UMass Chan Gold Humanism Honor Society inducts 36 new members

The UMass Chan Medical School chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society inducted 36 new members on Wednesday, May 29, including 26 medical students in the Class of 2025, six residents and four faculty members.

The Gold Humanism Honor Society was founded in 2002 to recognize exemplary humanistic patient care and identify those who will serve as role models, mentors and leaders in medicine. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Berrie Foundation and an anonymous donor, the society has inducted more than 45,000 members globally.

“The essence of humanism is seeing your fellow colleagues, patients, families or others within the community as being just like us in many ways,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine.

Graduating medical student Mina Botros, co-founder of the Worcester Free Care Collaborative and the student volunteer organizer for the UMass Chan Vaccine Corps established at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, was presented with the student Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. Botros will begin his neuropsychiatry residency at UMass Chan in July. The faculty recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, Kavita Babu, MD, professor of emergency medicine, delivered the keynote address.

“Hello, humanists,” said Dr. Babu, as she stepped up to the podium. “You have to commit to mastering the science of medicine if you’re a humanist. I suspect that none of you are in this room right now just because you’re nice, compassionate or altruistic. I suspect you’re here because you’re great at medicine too.

“The science of medicine is so important in this because the enemies to humanism are ambiguity, powerlessness, doubt and overwhelm. When you understand medicine in those moments where everything is burning around you, that’s how humanism arises.”

Babu advised inductees to always introduce themselves to everyone in the hospital, look for the best mentors they can find, keep the promises they make to their patients, and find their anchors—people who “bring you back when you’re in deep water.”

“Medicine will change you and you will change medicine,” said Babu. “I'm delighted to be here at this particular part of your journey. Be gentle, be brave, be awesome. Good luck.”

Members of the Class of 2024 introduced the inductees. New members were lauded for their commitments to health literacy, launching a medical Portuguese elective, spending extra time with patients and mentoring high school students interested in pursuing careers in health care, among other laudatory undertakings.

In a full-circle moment, OB/GYN resident Ciarra Nickerson, MD’20, was inducted alongside Katherine Callaghan, MD, associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology, an attending she worked with as a UMass Chan medical student.

“It’s really amazing to be appreciated for all the hard work that you do,” said Dr. Nickerson. “I went into medicine because I wanted to help people, whether that’s patients or my fellow team members. It’s not something that I think about, it’s something I just kind of do. It’s nice to see all of these other students and faculty members who’ve been role models for me being appreciated for the same things.”

This year’s GHHS inductees are: