2022 Fall STAR Educator Recipient: Holly M. Day, MD
Holly M. Day, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine
Nomination Submission:
Dr. Holly Day serves her colleagues, learners, and most importantly, her patients with a heart and mind dedicated to the principle of compassion in medicine. She engages with undergraduate medical learners each semester as a core faculty facilitator for the Healer’s Art course, a 6-week elective open to first year medical students, where they explore themes of grief, loss, awe, and the sacred nature of human service as a physician. She also works with a range of graduate medical trainees as co-director for the Compassion Course, a 10-month elective, which focuses on developing and deepening compassion towards oneself, other persons, and one’s community as a physician. She serves as a faculty mentor to 1-3 IM residents each year since 2019. She has also presented and facilitated discussions during internal medicine resident didactics, regarding moral injury in healthcare.
For the past year, she has been an active member of the faculty Wellness and Work-Life Action Committee led by Dr. Jon Courand, attending monthly inter-disciplinary meetings to address issues affecting both faculty and resident wellness across specialties. On a division level, she is one of the most proactive faculty members, always seeking systematic improvements to help identify and improve factors that increase the well-being of her colleagues. She also presented a wonderful grand rounds session in 2021.
What may provide the greatest impact on her learners and colleagues is Dr. Day’s commitment to modeling compassionate care in the day-to-day performance of her duties. This quality has been consistently recognized by those who work with her – she was voted the “Most Compassionate” resident for her class every year throughout her residency, she was awarded the Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award twice as a resident, and she was recently honored with the “Awesomeness Award” for collegiality in the Division of Hospital Medicine.