Des Moines University teaches students more than the sciences. Medical students also learn compassion, ethics and leadership — the interpersonal skills necessary to care for their fellow human beings. As a proud chapter of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS), DMU rewarded 32 osteopathic medical students who showcased these skills at a June 24 induction ceremony.
This is the eighth class to be inducted into the honor society. Selected students are entering the fourth year of their education and have one year of clinical clerkship experience— a crucial component of the selection process because student interaction with patients, colleagues and mentors during the third year is one way GHHS members are identified.
“It is a distinct pleasure to welcome our new inductees into the Des Moines University Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society,” said Gary Hoff, D.O., faculty advisor for GHHS and associate professor of Behavioral Medicine, Medical Humanities and Bioethics. “These new members have been nominated by their peers and faculty for the clinical acumen, dedication to the wider community and clear professionalism that all of us want our students to embody. As members of GHHS, these student physicians enter an elite group that will exemplify those traits for all of us, now and in the future.”
The Gold Humanism Honor Society was started in the late 1990s by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to honor senior medical students, residents, physician-teachers and others for “demonstrated excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service.” DMU became the second osteopathic school to be granted a chapter in 2007.
For more information about the Gold Humanism Honor Society, visit www.humanism-in-medicine.org.
