You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know that physicians who are compassionate as well as highly skilled likely provide better patient care. But the Arnold P. Gold Foundation specifically defines those qualities and recognizes them among medical students as members of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS).
“Humanistic medical care is not simply compassion. It is the best of medicine. When skilled physicians build caring, trusting and collaborative relationships with patients, studies reveal more appropriate medical decisions, better patient adherence with treatment plans, and less costly health care outcomes,” states the foundation’s website. “The staggering ascendance of science and technology, along with current health care economics, makes our efforts to keep health care human even more critical today than when the foundation began nearly 30 years ago.”
DMU was the nation’s second osteopathic medical school to have a GHHS Chapter. It was started at the University in 2007 by Gary Hoff, D.O., FACOI, FACC, a cardiologist and now an emeritus faculty member who was founding chair of DMU’s department of medical humanities and bioethics. At its annual Gold Humanism Awards Ceremony on June 4, the University honored these 27 students:
Brooke Bachelor
Dana Bechtold
Brock Booth
Michelle Brenner
Jessica Briggs
Autumn Brunia
Alec Bunting
Rachel Cohen
Jane Crotteau
Megan Elsenheimer
Matthew Glazier
David Houserman
Anna Johnson
Kody Kasten
Samantha Lord
Steven Marmer
James Miller
Benjamin Neff
Jessica Robertson
Kendall Stewardson
Amber Suleskey
Jeffrey Thomas
Samantha Tyler
Kayla Whitmore
Brianna Wilcke
Jeffrey Wise
Alexander Zhu
In addition, two residents, Dr. A.J. Abcejo and Dr. Matthew Taylor, received the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award (HETA). Abcejo is a resident at Mercy Medical Center and part of the Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institute (OPTI), a consortium of teaching hospitals that partner with DMU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) to support and promote excellence in internship and residency training. Taylor, a 2016 COM graduate, practices at UnityPoint Health – Des Moines.
