on what matters most to people, with compassionate care and communication the goal for all care.

Dr. Cynthia M. Boyd MD, MPH Professor and Director

I care about humanizing medicine because we care for patients during their most vulnerable moments, and good medicine relies on good relationships.

Dr. Henry Brems, MD, MBE, MHS Postdoctoral Fellow

I care about humanizing medicine because the insights gained from patients’ lived experiences offer invaluable lessons in care and compassion that go beyond what can be learned from textbooks.

Dr. Alyson Browett, MPH Senior Editor

I care about humanizing medicine because, as Osler said, “it is more important to know the type of patient that has an illness than it is to know they type of illness our patient has,” and because treating others with civility and respect is the foundation of all ethical systems, the building block of community, and the cornerstone of our academic medical systems.

Dr. Daniel L. Buccino, MA, MSW Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

I care about humanizing medicine because as Sir William Osler once said, “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.”

Connie Cai, BA Medical student

I care about humanizing medicine because the purpose of medicine is to restore a person to health as defined by the World Health Organization 70 years ago: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Dr. Margaret S. Chisolm, MD Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

I care about humanizing medicine because when medicine is practiced with humanism, it is all the more healing for patients and all the more fulfilling and meaningful for the providers of that care.

Dr. Katherine C. Chretien, MD Associate Dean for Medical Student Affairs

I care about humanizing medicine because I truly believe it is minimally effective without it!

Dr. Colleen Christmas, MD Associate Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because we need humanizing healthcare delivery systems to reduce/eliminate physician burnout and moral injury to better enable healthcare providers to deliver high-quality, personalized care to their patients.

Carisa M. Cooney, MPH Associate Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

I care about humanizing medicine because it is at the core of my mission to support the heath of individuals and populations.

Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, MD, MPH, MA Assistant Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because everyone deserves to feel respected and cared about

Dr. Oluwaseun Falade-Nwulia MBBS, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases

I care about humanizing medicine because I believe my patients need a voice as they are usually not heard and because of stigma they are most often afraid to speak up for themselves.

Dr. Michael Fingerhood, MD Professor of Medicine and Public Health

I care about humanizing medicine because it returns medicine to its core purpose: serving our neighbor and assuring health is a priority for all persons.

Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, MHS Associate Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because being a patient can be a terrifying and confusing process and it is our obligation to provide hope and compassion.

Dr. Eric Garfinkel, DO Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because it is the only way to ensure that medicine remains a public trust and the only way to infuse joy in the profession.

Dr. Khalil Ghanem, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medical education and training because moral distress, intolerance of uncertainty and the absence of wonder among clinicians leads to burnout and poor patient care.

Dr. Gail Geller, ScD, MHS Professor of Medicine

“I care about humanizing medicine: because it beats the alternatives. Heneni, me voici: I am here for you (Emmanuel Levinas).”

Dr. Shel Gottlieb, MD Photographer, Retired Master Cardiologist

I care about humanizing medicine because I believe human connection is at the heart of clinical care.

Dr. Neda Gould, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

I care about humanizing medicine because it is the soul of healing for many patients, and the soul of rejuvenation for doctors and nurses.

Dr. David B. Hellmann, MD, MACP Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because, as a hospitalist, I provide care to patients when they are most vulnerable. Humanistic care is imperative, in this setting, to ensure a therapeutic person-physician relationship and person-centered outcomes.

Dr. Flora Kisuule, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because all patients deserve the utmost respect. When patients feel heard and understood, both the patient and the healthcare professional feel satisfied.

Dr. Bernard “Beau” Landry-Wegener, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because without knowing its people, who is medicine healing?

Joyce Lee, BS Medical Student at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because without promoting compassion, understanding and respect of our patient as a person, we risk great harm to the patient’s clinical care and dignity and harm to our own ethical core.

Dr. Rohan Mathur, M.D. M.P.A Assistant Professor, Neurology, Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because everyone deserves exceptional care, and I believe the delivery of exceptional care is humanized medicine.

Dr. Leslie Miller, MD Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

I care about humanizing medicine because I care about decision-making that respects all involved humans (patients, families, providers), thereby improving quality of life and life fulfillment.

Dr. Susanne Muehlschlegel, MD, MPH Professor (PAR) of Neurology, Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine, and Neurosurgery

I care about humanizing medicine because all patients deserve physicians that find meaning in their profession. Patients need providers who are trained to recognize and value the whole person.

Dr. Vinay Parekh, MD Assistant Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because every patient should first and foremost be seen as a person.

Dr. Dipal M. Patel, MD PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because engaging and empowering patients and their families is crucial to protect patients form preventable harm.

Dr. Erica C. Prochaska, MD, MHS Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

I care about humanizing medicine because I care about reducing the clearly wide-ranging effects of dehumanizing experiences within the clinical encounter.

Alison Rebman, MPH Assistant Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because understanding each patient’s perspective leads to more trust, feasible plans, and fulfillment in practice.

Dr. Janet Record, MD Assistant Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because everyone deserves high quality, compassionate care.

I care about humanizing medicine because mutually respectful and trusting patient-clinician relationships are the conduit through which evidence-based, high-quality care must pass in order to reach patients. I care about humanizing medicine because of the pervasive dehumanizing forces in health care that erode the joy of clinical practice and promote inequity by devaluing the lives of Black and other marginalized patients.

Dr. Somnath Saha, MD, MPH Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because I believe all individuals deserve to be heard, seen, and supported while navigating illness.

Dr. Michelle Sharp, MD, MHS Assistant Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because we all need to do more to help each other out.

Dr. Sean Tackett, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because I want patients to feel that their concerns are being addressed, I want patients to feel empowered to participate in their medical care, and I believe that when care is humanized clinicians face less burn out and find meaning in their work.

Dr. Ruben Troncoso Jr., MD, MPH Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine

I care about humanizing medicine because all patients deserve the utmost respect. When patients feel heard and understood, both the patient and the healthcare professional feel satisfied.

Dr. Akila Viswanathan, M.D., M.P.H. Professor of Radiation Oncology, Gynecology/Obstetrics and Oncology

I care about humanizing medicine because humanized care is essential to exceptional patient care. It deserves to lie at the core of not only the patient, but also the physician experience.

Dr. Anna (Annie) White LaVigne, MD Instructor in Radiation Oncology

I care about humanizing medicine because it should never have been non-humanized.

Dr. Rebecca Wright, PhD Assistant Professor

I care about humanizing medicine because outstanding medical care is impossible without knowing patients as people.

Dr. Roy C. Ziegelstein, MD Professor of Medicine